Celebrating the Aro & Ace Spectrums!

A space for celebration of all types of romantic or platonic love & friendship, and all types of asexual, aromantic, or similar people! We welcome everyone under our umbrella. Submissions and asks welcome! Blog managed by @rarebird22

[aromantic-diaries]

"everyone should get more aromantic" can appeal to tumblr's sensibilities but I genuinely think everyone should also get more asexual. I don't mean everyone stop having sex, what I mean is

Sex is not essential. You can live without it. Full stop.

Not having sex isn't shameful or a sign of failure. It also doesn't make anyone boring.

You are not entitled to having sex with anybody and nobody is entitled to having sex with you.

Sex is not what makes someone an adult.

Nobody's worth is defined by how much sex they have or don't have.

Sex is not equally important to everyone.

You can have fulfilling and happy relationships without sex.

You should only have sex on your own terms, not because you feel like you owe it to someone, or because you feel like you'd be incomplete without it.

Know your boundaries around sex and be firm about them. Know how to respect other people's boundaries.

The previous point also applies when it comes to discussing sex. If someone doesn't wanna talk about it or hear about it you have to back down.

Anything can be sexual but not everything has to be sexual.

[chaifootsteps]

Firmly convinced the world would be a better place if we started treating sex the way we'd treat any other mundane preference in life, like what kind of chips a person likes to eat with their lunch.

[irishironclad]

Every now and again people recreate biblical celibacy with extra steps.

[sunseths]

"there is no platonic explanation for this--"

I fell asleep in my friends' arms. It was eleven at night, we were tired, curled up in a small pile on my tiny bed. I had my head buried in my roommate's side, and one of my closest friend's hand on my shoulder, steadying me. It was quiet and nothingness and peace and their heartbeats in my ears, my hands in their hair.

"there is no platonic explanation for this--"

We pack four people to that little bed, you know. Laps used as footrests, collarbones as pillows, little lights like moonlight in rustic yellow bathed on their faces. The TV plays an anime. The words are repeated by my dear friend on my shoulder, curled close. My legs are asleep; my roommate may be, too.

"there is no platonic explanation for this--"

The cat curls on top of our criss cross mess of legs and arms and heads on chests to absorb the warmth of us all. She purrs in contented peace. When my roommate and I are left alone in the quiet, she cries, and watches the door for our friends' return.

"there is no platonic explanation for this--"

I will never kiss them but the top of their heads. I will never touch but the warmth of their arms. I will never take more than what's freely given, and in return I put my glasses on the bedside table fashioned from a guitar amp, and when I lean into their sides, I pick up my vulnerability and place it in their capable, tender hands.

"there is no platonic explanation for this--"

I sing for them. I cry for them. I work and I run and I withstand the worst of the world for them, because some days I get to cradle their forehead on my shoulder and some days I get to see their shining eyes.

"there is no platonic explanation for this--"

Maybe to you. But look beyond explanation. I love them. With my heart in my unsteady hands, with my nose pressed to the side of their head, with the buzzing in my feet and the warmth all around Iike the sunset pushing into the window.

"there is no platonic explanation for this--"

Is it enough to say I love them? With no strings attached? With reckless abandon and utter devotion and freedom and kindness and fear?

"there is no platonic explanation for this--"

I cannot explain it any clearer. I love my friends. There is no more to say.

[highabovethecloudssomewhere]

The first asexual person I met outside of the internet was a 65 year old woman.

I’d been interning with her as an artist/executive assistant for some time. To put a long story short she’d developed a tremor that kept her from doing a certain amount of studio work, so in between sending emails and invoices for her I’d chip in and help with line art or drafting on longer projects. A lot of it was the two of us sitting in her basement studio, doing our own thing, waiting for the phone to ring. We got to talking a lot. I’d just moved across the country and was still finding my footing.

There was a handyman she had over occasionally — he was a personal friend who enjoyed her company more than she enjoyed his. She didn’t dislike him by any means, but he definitely had feelings for her that she didn’t reciprocate. One day, after he’d come over to repair something-or-other and left, she and I started talking about relationships.

She asked if I had a boyfriend. I told her I wasn’t interested in being in a relationship with anyone and that I’d never had a desire to be in a relationship. Admittedly, I was bracing for the “You’ll meet the right person someday” response. I knew it generally came from a place of care, but it never changed how much I dreaded to hear it. I really respected my mentor and I was prepared to nod along to whatever response she gave me. Instead of anything I expected her to say, she just kind of nodded and said, “Me neither. I think I’m — what’s the term — asexual?”

I was ecstatic. I told her I was asexual, too. I saw her sigh in relief, the same way I did. I couldn’t believe it.

We didn’t get much work done that day, we just started talking about our experiences. She’d been married once when she was younger and even during that period of her life her disinterest in a sexual relationship didn’t change. She had a roommate after graduating college who confessed to having feelings for her and she had to tell her “It’s not that I don’t like girls, it’s that I don’t like anybody.” The roommate harbored enough bitterness over this that they had to split ways. Her mother told her that she would quote “rather have a gay daughter than a daughter who didn’t fancy anyone at all” unquote.

I didn’t have nearly as many experiences as she did, but I was able to share my own for the first time. I shared how it was easier to say I was taking time to work on myself than to say I had no interest in being in a relationship. We talked about the words “You’ll meet the right person someday” and “You’ll know when you’re in love” and “Don’t worry, one day you’ll meet some guy that changes everything.” As if something was broken.

“I’ve been alive for sixty five years,” my mentor told me, “and I’ve never felt like I was missing something, even if everybody told me I was.”

Currently, my mentor lives with her parrot, her cats, and her backyard-wildlife pals in a house that she owns. She makes art and hosts community art groups and volunteers at care homes and is the most self-fulfilled woman I’ve ever met. And she loves her life. She loves the people she knows and they love her, too. If I could be half as cool as she is when I grow up, I think that’d be pretty amazing.

“Asexuality” isn’t a problem to be fixed or a phase to grow out of. Sometimes you’re fifteen and sometimes you’re sixty-five. I knew in my heart that older asexual people existed but it changed me completely to meet one. We were here before and we always will be.

[your-fav-is-a-spec]

im scared to do this. but. uh. the noble gases. from uh. the Real Life Periodic Table

The Noble Gasses from the Periodic Table are Aspec

[periodic-table-official]

Can confirm

[aspec-quilt-project]

welcome to the ace quilt project!! quilt square submissions are open now. check out the faq if you have any questions, and follow along at @ace-quilt-project to see how this project grows. 🫶

[onyxthelion]

The 2025 Ace Community Survey is now open! Anyone who is 15 or older are encouraged to respond. This includes folks who do not identify as ace! (those responses help for comparison purposes) The survey is also available in 16 languages!

Find the survey link here: https://acecommunitysurvey.org/

[kindlyanni]

A comic about my aegoromantic experience I did for #aroweek in last February and forgot to post here!

Note: You don't need to find a specific label to validate your queer identity. You can have as broad or specific definition as what you're comfortable with, and you don't have to have an analysis of your identity to give to anyone else. It's no one's business but yours, at the end of the day.

For me personally finding a label that fits me perfectly was a relief. Like I've been holding this puzzle piece in my hand for a hot minute and then I finally find the place for it. Like if I found my hole.

I don't need this label to to explain myself to others. It helps me to contextualize my experience and to find my place in the ace/aro spectrum and in the queer spectrum. And I made this comic in case there are others like me, looking for that perfect hole :D

BTW YOU CAN FIND MY ZINE I THINK I'M GOOD BY MYSELF, ACTUALLY ON ITCH IN ENGLISH AND IN FINNISH FOR $4.50!

[halfawillowtree]

How many Caracters have you Headcannonised as Ace

[aromantic-diaries]

People act like there's an explicit line between friendship and romance like This is how Platonic Friends act and if two people act like That they are a Romantic Couple. Buddy I have crossed the line so far that it's actually surprising to me and it's still friendship

[aromantic-diaries]

"being aromantic means you never cross The Line" well maybe I'm so aromantic that no matter how far I cross the so called line I will never enter the romance territory. Get on my level.

[peach-pot]

hearing about sex as a kid is like “you’re 100% going to do this one day” and then you grow up and find out sex isn’t real and your parents just lied about it like santa clause

[clippy-offical]

More pride clippies!!

I have some genders coming up in probably my next post! I just don’t want to have too many in one post :)

Don’t forget to request the flag you wanna see!

[aspec-joy]

It's okay!

Courtesy of u/InstanceDry7848 on Asexuality reddit.

[call-me-chips]

[wonderfish]

Damn ok I guess people liked the aromantic memes, gnarly

Have more of them

Threats to all ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

[aroacesafeplaceforall]

No seriously are the butterflies real????

[transgarlicbreadlover]

I've found my one true love

Whenever I see them, they brighten up my day and I become happy. I wanna be close to them and they're all I think about. I want them inside of me. I love them so much They're pieces of Garlic Bread. I'm talking about pieces of Garlic Bread.

[aspecmemesdaily]

Day 456

[princesshamlet-deactivated20210]

Reblog if you are ASEXUAL, SUPPORT ASEXUALS, or really really want to WEAR A REALLY FANCY BLACK CAPE

[your-least-favorite-poet]

we are THREE FOR THREE, BABY!!!

[nerdygaymormon]