A new slur
I’m actually a somewhat notable blogger in the aro sphere, but because I’m also an otherkin, I don’t necessarily feel comfortable talking about this completely there, as the person I’m known as.
I’ve noticed that there are a lot of people who doubt that aromantics are actually queer, and even some who doubt that we face oppression. And I think in part that’s because we don’t have a slur to point to. I mean, we experience things that are just as bad, if not worse, as the things that queer allosexuals face, but we don’t really have a slur to point to.
And that’s where my idea comes in. I believe that because, once we’re found out to be aromantic, people usually call us robots or imply that we don’t have feelings, we actually do have a slur to point to.
ARObots. That’s basically what they’re calling us. And because I firmly believe that slurs should be reclaimed, and only by those affected by the slur(queer), I think we should all start to reclaim this slur.
People who want to believe that they’re “allies” to the aro community should take heed: Don’t you dare fucking use the word arobot. (Unless you’re a robotkin, which I think is a whole different set of oppressions, and also if you are, we should be friends! Hi!).
To the aro community: in order to make people see that we’re in fact oppressed, I think it’s important that we make it clear that arobot is a slur, and something we’re reclaiming. No one else, (save robotkin) should be allowed to use this term to hurt us. We’re reclaiming it, and people who use it are actively participating in the oppression that keeps us marginalized. They are arophobic.
Basically: Here’s a slur that applies to us, and that people have been throwing around and claiming isn’t a slur, and here’s us reclaiming it and making it clear that anyone who calls us this, who isn’t aro, is in fact an oppressor and has to check their alloromantic privilege.
Used in a sentence:
I’m arobot.
Yo, what’s up my arobot?
We are arobots.
You can’t just… make up a slur. Like, slurs are backed by years and years of prejudice and institutionalized oppression. Like, the reason “id*ot” is an ableist slur is because it’s been used for years to categorize and dehumanize disabled folks. And arobot is a word that you just made up now?
Like, I could understand if you were saying that ‘robot’ itself was a slur or that we could call ourselves ‘arobot’ (in which case it still wouldn’t be appropriate for alloromantic folks to call us, but it wouldn’t be on the same level as slurs), but….
And I mean, we don’t need aro specific slurs to ‘prove’ we’re oppressed or whatever. There aren’t any slurs specifically against bisexuals and pansexuals, but they’re still welcome to reclaim the label ‘queer’ and most people who recognize that there’s oppression against gay people recognize that there’s oppression against those groups as well.
Also, otherkin aren’t oppressed for being otherkin. Most of the shit we deal with for that is misdirected ableism.
Perhaps I should have been clearer. One of the many ways and stereotypes that we as aromantics have to deal with is that we're robots and unfeeling. I'm saying this is part of the oppression that keeps us marginalized. Reclaiming the word "robots" is something I believe would benefit our community, however we'd be stepping on the toes of robotkin, so I think we should NOT do that. Hence "Arobots", which is something that wouldn't necessarily offend them. For the purposes of reclaiming something that is continually used to hurt us, yes I think it can function as a slur. Something we can reclaim and make our own.
What I'm trying to say is that the people who've been calling us robots and portraying us as stereotypically unfeeling, those who equate love with romantic love, and oppress us because we can't feel that...they've been calling us robots and I truly believe that uniting under the term "arobots" can help point out this particular facet of the oppression we face.
Yes, maybe saying it was an outright slur is going too far, but the people who use it direct it at us as a form of violence, and I believe it is important to acknowledge that and not let them get away with this.
