A little announcement about a few things i've noticed
1) If you don't relate to a submission here, that's fine. Everyone has different experiences. You don't need to comment about it being unrelatable. You being unable to personally relate does not make it not aroace culture. There are a ton of submissions I can't personally relate to, but they're still aroace culture.
This blog is meant to be a safe place for everyone to share their experience with being aroace. As long as you aren't being an exclusionist or a bigot or otherwise a dick, your contributions are welcome here.
It genuinely does not matter if your submission is so extremely hyper-specific you can't imagine another person relating. As long as you aren't being a jerk, it counts as aroace culture. As long as you aren't explicitly invalidating the experiences of others, it counts as aroace culture. Aroace culture is not one experience, it is the vast spectrum of experiences that are contributed to this blog, and I appreciate and cherish all of them, even if I have no idea what they mean, or if I cannot relate at all.
I delete a fair number of submissions that I feel only apply to aros or only apply to aces. And that's not because I don't feel that submission counts, it's just that the way it's phrased, it seems to only apply to one or the other. If your ask is centered around dating/lack of dating/aromanticism, submit it to @aro-culture-is. If your ask is centered around sex/lack of sex/asexuality, submit it to @our-ace-experience (since @/ace-culture-is seems to be inactive atm).
But if I post it on this blog, do not comment or reblog something like "this isn't aroace culture". I will block you. This is a boundary I have to set for myself. I'm sick of exclusionism and cherry-picking and the like. Aroace culture is all over the place, and if you don't relate to one specific post, that's fine. There are literally over a thousand other posts on this blog that you might relate to more. I can and will treat comments and reblogs saying "this isn't aroace culture" as erasure and exclusionism from this point on.
2) Things have been getting overall really negative/venty. I know that sometimes you just need to vent, but it's been starting to get difficult for me to read and tag and post all these negative things. I'm not saying not to submit your vents, but I would greatly, greatly appreciate more silly/lighthearted/positive submissions as well.
Sometimes, being aroace can be difficult and isolating, but it can also be very lovely and positive as well. The joy I feel at having found my identity is immense! I love the aroace community! I love being aroace! And I think it's important to showcase the positive as well as the negative.
3) Please, please read and follow the rules of the blog. They are in the pinned post. I know a lot of y'all might newer here, but I intentionally made the rules/guidelines really easy to find. They can all be found in the pinned post, the very first post that appears when you look at the blog itself. If you think my phrasing is poor or difficult to understand, feel free to tell me, but I did my best to make things relatively straightforward.
