Speaking as someone who’s on the asexual and aromantic spectrum, the current state of ace and aro representation in media is abysmal. When was the last time you saw an ace and/or aro character (in either media or in popular headcanon) who wasn’t at least one of the following:
Unattractive or otherwise undesirable for romance or sex in either the eyes of the creators or the audience
Aloof, cold, detached, if not outright villainous in terms of personality
Some form of intellectual who only cares about their work
An asshole to at least some degree beyond most if not all the other characters
Implied if not outright stated to have something wrong with them, such as being traumatized about sex or romance or having some sort of disorder that prevents them from interacting with people in a “normal” way. Asexuality and aromanticism are not symptoms of trauma or having bad mental health any more than any other form of queerness. I am not broken, this is who I am.
Disabled. I can go on and on about how the sexualities and romantic desires of disabled people are denied and stigmatized, but I’m not going to do that full rant here. Yes disabled asexual and aromantic people exist, but it really feels like a lot of writers (and headcanoning fans) find the thought of disabled people being in love or having sex disgusting, so they just make any disabled characters ace and/or aro so they don’t have to confront that reality.
Literally inhuman. I hate the tropes of using inhuman things to represent minorities, it just makes minorities feel dehumanized and any message you might have about treating minorities with respect will absolutely be ignored by bigots. I’m not an alien, robot, fey or something else. I am human, start treating me like one.
When all this is your only rep, which is already incredibly scarce, is there any wonder why asexuality and aromanticism is so stigmatized virtually everywhere?