Is aplatonic a synonym for aromantic? Does it maybe mean you can’t/don’t form friendships? I’ve never heard the term before and am curious. I hope this doesn’t come off as offensive.
Aplatonic is a word with a complicated history and two different meanings. I’m not aplatonic myself and everything in this answer comes from here or here, so it’d be worth asking aplatonic people about their experiences.
One definition of aplatonic (which I believe is older) is that an aplatonic person feels little to no platonic attraction (i.e. doesn’t get squishes). Under this definition, an aplatonic person might have friends or want friends, but struggle with forming or maintaining platonic relationships.
Another definition of aplatonic is that an aplatonic person feels little to no queerplatonic attraction and/or isn’t interested or feels no desire to be in a queerplatonic relationship. That is, under this definition, being aplatonic doesn’t say anything about forming or not forming friendships, in the same way that being aromantic doesn’t say anything about forming or not forming friendships.
The second definition has I believe become more popular and sort of “taken over” the first definition, which may be partly symptomatic of the aro community placing a lot (perhaps too much) emphasis on queerplatonic relationships, leading some aros who don’t want queerplatonic relationships to search for a word to describe their experiences. Both definitions aren’t really orientations (in the way that aromantic and asexual are orientations), but are instead identities that have to do with one’s experiences. Additionally, both definitions are (I believe) open to anyone, regardless of orientation, but it’s not well-known outside the aro community so I’d imagine (at least right now) that anyone who identifies as aplatonic would be aromantic.
