Hi, I was looking to the list you linked to in a response, but I had a question. I've had crushes and/or squishes and I experience sexual attraction, but, I literally don't know what "romance" or "romantic things" are -confused Autistic anon
Hi lovely :)
It’s a tricky thing to describe because romance/romantic things/romantic feelings/romantic attraction, can mean different things to different people. I also think it’s reliant on context and culture.
I would personally define ‘romance’ as the progression of a romantic relationship, i.e. dates, dating, boyfriend/girlfriend/datemate, (possibly) marriage. I think in our society, media representations heavily influence how we understand romance. For example, romantic movies depict romantic relationships in a certain way, and people tend to model real life relationships off these fictional relationships.
Romantic things and romantic actions are also influenced by cultural norms and media depictions. Certain actions are ‘romantically coded’. For example, gifting someone with a bouquet of red roses would be understood as romantic my most people, because red roses are romantically coded in our society. Holding hands and kissing are actions considered romantic by many people.
Hope this helps! -Mod Michy