Something Else (Part 3)
Something Else, Part 3/4
I promise I am NOT being an overthinker when I say the wording we use influences how we think about things!!!! Personally, I find that shifting the way I refer to myself, my aromanticism, and my attachments to others over the years has been so important. But more on that in the final part ;)
Idk if the feeling of being second or deprioritized in a societal sense, has persistently haunted any other aros out there. It’s been emphasized to me on a few occasions during my upbringing (gotta love arophobia 🙃), but I wonder if it’s a part of general amatonormativity in culture at large.
I don’t want to end on a dark note, though - so if you were wondering who those are for 2 and 3, those are some of my OCs lol. The characters on podium 2 end up in a QPR like after their main story ends, and the girl on podium 3 is one of my alloaro ocs and I love her 😄
[Image Descriptions:
Slide 1: Celia speaks to the reader, with an annoyed expression, “Also, the phrase ‘something more’ is just so amatonormative”
Slide 2: She continues, “It explicitly states there’s something lesser about relationships that aren’t romantic”
Slide 3: “And it implies, more insidiously, that romance is a higher form of achievement.”
A series of characters are drawn on a podium in an abstracted example. At the number 1 spot are a boy and a girl implied to be dating. The boy has a green shirt, tan pants, blond hair and blue eyes. The girl has tan skin, long dark hair, and a pleated blue dress.
On the number 2 spot are two of Celia’s characters. On the left is a girl with light skin and chin-length dark hair tied with two space buns in the back. She is wearing a lavender crop top and blue jeans. Next to her is her “best friend”, a non-binary person with longer, shaggy brown hair and glasses. They are wearing a dark blue overshirt, a mauve T-shirt, and yellow shorts. They have each other’s arms around their shoulders.
On the number 3 spot is another one of Celia’s characters. She is canonically Alloaro, and remains unpartnered at the end of the story she exists in (though this is not shown on the slide). She has long curly light brown hair, freckles, and is wearing a teal shirt and loose black skirt. She stands on her own.
Slide 4: Celia continues speaking pensively, looking off to the side.
“It’s upsetting to me, because in some ways it’s almost like a reminder, that by refusing to be anyone’s romantic partner, I’ll always be … second.”
Slide 5: “Second rate, second best, a second choice.”
The scene switches back to the abstracted scenario from before, zoomed in on the couple on the number 1 spot who now have been given a spotlight while the rest of the environment is cast in shadow. Celia is standing in shadow in the foreground looking back at the highlighted couple.]