on “you’re too young to know you’re ace”
i remember hearing someone say that the reason people think gay couples are inappropriate for kids is partly because a lot of gay/sga people don’t realise they are attracted to the same gender until they’re older because they have to use critical thinking to overcome the heteronormativity that has been forced upon them their whole life.
there’s a similar experience here for aces and aros because we’re constantly told that we’ll “understand one day” or “when you get older and fall in love” and we kinda just believe that until one day we realise it’s not gonna happen. it can be really hard to figure out that you’re aspec because it takes a lot of maturity and critical thinking skills to evaluate how your feelings differ from what you’ve been told other people feel, which is why i think it’s hard for skeptics to believe young aspec people really know what they’re talking about, because how could they possibly know when they’re only (insert age here). but really, once you work out you’re aspec there’s usually multiple things you remember from your childhood that suddenly make sense, like “oh yeah, i thought i had a crush on my friend because i was aro and didn’t know the difference”. these things are there it’s just hard to realise what they are because of what society has been feeding us since birth. different people become aware of this at different times and different ages, and if some people can work that out while they’re still young, that’s amazing!
(remember that it’s always ok if your feelings and labels change over time, or if it takes you a few goes to get the right one - you’re still making progress towards understanding and accepting yourself!)
