Aromantic

Aromantic, often shortened to Aro, is a romantic orientation that describes an individual who experiences little to no romantic attraction to anyone. They may also lack interest in having romantic relationships. There is no one way to be aromantic, everyone has their own experiences and views on romance.^[1] One may also describe it as feeling disconnected from the normative societal expectations of romantic intimacy.^[2]

Some aromantic individuals may be involved in intimate relationships. One may get into a relationship with the desire for a family or children, to give or receive affection and care, or may form a relationship based on shared interest, mutual respect or emotional closeness. Some aromantic individuals may enter what is called a queerplatonic relationship.^[1]

While being aromantic does not mean that one is incapable of love, that is also a spectrum when it comes to the aromantic identity. Many aromantic individuals can experience a form of love that is not romantic, and there are aromantic individuals who can feel some level of romantic attraction. There are also aromantic individuals who do not feel or relate to any form of love.^[3]

The aromantic identity exists on a spectrum, often called the aromantic spectrum.^[1]

History

It's difficult to narrow down the exact history of the term aromantic.^[4] However, some date it back to when the Asexual Visibility and Education Network was gaining traction, where the earliest use of the word found on there is from 2005. Before this, the term "asexual-asexual" was used to describe those who felt little to no romantic and sexual attraction.^[5] There is an earlier post from 2002 where someone uses the word "aromantic" in an online Yahoo group for the asexual community, called Heaven for the Human Amoeba.^[6]

Flags & Symbols

The aromantic flag has gone through a few revisions while it was being created. The most common one was created by Tumblr user cameronwhimsy on February 7, 2014. The green and light green represent the aromantic spectrum as a whole, the white represents non-romantic relationships and non-romantic forms of attraction, and the black represents sexuality.^[3]^[7]

However, there were two more versions of the flag created before. The first aromantic flag was created with a yellow and orange stripe. This flag did establish the color green being used in the aromantic flag, being chosen due to it being the opposite of red, a color often used to symbolize romance. This flag was criticized for being too similar to the Rastafarian flag, so a new flag was proposed.^[3]

The second flag was also designed by cameronwhimsy, which replaced the orange stripe, but left the yellow in. The green represents being aromantic, the light green represents being on the aromantic spectrum, the yellow represents being lithromantic, the grey represents being greyromantic or demiromantic, and the black represents being WTFromantic. This flag was also changed due to the yellow stripe affecting those with sensory issues.^[3]^[8]

Community

Statistics

The exact number of individuals who identify as aromantic is unknown; however, one study concluded that 1% of individuals identify as asexual, and around 25% of those individuals also identify as aromantic.^[1]

Perceptions and Discrimination

Amatonormativity is a term used to describe society's expectations of romance, such as the pressure to find and prioritize romance, marriage and monogamy. Due to this pressure, many who are aromantic are made to feel as though there is something wrong with them or that they are missing out.^[1] This concept devalues friendships and other non-romantic bonds, and paints anyone not in a romantic relationship as "sad" and "lonely," that they just need the right individual to come in. It is because of this that aromantic individuals are perceived as immature, attention-seeking, selfish, cruel, having commitment issues or missing something that makes them human.^[9]

Aromantic individuals are often the subject of certain tropes, such as being seen as robots, aliens or monsters. Some believe that aromantic individuals are simply emotional deficient or traumatized, or that one must be mentally ill. While aromantic individuals can experience trauma, it does not have any say on their identity.^[9]

Related Attractions

Orientation	Attraction
Adomestic	Domestic
Analterous	Alterous
Ansthetic	Aesthetic
Aplatonic	Platonic
Aqueerplatonic	Queerplatonic
Asensual	Sensual
Asexual	Sexual

Subterms

Label	Flag	Description	Coiner
Alloaro	^[10]	Being allosexual and aro-spec.	arotaro^[10]
Aroflirt	^[11]	Being aromantic but still desiring to engage in flirtatious behavior.	b-e-b-b-l-e^[11]
Aroflex	^[12]	Experiencing a less intense, consistent form of attraction somewhere between romantic and queerplatonic.	on-fic-writing-spree^[13]
Aroflexible	^[14]	Being mostly aromantic, but their attraction is flexible.	Star Bit^[15]
Arofluid	^[16]	Being fluid between aro-spec identities.	satusepiida^[17]
Aroflux	^[18]	Fluctuating between feeling romantic attraction and lacking romantic attraction.	ngc2068^[19]
Arofluix	^[20]	Being both aroflux and arofluid.	hypnosiacon-archived^[20]
Arofog	^[21]	Being unsure if one experiences romantic attraction due to being neurodivergent.	Crayonpuppy.x^[21]
Aro-Jump	^[22]	Normally alloromantic, but occasionally experiencing a lack of romantic attraction.	luigis-mogai-mansion^[22]
Arolink	^[23]	When one's aromantic identity affects all parts of themselves.	pokemania^[23]
Aromid	^[24]	Being strictly aromantic, but not strictly asexual.	star-allos^[24]
Arospike	^[25]	Normally aromantic, but occasionally experiencing intense romantic attraction.	Unknown^[25]
Arovague	^[26]	When one's aromantic identity is influenced by one's neurodivergence.	transboy-lou^[26]
Arovoid	^[27]	When one experiences no strong feelings towards one's identity except for being aromantic.	aromagpie^[27]
Loveless Aromantic	^[28]	Being aromantic and not experiencing societal expectations of love.	K.A.^[29]