Loveless Aromantic, often shortened to Loveless Aro, is a term for individuals on the aromantic spectrum who do not feel love, do not understand/feel disconnected from love, or reject love or the social construct of it. The term is often used as a way to reclaim the stereotype that aromantic individuals are not capable of any form of love, which is often painted as a negative trait.[1]
There are many reasons why someone would identify as loveless. One may feel that love has been so intertwined with romantic love to the point where it's hard to separate the two. One may have trauma associated with love and have had it used as an excuse for their abuser's actions. One may feel that the term "love" is too broad and vague, or one may be neurodivergent and not love in a way that is socially expected. One may use the label to reclaim their agency to define love for themselves. One may have a disorder or disability that limits their ability to feel or understand certain emotions, including love.[2]
History[edit | edit source]
The concept of loveless aromanticism was coined in a 2019 essay on Aro Worlds written by K. A. and the terms "loveless" and "loveless aro" were used in a later essay by the same author.[3][4]
Flags & Symbols[edit | edit source]
The loveless aro flag was designed by Tumblr user aro-punkwave. The gray stripes represent lovelessness and not needing/wanting any form of love, and the green stripes represent being complete on one's own and as one is, as well as aromanticism.[5]
An alternate loveless aro flag was created by FANDOM user CasualChaos on the LGBTA Wiki. The green represents a lack of romantic attraction and the black represents being loveless. The knife through the heart represents the denial of love due to its association with romantic love.[6]
Another alternate loveless aro flag was created by FANDOM user Cypress Greene on the LGBTA Wiki on May 30, 2021. The blue represents loveless aros who feel disconnected from humanity, pink represents loveless neurodivergent individuals, yellow represents the reclamation of one's disconnection from love, purple represents loveless individuals who use the split attraction model, gray represents all a-spec individuals, and black represents any other forms of disconnection. The line through the middle represents willingly identifying as loveless, with white representing union and community. The green upside down heart represents the aromantic spectrum and the disconnection from love.[7]
Community[edit | edit source]
Statistics[edit | edit source]
According to a loveless aro survey done by Tumblr user aro-and-tired, 46% of loveless aros are aroace, 19.6% are alloaro, 15.4% are non-SAM aro, 10.8% are oriented aroace or angled aroace, 3.5% are questioning, and 2.3% are aromid or other. Within the aromantic spectrum, 90.4% of loveless aros are aromantic, 28.3% are arospec, 11.2% are quoiromantic, 10.1% are grayromantic, 8.1% are aroqueer, 8% are questioning, 6.9% are demiromantic, 6.4% are aegoromantic, 5.8% are aroflux, 4.8% are cupioromantic, 4.2% are nebularomantic, 3.9% are apothiromantic, 3.4% are lithromantic, 2.8% are bellusromantic, 1.9% are arospike, 1.6% are reciproromantic, and 1.2% are frayromantic.[8]
Subterms[edit | edit source]
| Label | Flag | Description | Coiner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loveless Ay |  [9]
|
Being disconnected from love in some way and not being alloromantic/allosexual, or are non-SAM aroace. | pupyzu[9] |
Related Terms[edit | edit source]
| Label | Relationship | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Loveless Romantic | Similar | Feeling disconnected from the idea of love, but not feeling disconnected from the idea of romance. |
Sources[edit | edit source]
- ↑ The Ace And Aro Advocacy Project. “Pride 2022 – Loveless Aspecs – the Ace and Aro Advocacy Project.” Taaap.org, 28 June 2022, taaap.org/2022/06/28/loveless-aspecs/. Accessed 28 Oct. 2023.
- ↑ arospecawarenessweek. “Reasons Why Someone Might Identify as “Loveless” Aromantic.” Tumblr, arospecawarenessweek.tumblr.com/post/673081805452263424/reasons-why-someone-might-identify-as-loveless. Accessed 28 Oct. 2023.
- ↑ A, K. “I Am Not Voldemort: An Essay on Love and Amatonormativity.” Aro Worlds, 16 July 2019, aroworlds.com/2019/07/16/i-am-not-voldemort-an-essay-on-love-and-amatonormativity/.
- ↑ ---. “Poetry Collection: Aro and Loveless.” Aro Worlds, 12 Aug. 2019, aroworlds.com/2019/08/12/poetry-collection-aro-and-loveless/. Accessed 28 Oct. 2023.
- ↑ aro-punkwave. “Include Arospecs in Pride Posts Challenge.” Tumblr, aro-punkwave.tumblr.com/post/643772618716086272/proposal-for-a-loveless-aro-flag-the-grey-stripes. Accessed 28 Oct. 2023.
- ↑ loveless-aro. “A Blog for Loveless Aros.” Tumblr, 18 Jan. 2022, loveless-aro.tumblr.com/post/673736791253270528/yooo-why-did-no-one-tell-me-about-the-alternate. Accessed 28 Oct. 2023.
- ↑ LGBTA Wiki. “Loveless Aromantic.” LGBTA Wiki, 30 May 2021, lgbta.fandom.com/wiki/Loveless_Aromantic?commentId=4400000000000153743.
- ↑ aro-and-tired. “Loveless Aro Survey: Survey Results (Part 1).” Tumblr, 13 Aug. 2021, www.tumblr.com/aro-and-tired/659405639187152896/loveless-aro-survey-survey-results-part-1. Accessed 28 Oct. 2023.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 pupyzu. “❝ LOVELESS AY! ❞.” Tumblr, 8 May 2021, pupyzu.tumblr.com/post/650636837139939328/loveless-ay. Accessed 28 Oct. 2023.