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Ace discourse in this year? Its more likely than you think.

#just saw someone complain that ace readings of Artemis invalidate the very popular lesbian readings of Artemis #you know they both can exist? #like there wasn't a codified version of greek mythology #there are so many different versions #they both exist and are both valid and like WTF

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look. i'm sorry. really sorry for not just letting this die. but it bugs me. so suffer i guess.

If I saw a canonically trans character and said "well I prefer to write them as cis" people would be pissed at me, for good reason.

If I saw a canonical trans woman/man character and wrote them as a demigirl/boy and said "while the show just says she/he's trans, not that she's a trans woman" people would be pissed at me, also for good reason.

If a character was directly implied to be trans, and the creator confirmed later that they were meant to be trans, and I went "well it wasn't said explicitly in the show so it's not canon," people would be pissed at me, for good reason.

If the majority of a fandom did those things, we could collectively agree that the fandom is really transphobic.

You can sub this out for any queer identity with mainstream representation, and probably non-queer identities too.

So why is it considered acceptable to do these things to aspec characters?

Why are ships contrary to aspec identities the only ships against a character's canon queer identity that get popular?

Why are aspec people the only ones that get consistent ship discourse over our real identities?

Why are aspec people the only ones asked to sit back and take it?

Why is it on aspec people to not ruin allo people's fun in fandom, but allo people are allowed to ruin ours?

(The answer to all of the above is: aspec identities are viewed by other queer people as functionally straight and are treated as such)

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This may be controversial, but I NEED allo folks to realize that “this act of kindness or caring PROVES they’re attracted to each other, it has NO other explanation” is a microaggression vs aromantic people

Yes, that even includes when you’re talking about ships

Yes, that includes when you’re making fun of “gals being pals” nonsense

People keep phrasing it like it’s an attack on heteronormativity, but each and every time it’s much more loudly saying, “Aromantic people are not capable of this kind of caring. And because no one would do this gesture for ‘just a friend,’ no one would do it for you.”

It doesn’t matter if that’s what you mean when you say it! When you mock the idea of platonic intimacy and frame it like something only an ignorant bigot would see, that’s the message we’re told day after day after day.

It’s so easy to just…say you enjoy a ship? Instead of going all “there is no other explanation” over every tidbit of human connection? Don’t put it on *us* to have to pipe up and point out that aromantic people could have connections like that too—your “uh well I GUESS it could be platonic (if you’re boring about it..)” isn’t as reassuring as you think it is.

(Also if you’re arospec and talk this way: Please be sympathetic to the fact that even if this doesn’t hit that nerve for you, it is for a LOT of other aro people.)

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Inspired by the brief period of time I thought I was polyamorous because I felt the same way about my boyfriend as I did my best friends and I hadn't clocked yet that all of those feelings were platonic

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"we need weirder queers" you guys couldnt even handle asexual people in 2016 (and probably still cant handle them)

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being aro is the best. it’s like Oh. I Literally Do Not Need To Put Myself Thru All That

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there are gay bars and lesbian bars and then “normal” straight bars so i think there should be aroace bars where absolutely none of that happens and we can sit there and discuss warhammer lore instead

i think that would be cool

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Hey... Hey if you say you support aspec people that means you also need to respect repulsed aspecs. Non-partnering aspecs. Loveless aspecs. Platonic aspecs. Other a-attraction aspecs. Old aspecs. Young aspecs. Aspecs who use labels you don't understand. Non-sam aspecs. Traumatized aspecs. Dysphoric aspecs.

You cannot only support part of the community. It's either all of us or none of us. You can't play favorites because one kind of aspec makes you feel more comfortable than others.

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The duality of "If you even imply that being aro or ace condemns someone to a sad and lonely life I will fucking fight you"

and

"being aro and ace is the most isolating thing I will ever experience"

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honestly my advice for people questioning if they're aro is kind of the same as my advice for people questioning if they're trans which is do less worrying about whether or not you inherently fall into this arbitrary category and do more considering what you want in and from your life. like ultimately deconstructing societal ideals of what relationships (or gender) should be like and figuring out what you want them to look like in your life is what matters and whether or not you experience romantic attraction is kind of immaterial

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i hope every autistic aro whos had their sexuality erased because of their neurodivergence has a lovely week and knows that their experience is valid and their erasure is wrong

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I wish a very happy aromantic spectrum awareness week to everyone on the aromantic spectrum! To me aromanticism is an orientation, a life philosophy, a political stance and a big fuck you to heteronormative and amatonormative society and I think that's beautiful! So shout-out to all aros, your experiences are worth sharing and your aromanticism should be celebrated!

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tbh it doesn't rly hurt teenagers to incorrectly id as ace like... what's the worst than could happen? they don't have sex till they're older?? lol

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Clearly Unpopular Asexual Opinion but: Trying to rebrand the asexual community as people who enjoy, obsess over, and participate in sex the socially expected amount while calling non-partnering and sex-repulsed aces "stereotypes" is not actually helping aces or the asexual community.

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Happy Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week! 💚🖤🤍 Made a meme for all of my fellow aros out there celebrating including myself.

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I saw a post I 99.9% agreed with but right at the end OP ruined it. Instead of replying to their post, I'll just make my own.

The original post was about a specific character and why OP believes the character isn't asexual. Fine, that's great. But then OP said "Trauma cannot cause sexuality/orientation", which means they don't think people who are asexual because of trauma are actually asexual.

I disagree with that.

So here is my statement: if you are ace, you are valid. It doesn't matter why you're ace. If you are ace because of trauma, you are valid. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.