Aromantic

Disclaimer: People can experience identities in different ways. As such, people can identify with a label without exactly matching the definition because identities are fluid.

Aromantic (often shortened to "aro") is a term used by people who experience little, no, and/or conditional romantic attraction. Aromantic people may still experience other forms of attraction and can be any gender; the term only refers to a person's romantic orientation. Aromantic is also an umbrella term for identities that are on the aromantic spectrum (see more in the Related Identities section).

Some aromantic people date and/or pursue other types of relationships (such as queerplatonic ones), and some are not interested in any kind of relationship (aside from ones with friends, family, etc.) Some aromantic people enjoy romance (they are romance-favorable), some feel negatively about it (romance-repulsed and/or romance-averse), some feel neutral about it (romance-indifferent), and some have mixed feelings about it (romance-ambivalent).

People who are not aromantic are alloromantic.

The following quote is from an anonymous student at Lehigh University, who is aromantic:

"Some people know that they have no interest in romance from a young age, but I didn't. As a child, whenever I would mention someone of the opposite sex, my parents would always jokingly ask me who they were in the way friends would ask their friends about their crushes. This led me to believe that I had to be interested in people just because they were members of the opposite sex. That messed up the way I perceived those types of friendships and I am still struggling with it in college. One of the main reasons I am getting better with that is because I have realized that I am aromantic. It made me enjoy my friendships more because I wasn't as focused on romance as the rest of society. I feel free from the societal pressure to fall in love and it has made me feel better about focusing on myself and friends instead of searching for love."

The aromantic pride flag was created by Tumblr user Cameron Whimsy in 2014 to replace the old aromantic pride flag. The old flag, which was proposed on the National Coalition for Aromantic Visibility website (now defunct) around 2011, received criticism since it did not include the entire aromantic spectrum, but included alloromantic people. Before the current design was adopted, the original alternative that Cameron Whimsy proposed had a yellow stripe instead of a white stripe.

Each color of the aromantic flag has its own meaning (except the greens together represent one thing, as do gray and black):

• Green and light green: the aromantic spectrum
• White: the importance and validity of all non-romantic forms of love and relationships, including platonic and aesthetic attractions and queerplatonic relationships
• Gray and black: sexuality spectrum

The color green was chosen since it is the opposite of red, which is often associated with romance.

• The Aromantic-spectrum Union for Recognition, Education, and Advocacy (AUREA) provides resources and research about aromanticism and the aromantic spectrum.
• The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project (TAAAP) offers resources on both aromanticism and asexuality with the goal of increasing visibility for both identities.
• Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week (ASAW) provides a list titled "Aro 101 and Resources" for learning about aromanticism and connecting with aromantic people.
• Arocalypse is an online forum for people on the aromantic spectrum.

Sources:

• LGBTQIA+ Fandom Wiki's "Aromantic" page
• Queerdom Wiki's "Romance-Favorable" page
• Queerdom Wiki's "Romance-Repulsed" page
• Queerdom Wiki's "Romance-Averse" page
• Queerdom Wiki's "Romance-Indifferent" page
• Queerdom Wiki's "Romance-Ambivalent" page
• Asexual.net's "Aromantic flag and symbols explained"
• Aromantics Fandom Wiki's "Aromantic" page
• LGBTQIA+ Fandom Wiki's "Aromantic spectrum" page

Images:

• "Aromantic flag" by Cameron Whimsy, public domain
• "Aromantic flag (original)" by Nikki, licensed under CC0 1.0
• "Second Aromantic Flag" by Cameron Whimsy, licensed under CC0 1.0