Demiromantic
Definiton
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.
Demiromantic (often shortened to "demi" or "demiro") is a term used by people who only experience romantic attraction after developing an emotional connection or bond with someone. The nature of the bond can vary from person to person, but possibilities include friendship, a sexual connection, and/or other forms or combinations of forms. Forming an emotional bond with someone creates the possibility for a demiromantic person to feel romantic attraction, but does not guarantee it will occur. Demiromantic falls on the aromantic spectrum, so demiromantic people may also identify as aromantic. Demiromantic people may experience other forms of attraction and can be any gender; the term only refers to a person's romantic orientation.
Other definitions of demiromantic include only experiencing limited romantic attraction or falling somewhere between aromantic and alloromantic. These definitions can overlap with ones for grayromantic.
Demiromantic people can identify with another romantic orientation to describe the gender(s) of the people they eventually feel attraction to. They may even add "demi-" to the beginning of another romantic orientation label they identify with. Demiromantic people may also identify with another label on the aromantic spectrum, such as grayromantic.
Flag History and Meaning
The origin of the demiromantic pride flag is disputed. Some sources say it was created by pride-flags on Tumblr on September 30, 2014. Others say it was created by Tumblr user Queer as Cat in 2015. People believe was based off of the demisexual flag, the aromantic flag, and The Asexual Visibility & Education Network's logo.
The colors of the demiromantic flag do not have official meanings, but they are assumed to be similar to those of the aromantic flag. Some possibilities include:
- Black: the whole sexuality spectrum
- White: platonic and aesthetic attraction, queerplatonic relationships, being outside the straight-gay and male-female binaries
- Green: demiromanticism, the aromantic spectrum
- Gray: grayromanticism and demiromanticism
Related Identities
Demiromantic is an umbrella term and can include labels such as:
- Amanteromantic
- Apexromantic
- Apresromantic
- Communicoromantic
- Demipleasure
- Demiromanticspike
- Delloromantic
- Encephaloromantic
- Koinikoromantic
- Sequenceromantic
- Vallisromantic
Demiromantic is related to labels such as:
- Demisexual
- Demian (demi-aroace)
Demiromantic can also fall under these umbrella terms:
- Aromantic
- Grayromantic
- Fluid
- Queer
Additional Resources
- Them's "What Does It Mean to Be Demiromantic?" defines and answers questions about demiromanticism, and provides common experiences that demiromantic people may have.
- "Demiromantic explained - What it means, signs, and where it fits on the aromantic spectrum" from Fluently Aspec on YouTube is a short video describing demiromanticism.
- Since demiromantic falls on the aromantic spectrum, you can also check out the Additional Resources section from the Aromantic page.
Sources and Image Attribution
Sources:
- LGBTQIA+ Fandom Wiki's "Demiromantic" page
- LGBTQIA+ Wiki's "Demiromantic" page
- UBC Equity & Inclusion Office's "Pride Flags" page
Images:
- "Demiromantic flag" by MarcoSnail, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
