Aromantic

Aromantic (often shortened to Aro) is a romantic orientation defined by a lack of romantic attraction, or a lack of desire for romantic relationships. Romantic attraction is often defined as the desire to be in a romantic relationship and/or do romantic acts with a specific person. For non-Aromantic people (Alloromantics) romantic attraction is involuntary and even occurs when someone doesn't know the other person (though one might not act on it). Aromantic people do not have an innate desire to be in a romantic relationship. They might also feel disconnected from the idea of romance.

While there is some misconception of Aromantics being "loveless" and "heartless", a person being Aromantic does not necessarily say if the person is capable, or incapable, of love. Some Aros may widen the meaning of love and embrace it in other ways, like platonic friendships, familial relationships, and etc. Others may embrace the identity of loveless to declare that love is not necessary for one to be happy, rejecting the notion that love is needed for one to be human.

The term "Aromantic" may also be used as an umbrella term, referring to anyone on the Aro Spectrum.

Etymology
The term aromantic uses the Latin prefix a- which means 'a lack of'.

Romantic Attraction
Due to the ambiguous nature of romantic attraction it can sometimes be difficult to identify when one is aromantic. Romantic attraction is sometimes defined by the actions that one takes during a relationship, such as holding hands, kissing, or cuddling. However, none of these activities alone necessarily indicate romantic attraction. These actively are only considered romantic if one personally considers them romantic in nature and does them with romantic intent. An aromantic person might enjoy some or all of these activities in non-romantic contexts, but does not like them in romantic context. Because of this some queerplatonic relationships or close friendships can sometimes resemble or be mistaken for a romantic relationship; with the difference being that in a queerplatonic relationship the participants agree that it is non-romantic, and in a romantic relationship the participants agree that it is romantic in nature. Therefore, the nature of a relationship is best defined by the intentions of the participants. If one or any partners feels romantic attraction and all partners agree to a romantic context, then the relationship is considered romantic.

This can make it difficult to identify when one is aromantic, especially when one has trouble distinguishing between romantic feelings and platonic feelings. If this is the case one might identify as platoniromantic, idemromantic, nebularomantic, sensualarian or quoiromantic.

Other forms of attraction
Because Aromanticism revolves around romance specifically, Aros may still feel other non-romantic attraction. Aros who experience platonic attraction may describe their "platonic crushes" as a "squish". While those who do not experience platonic attraction may call themself Aplatonic.

Aside from platonic attraction, some Aromantic people may also experience other tertiary attractions, which are attractions outside of sexual and romantic, and may use specific labels to describe this attraction. Examples of tertiary attractions include aesthetic, platonic, and sensual attraction.

Some Aromantics desire romantic relationships, while others dont. For those who don't, they may find intimate companionship in their non-romantic relationships, like queerplatonic relationships, platonic life partners, and others. They may also be content with themself, and don't need, or don't want, an intimate relationship at all, in which case they may call themself Nonamorous.

An Aromantic person can have any sexual orientation, including Allosexual (in which case they also may identify with Alloaro) and Asexual (in which case they may also identify as Aroace). Aros may identify with a sexual orientation in addition to the label of Aromantic to specify who they're interested in sexually, if anyone. For example, a Heterosexual Aromantic person is sexually attracted to people of a different gender, but is not romantically attracted to them. Not all Aromantics identify with a sexual orientation, some may identify primarily or only as Aromantic (Non-SAM Aro/Aro Neu).

Romantic dispositions among Aromantic people can vary. Some Aromantics enjoy and may seek out a romantic relationship despite not feeling the romantic attraction (Cupioromantic), while thers may be repulsed by the concept of romance, either as a concept applicable to themselves or in general. Terms like Romance-Repulsed, Romance-Averse, Romance-Indifferent, Romance-Favorable, or Romance-Ambivalent are commonly used to describe these feelings.

History
The term aromantic was first coined in an AVEN thread titled 'Relationship Definitions' in June 2005. While this is not the first use of the split attraction model it is one of the first mentions of the term Aromantic. After this there is very little mention of Aromanticism until 2010, when Aromanticism begin to gain a community on AVEN.

Flags
The most widely known and widely used Aromantic flag is the five striped green and monochrome flag made by tumblr user CameronWhimsy on August 22, 2014. The flag was a redesign of VameronWhimsy's first flag proposal where the white was originally a yellow stripe, the one made one February 7, 2014. It was changed due to it causing sensory problems for certain individuals. The meaning of the stripe changed from the first initial concept to what it represents now.
 * Green and Light Green : The Aromantic Spectrum and every identity under it.
 * White : The platonic stripe, representing friendship, aesthetic attraction, queerplatonic relationships, family, and the importance and validity of all non-romantic relationships, feelings, and forms of love.
 * Grey and Black : The sexuality stripe, representing the diversity of every Aro's sexual identities.

The first proposed Aromantic flag, the one that came from the old Aromantic.org website, had four stripes. Green, because it's the opposite of red, the most commonly associated romance color. Yellow, representing platonic love, because yellow roses represent friendship. Orange, for Greyromantics, because it's in between red and yellow. And black, representing Alloromantics that "reject traditional ideas of romance".

Another aromantic flag was coined by Cryptocrew at Hayden000s request on January 16, 2021 and was first published on a post one day later. The yellow flower represents platonic love or alterous/queerplatonic and desires, dark green represents lack of romantic attraction, light green represents the greyromantic spectrum, the black represents a disconnect or disinterest in romantic acts, the upside-down white hearts represent community and how aromantic people can love, just not how people expect them to.

Symbols
There are several other symbols used to represent aromantics and aromantic love. One is an arrow, due to aromantic often being shortened to aro, which is pronounced the same way. Like asexuals, aromantics also use the symbol of the spades to represent themselves, and aroace people especially use the ace of spades. Also similar to asexuals, some aromantic people wear a white ring on the middle finger of their left hand (the opposite hand of the black asexual ring). Aromantics have also started using the symbol of a green heart, representing non-romantic love. An older, lesser used, symbol is an aardvark which seems to have originated from a meme.