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Aromantic

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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. 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'.

Pronunciation


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.

History

The term aromantic was first coined in an AVEN thread titled 'Relationship Definitions' in June 2005.[1] 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.

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