Are You Aromantic? What Does That Mean?

Are You Aromantic? What Does That Mean?

For those of us who came out in later times, there were basically homosexuality and heterosexuality. Bisexuality was often met with eye rolls and it was assumed being bisexual meant you were just slow to coming out as gay. Now, there are many different definitions in the world of sexuality. A growing community in the sexual identity world is asexual and being aromantic. What does it mean, could you be aromantic?

There is a lot of misunderstanding around asexual and aromantic identities. Many assume it is a kind of affliction or emotional issue that can be cured. There was a study done overseas that found 23% of people think of asexuality as a mental issue and 31% believe it can be cured with therapy. 42% of people are under the belief that asexual people cannot have sex, this isn't the case. Sexual attraction is different than sexual behavior.

Being aromantic does not have a simple definition. Simply put, it is someone who feels little or no romantic feelings towards anyone. There are no butterflies in the stomach, there are no crushes, there is no falling in love. Many times, people who are aromantic feel uncomfortable and under pressure to conform to societal ideas towards romance. No, not everyone needs to fall in love in order to feel worth or to be important.

Being aromantic can be further broken down into the following terms:

• Lithoromantic: an aromantic under this designation can feel some sort of romantic feelings, but may not be interested in having any feelings reciprocated
• Greyromantic: these individuals feel romance on a less intense level, or maybe go through periods of feeling and not feeling romantic feelings
• Demiromantic: these types of aromantic individuals can only feel romance when a strong emotional bond has been created
• Cupioromantic: this designation is for people who may be curious about romance, but don't have the romantic feelings themselves
• Apothiromantic: this is the most extreme of aromantics, these individuals do not feel romance in any way

Most feelings of being aromantic are discounted by the assumption that someone just hasn't found the right person yet, or that they are intentionally being difficult and closed off to love. Not so. Besides being seen by society as strange, aromantics often focus on other elements in a friendship and are more careful about who they spend time with and the quality of a friendship, as it is not clouded by crushes or ignoring red flags to be in a relationship.

The stigma of being an aromantic is lifting as more people are beginning to understand more about that sexual identity. Do you sometimes feel like an aromantic?

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