Aromanticism


Aromanticism is a romantic orientation characterized by experiencing little to no romantic attraction. The term "aromantic", colloquially shortened to "aro", refers to a person whose romantic orientation is aromanticism.
It is distinct from, though often confused with, asexuality, the lack of sexual attraction.

Definition, identity and relationships

Aromanticism is defined as "having little or no romantic feeling towards others: experiencing little or no romantic desire or attraction". The term aromantic was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2018.
The opposite of aromanticism is, defined as a romantic orientation in which one experiences romantic love or romantic attraction to others. Some individuals who fall on the aromantic spectrum of identities describe themselves as having experienced romantic love or romantic attraction at some point. Such aromantics may adopt labels for more specific identities on the aromantic spectrum, such as "grayromantic" or "demiromantic". As the experience of romantic attraction is subjective, some aromantic people may find it difficult to determine whether they experience romantic attraction. As such, those who are aromantic may have trouble distinguishing platonic affection from romantic affection.
Aromantic people may form non-romantic relationships of all types, and may be able to enjoy sexual relationships. They may also choose to have children, and studies indicate that aromantic individuals are no less likely to have children than alloromantic individuals. This is because aromanticism is independent of sexuality or libido, and while many aromantic people are asexual, many are also allosexual. Aromantic individuals who are allosexual are called aromantic allosexuals or aroallos. Due to this, aromantic people who are not asexual can also identify with other sexual orientations, such as "aromantic bisexual" or "aromantic heterosexual". This split between romantic and sexual orientation is commonly explained as the split attraction model, which states that romantic and sexual attraction are not strictly linked for all people. Aromantic asexual people are colloquially known as "aro-ace" or "aroace".
Aromantic individuals are also able to experience platonic love and may have committed friendships, and some form intimate non-romantic partnerships called "queerplatonic relationships". Aromantic individuals may enter romantic relationships despite not feeling romantic attraction, and others under the aromantic spectrum such as those who identify as demiromantic may enter romantic relationships under limited circumstances. Individuals who do not experience platonic attraction are named as aplatonic. Aromantic individuals are also able to experience sensual attraction. Those who do not experience sensual attraction are called asensual. Of those who responded to the Aromantic Census 2020, 14.6% had been in a non-romantic partnership.
Some have argued that aromanticism is under-represented, under-researched, and frequently misunderstood.
In society at large, aromantic people are often stigmatized and stereotyped as being afraid of intimacy, heartless, or deluded. Amatonormativity, a neologism coined by philosopher and professor Elizabeth Brake, is defined as "the widespread assumption that everyone is better off in an exclusive, romantic, long-term coupled relationship, and that everyone is seeking such a relationship", can be particularly damaging to aromantics. Amatonormativity is said to be connected to devaluing familial, platonic, and queerplatonic friendships/relationships, and damaging to aromantics.
In the initialism LGBTQIA+, the A stands for aromanticism, alongside asexuality and agender.

Identities on the aromantic spectrum

As aromanticism exists as a spectrum, commonly referred to as the ', there are varying identities or labels that people on the aromantic spectrum identify with.
  • Aromantic – someone who experiences little to no romantic attraction.
  • Grayromantic – someone who may be experiencing romantic attraction rarely, only under certain circumstances, or only weakly.
  • Demiromantic – someone who experiences romantic attraction but only after forming a close non-romantic bond with the person.
  • Desinoromantic – an aromantic who experiences a crush for another person, but feelings never progress into romantic love.
  • Aegoromantic – someone who does not feel romantic attraction, but enjoys the depiction of romantic love.
  • Lithromantic – someone who experiences romantic attraction, but does not want it to be reciprocated and may lose that attraction if it is reciprocated.
  • Recipromantic – someone who experiences romantic attraction, but only after they know the other person is romantically attracted to them.
  • Cupioromantic – someone who does not experience romantic attraction, but desires a romantic relationship.
  • Aroflux – someone who experiences their romantic attraction to be shifting on the aromantic spectrum.
  • Frayromantic – someone who only experiences romantic attraction towards people they do not know and may lose romantic attraction towards them if they form a deeper connection with them.
  • Quoiromantic – someone who is uncertain if they experience romantic attraction or cannot tell if their feelings are romantic, sexual or platonic in nature.
  • Placioromantic – someone who feels little to no desire to receive romantic acts but has interest in performing them to someone else.
  • Apothiromantic – someone who does not experience romantic attraction and feels repulsed by romance or averse to romantic activities.
  • Requiesromantic''' – someone who does not experience romantic attraction because of emotional exhaustion.
Beyond the above listed commonly used terms that people on the aromantic spectrum may use to identify with, there are also a series of newer emerging terms that are not yet commonly used by the community.

Community

One of the earliest uses of the modern term "aromantic" dates back to 2005.
The early online community around aromanticism formed on the Asexual Visibility and Education Network, an online community around asexuality, and social media platforms such as Tumblr.
Since then a dedicated online community centered around aromanticism has formed online on Arocalypse.com as well as other social media platforms.
In order to gain wider acceptance and recognition, a volunteer formed organization, the ', was formed to increase recognition of and education on aromanticism and help people on the aromantic spectrum gain wider acceptance by the general public. AUREA is also the leading organizer of the annual Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week held in February.
Another community organization, ', focuses on providing resources around both asexuality and aromanticism to the public. They do so by creating and hosting workshops, developing educational materials, and engaging in outreach within the LGBTQIA+ community and general public. The organization has also written a book titled Ace and Aro Journeys: A Guide to Embracing your Asexual or Aromantic Identity that was published in April 2023.

Symbols

The was created in 2014 by Cameron Whimsy. The main color, green, was chosen as it is the opposite of red, which is most commonly associated with romantic love. The two shades of green represent the aromantic spectrum, white represents platonic love and friendship, and grey and black represent the different parts of the sexuality spectrum.
A may be worn on one's left middle finger to indicate one's identity on the aromantic spectrum.
This was chosen as the opposite of the ace ring which is a black ring worn on the right hand.
Another symbol often used by aromantic people is arrows or an arrow, as the word arrow is a homophone to the shortened word "aro" used by aromantic people to refer to themselves.

Events

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week is held annually during the first full week after Valentine's Day. In 2025, it was observed from February 16–22.
The event was first recognized from November 10–17, 2014, and was subsequently moved to February in 2015 to be held the week after Valentine's Day. It is an awareness period that was created to celebrate, raise awareness of, and bring acceptance to aromantic spectrum identities and the issues people on the aromantic spectrum face. ASAW is led and organized by the Aromantic-spectrum Union for Recognition, Education, and Advocacy and members of the aromantic community.
ASAW has been officially recognized by a handful of states in the United States including Washington State.

Aromantic Visibility Day

The first annual was held on 5 June 2023. It was organized by a call to action on Twitter to give visibility to people on the aromantic spectrum using the Hashtag #AromanticVisibilityDay and spread across social media including Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, reddit and various online forums and a cover interview by Hello! magazine with aromantic-asexual author Alice Oseman.

Cultural representation

Aromanticism is rarely depicted in media,

Books and literature

As aromanticism is slowly becoming more widely recognized and accepted, additional literature about it is being published.
TAAAP created a list of book recommendations as part of the Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week 2022.
Some other famous aromantic writers are Alice Oseman and Darcie Little Badger. Oseman's young adult novel Loveless focuses on a college freshman as she learns about her aroace identity.

Non-fiction

A series of non-fiction books concerning aromanticism have been published since 2023:
  • Sounds Fake But Okay: An Asexual and Aromantic Perspective on Love, Relationships, Sex, and Pretty Much Anything Else
  • Ace and Aro Journeys: A Guide to Embracing Your Asexual or Aromantic Identity
  • Hopeless Aromantic: An Affirmative Guide to Aromanticism
  • ''Ending the Pursuit: Asexuality, Aromanticism, and Agender Identity''