What’s Going On: August 2019
Written by the AUREA Team
Word count: 738
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Are you online?
AUREA is happy to report that we have joined social media! Now that our website has been up and running for a few weeks, we wanted to extend our reach a little and make it easier for other aros to interact and follow up with us. It's hard to believe we launched back in June now! Follow us on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook to see updates about our language translation, new pamphlets, and monthly feed posts.
Aces & aros is a grassroots nonprofit organization with its heart set on strengthening communities and changing lives. If you like the sound of that they’re looking for volunteers! This is an online opportunity for North American a-specs, from Hawaii to Newfoundland. Their planned projects include an array of writing, a social media presence, graphic design, community outreach, and coalition building. By all accounts they’d love to have you.
The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project has released their Pride Recap, summarizing the Pride events they attended in June and how they represented a-specs.
Carnival of Aros was unfortunately absent last month and we apologize for saying that it would be on. That was wishful thinking on our part! We’ve spoken with the scheduled host for August and they’re hopeful the Carnival will go ahead this month but nothing has been confirmed. Fingers crossed!
Finally, not so much an event, but something to publicize nonetheless: voidpunk is on the urban dictionary. Don’t know voidpunk is? Click the link. How handy is that? While not noted on the entry this subculture was created by Arotaro on Tumblr.
Out and about?
For those of you near Liverpool, England, this month there is a plethora of meetups for you to attend. Stop by a board game cafe on the 11th, an a-spec evening on the 20th, a lovely afternoon chat on the 24th, and a Manchester Day trip on the 31st! RVSP and you’re all set.
We’ve got words
Arogray - describes a person who is aromantic or on the aromantic spectrum while also being grey-asexual. An arogray person may feel like they fall under aromanticism and in between allo- and a-sexuality.
Coined by: arogray (original, archived)
Aros in the media
Yasmin’s story by Pink News
“If I ever see that flag flying I know there is someone I can relate to.”
An interview with activist Yasmin Benoit on her experience being aromantic and asexual.
Roger’s story by Pink News
“I first realised I was aromantic when I was in a very long-term relationship and realised that I was being very cold and couldn't feel the romanticism.”
An interview with Roger for the Many Voices of Pride campaign. He talks about his experience being Mexican and aromantic.
Priya by Sue Kerr
“Don’t make your communities just for gay & trans people. Don’t expect queer to mean those two things only. Don’t make lgbtq spaces just about sex or dating.”
An interview with activist Priya for AMPLIFY LGBTQ. She discusses her experience growing up aromantic and what she would like to see change in the future.
Aromantics address
Romantic Ambivalence Survey - This survey is for those of you without a romantic orientation, people who identify with WTFromanticism or quoiromanticism to any degree, and those who struggle with the concept of romance, romantic orientation, or romantic attraction. The aim is to discover which labels are popular, what people are using those labels to mean, and how these identities may or may not intersect. The survey is open until the 20th of August.
Introducing A OK, a relatively new podcast hosted by Courtney Lang who interviews a-specs about themselves. Each episode feels like a chat with good friends! Lang aims to increase representation, share stories, and make us a-specs feel a little more OK about ourselves. New episodes air on Fridays.
The oriented aroace label is discussed, from the perspective of grey folks. They explain that the term is rooted in anti-grey sentiment that draws arbitrary divisions in identity.
The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project has released the recording and transcript for the Overlooked Identities in Queer Community panel from the Human Rights Conference. Speakers include Laura G of TAAAP, Alex (Arotaro on Tumblr) - the aro allo flag and voidpunk creator, Isabel Nathan - a founding member of TAAAP, and the wildly experienced activist Axel Keating (Axelkeating).
A thread on what kinds of relationships aros want. Spoilers: everyone wants something different.