What's Going On: November 2020
Are you online?
Back in March AUREA announced a brand new Aromantic Census, focused on gaining knowledge and understanding of and about the aromantic community. Now, eight months later, we’re assembling our volunteer team and getting ready to start analysing the results. To that end, we’ll be closing the census at 11:59pm EST, on November the 30th. If you haven’t participated yet and would like to, now is your last chance! We’d very much love to hear from you, so head on over to the census, which can be found here.
As we draw closer and closer to the end of the year we welcome back Aggressively Arospectacular, a week long event promoting the creation of original content in arospec communities! Running from the 8th to the 14th of November people can submit ANY original creative content by tagging it as #AggressivelyArospectacular on tumblr, or sending a link through the submission box of the Aggressively Arospec tumblr page. For more information, feel free to check out their announcement post!
The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project (TAAAP) Pride Chats are still going strong, with October’s topic of choice being ‘Activism’. To make the chats more accessible, they now have a DreamWidth community page as well as their Discord, and you are more than welcome to participate in whatever way is most comfortable to you. If you want to keep up to date on this month’s chat topic and how to participate, feel free head on over to TAAAP’s page and register.
Last month we put out an invitation for those in the U.S. to join the Inclusive Equality Act Coalition, a group trying to make the proposed Equality Act more inclusive by updating the legal definition of the term ‘Sexual Orientation’. In its current form the term covers just ‘homosexuality, heterosexuality and bisexuality’, and excludes many of the less recognised orientations, as well as leaveing little room to recognise a shifting understanding of sexuality in the future. You can help this cause and make your voice be heard by writing to congress or making posts on social media using the hashtag #InclusiveEqualityAct. For more information on how to spread the word, feel free to visit their page and find out how you can help.
Although both have since passed, The University of Michigan and Florida State University are both jumping on the zoom event trend, with an online ace and aro game night and a diversity presentation focused on the aromantic and asexual spectrums respectively. Fingers crossed they both garnered enough interest for similar events in the future!
The Trevor Project has released a research brief on asexuality and ace spectrum youth using data gathered from their 2020 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health. While the brief is almost solely about asexuality, it does reveal that 13% of asexuals also identify as aromantic.
Out and about?
Kenyon College in Gambier Ohio has a quickly growing new organisation on campus. The Ace Space and Aro Place (ASAP) aims to create a safe place for students who identity as aromantic and/or asexual, as well as to provide education outreach to those who don’t. Founded last year, the group recently hosted a panel for Ace Week, and plan to do similar for ASAW next February. ASAP’s co-president, Nyandeng Juag, is ‘happy about where the organization is heading and excited that asexual and aromantic identities are becoming better understood’.
QMUNITY, a Vancouver based non-profit, has released an inclusion statement updating their official acronym use. QMUNITY will now use the expanded LGBTQ2SAI+ acronym, standing and recognising for: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, 2S (Two-Spirit), Asexual/Aromantic and Intersex, with the plus sign at the end to reflect ‘that our programs, services and own understandings of sexuality and gender must continue to be expansive and reflective of the millions of ways intimacy, relationships, love, gender, sex, and orientations are expressed.’ We are delighted by QMUNITY’s recognition of aromantic identities, and their commitment to helping and supporting the aromantic community.
Aros in the Media
Triple J, an ABC radio station in Australia, is curious about what it means if you’ve never been in love. In a recent article they discussed the pervasiveness of love in modern culture, and what it might feel like or mean if you’ve never experienced it for yourself. It’s a refreshing look at not just aromanticism, but several reasons why people may not have ever been ‘in love’, and how that’s perfectly ok.
The Atlantic takes an in-depth look at the idea that romance doesn’t have to be life’s central meaning. They talk with many people who instead prioritise their friendships over romantic partners, a concept many aromantics are more than familiar with. While the article isn’t about aromantics as such, and the term queerplatonic is used only once, it’s a good read that covers all manner of information about platonic friendships and the people who centre them in their lives.
Continuing on a similar theme, The Guardian delved into platonic co-parenting and the concept of ‘mating sites’, websites designed to help people find someone to have children with (romance not always included). Popular among queer couples looking for sperm or egg doners, these sites are now on the rise with others looking to have children, many of whom aren’t interested in involving romance in the process. The article is a heart-warming and interesting look at a growing alternative to the traditional idea of a family.
We at AUREA love a good read, so it’s a good thing we’ve found this book list centering aromantic and/or asexual characters. With 83 recommendations you’re sure to find something new to read, so head on over to check it out and repopulate your to-do list!
Aromantics Address
Recently AUREA released the finished piece for our ‘My QPR’ project, a collection of your thoughts on what a queerplatonic relationship meant for you. These reader submitted narratives detail personal stories, thoughts and feelings, and provide a fascinating look into the lived experiences of those in a QPR. Our deepest thanks to everyone who submitted a response to the project!