Aromantic people are those who feel romantic attraction to others rarely, never, or only under specific circumstances, the same way Asexual people feel sexual attraction. This is a romantic orientation counterpart to asexuality, with the same spectrum of gray-spectrum identitiesnote , but while asexuality and aromanticism are almost exclusively seen together in fiction, someone who identifies with one term does not necessarily identify with the other. Aromantic individuals who still feel sexual attraction are referred to as "aromantic allosexuals", or "aroallo" for short.
Aromantic people can and sometimes do engage in romantic relationships, whether attraction is there or not. Romance and dating can be fun, so regardless of any pull and attraction to any specific person, aromantics may choose to have romantic relationships. However, it is also true that aromantic people are less likely to prioritize romance the way alloromanticsnote do. Aromantics are likely to fear being alone or loneliness, and being Alone Among the Couples.
Since society is centered around building romantic partnerships for life and having children,note life can be difficult for people uninterested in such things, especially if they remain single. While the negative stereotypes around lack of romantic attraction lead many aromantics to be asked constantly if they even have friends, aromantic people have friends and often prioritize those relationships more highly than alloromantics, since they're less inclined to prioritize romance just because it is romance.
Another relationship that is most recognized in the aromantic community and prized there is a queerplatonic or quasiplatonic relationship: a life partnership without romance that is also not quite friendship. While they may look like romantic relationships to alloromantic people, many aromantics clearly distinguish the terms and relationships.
Queerplatonic relationships are often abbreviated as "QPR" and queerplatonic partners are abbreviated as "QPPs." A queerplatonic partner may also be affectionately called a "zucchini," but the term is not as common as it used to be.
Aromantic characters, like asexual characters, suffer a dearth of explicit representation, especially in mainstream media. When aromantics exist at all, they are often portrayed as cold, The Stoic, heartless individuals like those covered by No Love for the Wicked, or perhaps robots or aliens who don't quite understand love regardless. Nonetheless, plenty of real humans are aromantic, and not being romantically attracted to others impacts other emotions in no way.
This is a negative stereotype that hurts the community. Other common misconceptions of aromantic people include being friendless, as if romantic attraction is required to have platonic relationships as well, having mere Commitment Issues, that they're an Intentional Heartbreaker, and incapable of meaningful relationships.
While aromanticism has many shades of gray to it, including only experiencing romantic attraction after getting to know someone emotionallynote or intellectuallynote , romantic attraction that quickly fadesnote , or exclusively to unavailable or fictional peoplenote , fiction almost exclusively portrays aromantics as uninterested in romance and experiencing no attractions at all.
The aromantic community has few symbols, but they may include arrows or bows (a play on the shortened "aro" form of the term, and an intentional defiance of the common "cupid" association), anything green, and a white ring on the left middle finger, taken from asexuality's black ring on the right middle finger. An ace of spades is common for aromantic asexuals in particular.
Tropes that may be associated with aromanticism include:
- Alone Among the Couples: The one single person in a world of romantic couples is a common feeling for aromantic people.
- Better as Friends: Characters who have tried romance and decided they didn't like it can come across as aromantic.
- Celibate Eccentric Genius: Any character who eschews romance is likely to end up being called aromantic for one reason or another.
- Celibate Hero: While this is also an Asexual trope, the lack of romance inherent in most of these characters cause them to look a lot like aromantic characters.
- Chaste Hero: This trope and its place in portraying a character who is not in-tune with romance or sex frequently makes them look like an aromantic asexual.
- Commitment Issues: A negative assumption about many aromantic people is simply that they're scared of romance or committing to a relationship.
- Confirmed Bachelor: A character who doesn't want to get married? Bingo, common among aromantics. Although many aromantics do get married (even if only for the tax benefits!) or have partnered relationships of some kind, characters who stay resolutely single often register as aromantic.
- Did You Think I Can't Feel?: In defiance of common assumptions, aromantic people have a full range of feelings and are just as likely as alloromantic people to have large, emotional hearts.
- Friends with Benefits: Since aromantic people may well feel sexual attraction, an amicable relationship for sex without romance is appealing to some.
- Intentional Heartbreaker: An unfortunate stereotype of aromantic people (and asexual people) is that they lead alloromantics on, often by simply existing, while being uninterested in a romantic relationship.
- Maiden Aunt: Oftentimes, characters who have no significant love life throughout their entire life will come across as aromantic, intentionally or not.
- Married to the Job: A common stereotype of aromantic people is simply having more time for things like work or hobbies than dating and romance.
- Mistaken for Romance: Being mistaken for being in a romantic relationship is as common for aromantic people in real life and in fiction, especially aromantic people who are very close to their friends or have a QPP.
- No Love for the Wicked: A character who feels neither sexual nor romantic attraction and is portrayed as monstrous, villainous, or otherwise heartless because of it.
- Oblivious to Love: Aromantics are frequently as unaware of romantic cues as asexuals are to sexual ones.
- Platonic Life-Partners: This regularly appears to an aromantic audience like a Queerplatonic Relationship.
- Pragmatic Pansexuality: Sleeping with someone that they're not actually interested in to further their own goals? If they're not interested in anyone, they're likely to come across as aromantic and asexual (or even be aromantic and/or asexual canonically), especially a villainous aromantic asexual.
- Unwanted Harem: What kind of person wouldn't want a harem? The kind who isn't attracted to anyone.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: A common source of Unfortunate Implications based on stereotypes, aromantic characters may often be portrayed as nonhumans with a complete lack of understanding of or ability to feel human love, or even emotion more generally. While actual aromantic people may have difficulty understanding the definitions and experiences, many people of any romantic orientation find the experience confusing.
