We are thrilled to announce that The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project will be representing asexuality and aromanticism at Pride events throughout the DC and Mid-Atlantic region! Below are a list of events and dates. If you are in the area and would like to join us, just send us a message at [email protected]. The more, the merrier!
Continue reading “TAAAP at Pride 2019”A Reflection on the Carnival of Aros
After reading the entries to February’s Carnival of Aros prompt and many of the discussions that followed, we would like to start this post by apologizing for choosing a topic that alienated some aros. Most of us here at TAAAP are aroaces, and we did not do enough to seek out the opinions of aros who are not part of or do not feel included in the ace community.
We want to do better in the future, and we are starting by reflecting on the Carnival of Aros. The following post contains our thoughts on the events leading up to the launch of the Carnival of Aros, the Carnival itself, and the discussions that have followed.
Continue reading “A Reflection on the Carnival of Aros”February 2019 Carnival Round-up: The Relationship Between the Aro and Ace Communities
Thank you to everyone who participated in this joint blogging event between the Carnival of Aces and the newly-formed Carnival of Aros!
We hope that this event is just the beginning of the conversation on this topic, so we encourage everyone to read through other’s posts and respond with your thoughts. Even if you find this years down the line, if you have thoughts on the topic you should feel free to voice them!
We are looking forward to seeing the true start of the Carnival of Aros as a separate blogging event next month! Check out the March 2019 call for submissions on the Aromanticism Dreamwidth here, with the topic, “It’s Great to Be Aro!” The Carnival of Aces is also continuing separately in March, hosted by Controlled Abandon, with the topic, “Symbols of Identity.”
Below are all the submissions we have received, along with a short summary of each. Please let us know if we missed anything!
Continue reading “February 2019 Carnival Round-up: The Relationship Between the Aro and Ace Communities”Who Should Be Doing Aro Advocacy?
This post is TAAAP’s submission to the February 2019 Carnival of Aros/Carnival of Aces, which we are hosting. Read our call for submissions here.
The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project was founded about a year and a half ago as The Asexual Awareness Project. Our mission, which started as a simple desire to have aces march at pride and to help aces gain recognition at the Creating Change conference, expanded organically over time. One of the ways it expanded was to include aromanticism fully and equally alongside asexuality.
Continue reading “Who Should Be Doing Aro Advocacy?”Submission #3: The Relationship Between the Aro and Ace Communities
The following is a submission by Iz N. for the February 2019 Carinival of Aros/Carnival of Aces.
I’m asexual and aromantic, and have identified as such for about eight years now. I have mixed feelings about how I fit in with both identities. I’m much quicker to id as ace, if I say anything beyond just “queer”. I think that’s because it’s easier to know I don’t feel sexual attraction than romantic attraction. Sexual attraction, after all, feels like a physical reaction, which, while murky, is at least relatively simple to pin down. This is particularly true since I have a libido, so I know what sexual arousal feels like – it’s just not aimed at anyone.
Continue reading “Submission #3: The Relationship Between the Aro and Ace Communities”Submission #2: Musings of a (Chinese) dragon
This post is a submission by Blaise to the February 2019 Carnival of Aros/Carnival of Aces.
Sometimes I feel like the mythical Chinese dragon, in which I am Chinese, nonbinary, aromantic and asexual. Having all of these identities, it’s already hard for me to connect with others in the communities I can participate in. Especially the aro and ace communities.
Now, despite technically being an “asexual, period,” I’m one to emphasize my aromanticism when talking about my lived experiences and see the world under an aro-leaning lens. My time in the aro and ace communities haven’t been long, I’ll admit, but I think I’ve seen enough changes going on in the two communities to finally conclude that I don’t feel a sense of belonging in the ace community, despite being ace. (Not much with the aro and nonbinary communities either, but that’s besides the point I’m trying to make.)
Continue reading “Submission #2: Musings of a (Chinese) dragon”Submission #1: The Relationship Between the Aro and Ace Communities
The following post is an anonymous submission to this month’s joint Carnival of Aros and Carnival of Aces event.
As someone who is both asexual and on the aromantic spectrum, I always felt some disconnection to the asexual community. My asexuality might be a part of who I am but my romantic orientation is what I keep thinking about.
My asexuality is simple to me, I don’t feel sexual attraction and I’m sex-indifferent and sometimes sex-positive. My romantic orientation is complicated, I don’t know the circumstances that cause me to be romantically attracted to someone, I don’t know what genders I’m attracted to, sometimes I’m repulsed by romance but most of the time just bored by it. I’ve known I’m ace since I heard the term for the first time while I’ve been using more labels for my romantic orientation than I can remember.
Well, I guess everyone got what I mean by now.
Continue reading “Submission #1: The Relationship Between the Aro and Ace Communities”The Relationship Between the Aro and Ace Communities – Call for Submissions
We would like to invite any and all people who identify on the aromantic spectrum, asexual spectrum, or both to write a blog post on the topic, “The Relationship Between the Aro and Ace Communities.” This will be a joint blogging event between the Carnival of Aros and the Carnival of Aces, and all posts are due by the end of February. Please read on to learn more.
Continue reading “The Relationship Between the Aro and Ace Communities – Call for Submissions”Queering Relationships: Aromantic and Asexual Perspectives
Aromantic and asexual people often find that they “pick and choose” aspects of the significant relationships that they form. Developed by members of TAAAP for Creating Change 2019, this presentation reviews how aromantic and asexual people approach relationships and how all people can use these approaches to form fulfilling relationships without being tied to existing relationship models. This will help present new, practical approaches to consent and the gender and financial dynamics that are a part of any relationship.
Continue reading “Queering Relationships: Aromantic and Asexual Perspectives”Introducing: The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project
We have changed our name to reflect our evolving mission, and we appreciate your patience as we make our transition.
The Asexual Awareness Project was founded a little over a year ago by a handful of members of the Asexuals of the Mid-Atlantic. We wanted to do more to further ace advocacy goals by marching in Capital Pride and increasing the visibility of asexuality at Creating Change 2018. At the time, we weren’t quite able to predict how our mission would grow beyond those two goals.
Over the past year, our efforts have organically expanded to include aromanticism — and not just as a component of many aces’ identities. There are people who identify on the aromantic spectrum who are not also ace, as well as aces who find their aromanticism to be a more significant part of their identity than their asexuality. Ace-focused advocacy tends to leave these people behind. We want to explore aromanticism as the independent orientation it is, and eventually we realized that our old name was inadequate in representing this goal.
Continue reading “Introducing: The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project”