Part 1: definitions
Aromantic (or “Aro”) Awareness Week is an annual celebration of those who identify on the aromantic spectrum. Aro Week takes place in the last full week of February, which for 2024 is February 18-24.
Aromanticism is broadly defined as a romantic orientation characterized by the experience of little-to-no romantic attraction, and this spectrum covers other identities including (but not limited to) demiromantic, grayromantic, and many other identities. Though aromanticism is often confused with asexuality, the two are distinctly separate, as shown in my helpful Venn Diagram. It’s important to remember that whether someone is allosexual & aromantic (experiences sexual attraction but little or no romantic attraction), alloromantic & asexual (experiences romantic attraction but little or no romantic attraction), or both aromantic and asexual (experiences little or no romantic nor sexual attraction), their identity is valid.
Part 2: Personal Experience
As someone who is both aromantic and asexual, it often feels as though you’re separated from others, or even from society as a whole. In some ways, it’s true! Not experiencing sexual and romantic attraction creates a fairly unique experience, even among the LGBTQ+ community. In a world that elevates sex and romance to the pinnacle of human experience, that sets true love, marriage, and children as the absolute goal of life, not connecting with that can be extremely isolating. Of course, both aromantic and asexual people can fall in love, get married, and have children – the identities describe a lack of attraction, not lack of ability – but in my experience, those who identify on the aromantic or asexual spectrums are less likely to seek out or crave that kind of connection. Even though I’ve only identified myself as aro-ace for around two years now, both the identities and the celebration of them as valid parts of the LGBTQ+ community are very important to me. Aro week is a reminder of that during a month that’s traditionally very much associated with sex and romance (yes, I mean Valentine’s Day – which is great; relationships should be celebrated, they’re an integral part of many people’s lives, but the capitalism and consumerism demonstrated by the all-out decorations in every department store get exhausting to say the least).
I struggled to put it into words for a while, but when you’re aro-ace (or fall anywhere on either spectrum), you’ll find that so much of modern media (tv shows, books, movies, music… even commercials) is themed around romance and sex that it’s hard not to feel othered. The title of this article is a play on Taylor Swift’s “the New Romantics” as a signifier of that — a very popular song by one of the most popular artists in the world, and its central theme of romance, during a week celebrating an identity that less often experiences or relates to it.