Aromanticism & Asexuality Research Network

We are going live with the Aspec Podcast!! Join @jancheta25.bsky.social, Heidi from Aurea, and Willow from the @aroaceresearch.bsky.social network for a really important discussion about amatonormativity! www.twitch.tv/tyeewhyee/

Do you know of any other works that have later been turned into love stories although that‘s not what they were meant to be?

There was also the underlying question of how to understand this in the context of queer history, and what it means to explore aro/ace history.

Despite its status as one of the iconic love stories, George Bernard Shaw never intended it to be romantic. We had a fantastic discussion with everyone on what it means to be aromantic, how love stories reflect our cultural norms around romance, and what we want out of aro/ace representation.

Did you know that My Fair Lady was never meant to be a love story?

We had a great event yesterday discussing aromanticism, love stories, and the aro/ace origins of My Fair Lady with @jtwelsch.bsky.social and @kristin-kaeuper.bsky.social!

Celebrating Black Ace Community... with the creators of Soul Ace Day Marshall Blount, Alyshia Rodgers and Kimberly Butler created Soul Ace Day to uplift Black ace voices and experiences.

Today we observe the second Soul Ace Day.

Created by Kimberly Butler, Marshall Blount and Alyshia Rodgers, Soul Ace Day celebrates the activism, art and culture of african american asexuals.

acedadadvice.substack.com/p/celebratin...

Looking for your hot takes on love ❤️‍🔥
What have you learned about love by thinking about aromanticism? 🤔

5. It is not at all clear what love is either
We often talk about romantic love as if everyone knew what we are talking about. Aromanticism shows that a lot is actually unclear: What is romantic attraction? How is it connected to love? What makes it romantic? How is it different from platonic love?

4. Love exists beyond romance
‘Love’ without a qualifier is a synonym for ‘romantic love’. Every other form of love, care, friendship, and community is secondary. Aromanticism challenges this narrative and shows us that love can be expressed in countless ways. Romance is only one form of love.

3. Relationships do not need to follow a script
Even though no one explicitly told us, we all know that there is a ‘right’ way to love: meet someone, date, move in, marry, build a life together, have kids. Aromanticism reveals that relationships don’t need to follow this script to be meaningful.

2. Romantic partners do not complete us
We grow up with the idea that a romantic partner is our ‘better half’, someone who fills in what we supposedly lack. Aromanticism reminds us that we don’t need a romantic partner to be whole, nor should we be looking for a partner to fix us.

1. Romantic love is not for everyone
Society tells us that relationships and romantic love play a central role in our life: If you are not in a relationship, you have to at least be looking for love. Aromanticism teaches us that not everyone is looking for romantic love, and that is okay.

What starts after Valentine‘s Day? Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week!

Find out below what we can learn about love from aromanticism 👇

Why Aristotle would hate Valentine’s Day – and his five steps to love For Aristotle, the true form of love wasn’t about intense passion or grand gestures on one day of the year.

Why Aristotle would hate Valentine's Day❤️🕯️🥀

Janset Özün Çetinkaya and Ian James Kidd explain why and lay out the Greek philosopher's five steps to true love.

Read: tinyurl.com/k7wvusyh @uk.theconversation.com

#philosophy
#love
#romance
#ValentinesDay
#ValentinesDay2026

I presented a new PhD output at the Marginalised Ruralities conference today. Queering the trope of ‘settling down’ in the countryside by thinking about the lesbian home-making (and home-sharing!) practices I encountered during fieldwork & putting forward the concept of ‘queer rural domesticity’.

Graphic with a red to black gradient background. There are drawings of hearts going down the side, and a broken heart with an arrow through it at the centre. It says "Roses are red, Violets are blue, Do what you're told, And don't be you. LGBT+ Conversion Practices are abuse." The Equality Network logo is at the bottom.

Photograph of two smiling people standing next to our Valentines Day billboard on a street in Glasgow.

Photograph of a van with LCD screens showing our valentines day campaign, in front of the dynamic earth centre in Edinburgh.

Photograph of a van with LCD screens showing our valentines day campaign, in front of St Andrews house in Edinburgh.

It's been a year since we launched our Ending Conversion Practices campaign, last Valentines Day. Billboards across Scotland showed our campaign highlighting the harm & heartbreak that conversion practices cause. Nobody should be made to change or suppress who they are or who they love in Scotland.

Only a few tickets left, for what should be a very fun #AroWeek event @thebookishtype.bsky.social with my talk on My Fair Lady, then conversation about aro/ace representation with @kristin-kaeuper.bsky.social, founder of @aroaceresearch.bsky.social

Breite, zusammengefasste Programmübersicht „ARO WEEK PROGRAMM“ von Aspec*German für den Zeitraum 15.02.26 bis 21.02.26, auf weißem Hintergrund mit grünem vertikalen Streifen links in Aromantik‑Flaggenfarben und QR‑Code unten rechts. Die Events sind in Spalten aufgelistet: Sonntag 15.02. (17:00 Pre‑Show, 18:00 Lesung Nora Kellner), Montag 16.02. (18:00 Stammtisch Orga, 20:30 Spieleabend), Dienstag 17.02. (18:00 A‑Telier Hangout, 20:00 Aktivismusaustausch), Mittwoch 18.02. (18:00 Künstlerisch‑chaotischer Austausch Kissenburg Podcast, 20:00 Beziehungsanarchie‑Workshop), Donnerstag 19.02. (19:30 Serverrundgang Neulinge, 20:00 Inspektren Live Bi‑Aro‑specs), Freitag 20.02. (18:00 Aromantik männlich, 20:00 Gray/Demi Austausch + Pen&Papier), Samstag 21.02. (ab 13:00 Samstagsaustausche, 18:00 Ace‑Arovolution). @ASPEC‑GERMAN am unteren Rand

Am Sonntag geht es los mit einer vollen Woche an Aro Week Events🐸💚 Wir freuen uns sehr endlich das fertige Programm veröffentlichen zu können! Merkt euch Termine vor und kommt schon auf den Discord Server ✨ #aro #aromantic #arospecawarenessweek #AroWeek2026 #aroweek #aspecgerman #arospec #aspec

Asexuality and Mental Health: Why Ace Recognition By Clinicians Matters | Psychiatric Times Authors highlight the importance of recognizing asexuality, promoting inclusive mental health practices for the asexual community.

www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/asexual...?

NWSA 2026 Aro/Ace CFP Submission Form The Asexuality Studies Interest group is seeking presentation proposals for our sponsored panel session at NWSA to be held in Atlanta, Georgia on November 5–8, 2026. The 2026 NWSA conference theme, W...

The 2026 NWSA Aro/Ace sponsored CFP is now up! Please complete the Google Form by February 20, 2026, 11:59pm PST to be considered for the panel! Please share widely!

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Excited to see you in Atlanta,
Maya

oil painting La mujer barbuda/Magdalena Ventura con su marido; a bearded woman nursing her baby while standing up. Queer in/visibility in pink, plus a QR code to the conference website

Call for Papers, please circulate!

Ethics of queer in/visibility
Heidelberg, September 30 - October 2, 2026
queer-in-visibility.de

Keynote speakers:
J Calder
(Linguistics, University of Colorado Boulder)
Anna Hájková @ankahajkova.bsky.social
(History, University of Warwick)

Want some advice? Be critical when reading advice columns. The subtle ways allonormativity shows up in sex and relationship advice

Sex and relationship advice can send messages that limit what aspec people can aspire to and ask for in relationships.

Some interesting thoughts on labelling sexuality and medicalising asexuality in here! (around 34min)

Interesting read on the different (sometimes conflicting) functions of identity labels!

I joined the network because I think it is very beneficial to connect researchers working on this subject as it is still largely invisible and there are a lot of misunderstandings and medicalised thinking going around. I am looking forward to discussing things and meeting other network members.”

“I am working on a couple of asexuality studies, currently I’m writing a paper on how asexuality and aromanticism are discussed in fan fiction in the Good Omens fandom.

Introducing: Dr Silja Kukka

Silja is a researcher in Literature and Gender/Queer Studies at the University of Oulu, Finland, who works on #fanfiction and #asexuality.

Exploring asexuality has allowed me to recognise all the love stories in my life and celebrate platonic love Asexuality teaches us that we can, and should, celebrate platonic bonds in the ways usually reserved for romance

"When you are constantly bombarded by romance in everyday life, it can feel as if love as an asexual person is not good enough."

In doing so, I interrogate the myriad of ways that allonormative logics are (re)produced in and through space, while also thinking towards ace utopias and the potentialities of spaces between and beyond compulsory sexuality.”