Join us as we celebrate this exciting awareness day
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE VIA CANVA
Today (5 June) marks Aromantic Visibility Day – a time to celebrate and amplify aromantic voices. Here’s your guide to understanding and supporting this awareness period.
What does aromantic mean?
Aromantic – also shortened to “aro” – is usually defined as someone who has “little or no romantic feeling towards others”.
Opposite to alloromanticism – where a person feels romantic attraction to others – aromanticism often covers a large spectrum of identities. While some people may not experience any romantic attraction, others may identify as “grayromantic” or “demiromantic”, meaning they only experience romantic attraction rarely or with people they have strong bonds with.
Contrary to some misconceptions, being aromantic is not the same as being asexual. Aromantic people may still enjoy sexual relationships.
What does the flag mean?
Not to be confused with the Agender Flag, the Aromantic Pride flag is made up of green, white, grey and black. It was made by Cameron Whimsy in 2014, and the colour green was chosen because it is the opposite of red, the colour usually associated with romantic love. White represents platonic love, while grey and black represent the different parts of the sexuality spectrum.
Some aromantic people wear white rings on their left middle finger to symbolise their identity. Others may wear arrow pins, alluding to the shortened version of aromantic “aro”.
How did Aromantic Visibility Day start?
This celebration is actually fairly new! The first Aromantic Visibility Day was held in 2023, organised on X (then Twitter) to help boost visibility of people on the aromantic spectrum. The celebration took off, and was even adopted by Heartstopper author Alice Oseman.
How can you celebrate Aromantic Visibility Day?
- Read: Why not pick up a copy of Hopeless Aromantic by Samantha Rendle? Or maybe you want to try out Loveless by Alice Oseman?
- Watch: You can support aromantic voices by watching literally anything by Michaela Coel! The aromantic writer and actor has brought us TV gold like Chewing Gum.
- Follow: Watching or engaging with aromantic influencers like Yasmin Benoit (@theyasminbenoit) or Jaiden Dittfach is a great way to support real-life aromantic voices.
- Listen: There are some incredible artists on the aromantic spectrum like Cavetown. It’s time to give Hug All Ur Friends a listen.
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