Aromanticism, asexuality, and relationship (non-)formation: How a-spec singles challenge romantic norms and reimagine family life

Abstract

In this study, I demonstrate how individuals on the aromantic and asexual spectrums navigate their sexual and intimate relationships. Through quantitative data analysis as well as interviews with aromantic and/or asexual singles, this study reveals the complexity of sexuality and intersections between sex, romance, and constructs of family. First, I highlight how alloromantic (non-aromantic) asexual singles are most likely to express interest in romantic relationships, followed by aromantic allosexual (non-asexual) singles, whereas aromantic asexual singles showed little interest in romantic relationships. Then, I focus on how aromantic and asexual spectrum interviewees (1) subvert expectations for normative sexual and romantic partnership, (2) untangle notions of sex, romance, and family, and (3) reimagine relationships and kinship to form their own intimacies.

Exploring Aromanticism Through an Online Qualitative Investigation With the Aromantic Community: “Freeing, Alienating, and Utterly Fantastic”

“…Our participants described how their aromantic identity challenges amatonormative expectations surrounding partnerships. A recent study by Tessler ( 2023b ) re-affirms this, where one aromantic participant shared that they do not categorize their relationships, rather each relationship is unique and operates accordingly. As well, challenging definitions of relationships was discussed by 84.6% of individuals.…”

Understanding asexuality: A sociological review

“…Lastly, scholars should study asexuality through intersectional lenses. As this review has noted, asexuality studies has already explored how gender (Bauer et al, 2018;Bogaert, 2004Bogaert, , 2013Brotto et al, 2010;Cerankowski & Milks, 2010;Cuthbert, 2019;Fahs, 2010;Gupta, 2019;MacNeela & Murphy, 2015;Przybylo, 2014;Tessler & Winer, 2023;Winer, 2024), race (Brown, 2022;Chen, 2020;Foster et al, 2019;Kenney, 2020;Miles, 2019;Mollet, 2018;Owen, 2014, Smith, 2020Winer, Forthcoming), disability and medicine (Cuthbert, 2017;Gressgård, 2015;Gupta, 2014;Kim, 2011;Kurowicka, 2023;Lund & Johnson, 2015;Martino, 2017;Spurgas, 2020), and the family (Carrigan, 2012;Carroll, 2020;Chasin, 2015;Dawson et al, 2016;Fox & Winer, 2024;Gupta, 2017;Kenney, 2020;MacNeela & Murphy, 2015;Scherrer, 2010;Tessler, 2023aTessler, , 2023bVan Houdenhove et al, 2015b;Vares, 2018) intersect with asexuality. Notably, class is largely absent fro...…”

“…Gender is another field in which asexuality studies is poised to make important interventions (Winer, Forthcoming). Asexuality appears to itself with a gendered identity, with men markedly outnumbered both by women and by people who are neither men nor women in identifying as asexual (Bauer et al, 2018;Bogaert, 2004Bogaert, , 2013Brotto et al, 2010;MacNeela & Murphy, 2015;Tessler, 2023a). Bauer et al (2018), for example, find in a survey of 9294 individuals on the asexuality spectrum that 63% identified as woman/female, 10.9% as man/male, and 26% as "none of the above."…”

“…However, scholars also note that some asexual people, especially those who are also aromantic, often do not desire romantic relationships (Van Houdenhove et al, 2015b). Various studies have argued this presents an opportunity to think beyond marriage as the focal point for LGBTQIA þ political organizing, decoupling sex and intimacy, apply queer approaches to the study of platonic relationships, and to approach singlehood as a potentially desirable and permanent status for some people (Gupta, 2017;Kenney, 2020;Scherrer, 2010;Tessler, 2023aTessler, , 2023b. Scholars have also noted that asexuality allows scholars to examine the boundaries of friendship and romance (Carrigan, 2012;Fox & Winer, 2024).…”

“…This intervention is useful for scholars studying sexuality even outside of asexual contexts, adding to our understanding of how sexuality is constructed. Asexuality studies also pushes scholars to treat not just aromanticism and asexuality as distinct, but also romantic and sexual orientations as potentially distinct (Tessler, 2023a;Tessler & Winer, 2023). Asexuality studies has also produced concepts like compulsory sexuality 4 of 14 -WINER (Emens, 2014;Gupta, 2015;Przybylo, 2019), highlighting that the idea that all humans do and should experience sexual attraction is a ubiquitous-but under-acknowledged-building block of sexual normativity and sexual regulation.…”