There’s a spectrum of Ace. I got one am a heteroromantic ace, and I’m a dude. So I am attracted to women romantically, but don’t want to sleep with them.
It’s a very frustrating combination that makes dating difficult.
personally, it’s kinda hard to say? i have felt romantic attraction exactly once in my life, so i know i’m not fully aromantic, but also it’s only happened once so i’m probably on the aro spectrum somewhere
but yes, there are many people who are asexual but who still feel romantic attraction to others
(and of course, not all attraction is sexual or romantic, there is also aesthetic attraction for example (literally just when you find people pretty), which i do feel, my meme was pretty reductive all things considered, but then again it’s just a meme)
So I know with a rather high degree of certainty I’m ace, but I continue to have trouble untangling aromanticism from my aversion to people and mild paranoia.
Not OP, but typically asexual is perceived as not having any sexual attraction/having minimal sexual attraction to anyone, regardless of gender. It’s like the opposite of pansexual (attraction to anyone regardless of gender).
Everything is a spectrum of course, which is why people talk about the graysexual area, where you have some attraction but there’s extra things that make it not the “typical” experience of allosexuals (those who experience sexual attraction). Things like Demisexual (attraction only after having a close bond), Aegosexual (having sexual arousal and fantasies, but you don’t think of yourself in those fantasies), etc. These are all microlables to help people narrow down how they feel.
So if you have a distinct and noticeable sexual attraction to one gender, you probably are allosexual (straight, lesbian, gay, etc.). Note, however, that romantic ≠ sexual, and you can be asexual but only date men, or be asexual and date both men and women.
I don’t mean to offend you, but do you still feel non-sexual attraction towards a particular or both genders?
There’s a spectrum of Ace. I got one am a heteroromantic ace, and I’m a dude. So I am attracted to women romantically, but don’t want to sleep with them.
It’s a very frustrating combination that makes dating difficult.
personally, it’s kinda hard to say? i have felt romantic attraction exactly once in my life, so i know i’m not fully aromantic, but also it’s only happened once so i’m probably on the aro spectrum somewhere
but yes, there are many people who are asexual but who still feel romantic attraction to others
(and of course, not all attraction is sexual or romantic, there is also aesthetic attraction for example (literally just when you find people pretty), which i do feel, my meme was pretty reductive all things considered, but then again it’s just a meme)
So I know with a rather high degree of certainty I’m ace, but I continue to have trouble untangling aromanticism from my aversion to people and mild paranoia.
Not OP, but typically asexual is perceived as not having any sexual attraction/having minimal sexual attraction to anyone, regardless of gender. It’s like the opposite of pansexual (attraction to anyone regardless of gender).
Everything is a spectrum of course, which is why people talk about the graysexual area, where you have some attraction but there’s extra things that make it not the “typical” experience of allosexuals (those who experience sexual attraction). Things like Demisexual (attraction only after having a close bond), Aegosexual (having sexual arousal and fantasies, but you don’t think of yourself in those fantasies), etc. These are all microlables to help people narrow down how they feel.
So if you have a distinct and noticeable sexual attraction to one gender, you probably are allosexual (straight, lesbian, gay, etc.). Note, however, that romantic ≠ sexual, and you can be asexual but only date men, or be asexual and date both men and women.