As far as coverage of the LGBTQ+ community goes, asexuality and aromanticism go highly unnoticed–if mentioned at all. Most significantly noted, the “A” in the LGBTQ+ acronym is most commonly assumed to stand for “Allies” while, in reality, the “A” stands for “Asexuality” and those on the “ace” spectrum.
For those unfamiliar with the wide spectrum the LGBTQ+ community covers, people are often confused by the term “asexual” to refer to orientation–the first thing that usually comes to mind is “asexual reproduction” or similar thoughts.
As mentioned briefly in previous posts, asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction, and aromanticism is the lack of romantic attraction. In addition to having different definitions, asexuality and aromanticism do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. Essentially what I mean by this is that an individual may not experience sexual attraction, but may experience romantic attraction and vice versa.
Asexuality and aromanticism can be used as umbrella terms for other sexualities or romantic orientations which still fall under the categories of “asexual” or “aromantic”. Sexual and romantic orientations falling under categories of asexual or aromantic as an umbrella term include:
Demisexuality – sexual attraction only after forming a close emotional bond with someone.
Grey-Asexuality – sexuality in which sexual attraction rarely occurs.
Demiromanticism – romantic attraction only after forming a close emotional bond with someone.
Grey-Aromanticism – in which romantic attraction rarely occurs.
Recipromanticism – lack of romantic attraction to a person until romantic attraction is expressed by that person.
Requiesromanticism – little to no romantic attraction due to reasons of mental or emotional exhaustion.
Lithromanticism – romantic attraction to a person until that attraction is reciprocated.
Some people may question why there is a need for terms branching off asexuality and aromanticism, and the answer is simple–asexual and aromantic people have different experiences regarding their sexual or romantic preferences.
While asexuality and aromanticism seem like fairly simple terms at first, much like other sexualities and romantic orientations, the true extent to which these terms regard is relatively broad. In other words, for example, while asexuality is defined as the lack of sexual attraction, this does not imply that asexual individuals are incapable of engaging in sexual intercourse. For many people whose sexual orientation is best defined as “asexual”, they may be open to the idea of sexual intercourse–asexual individuals do not experience sexual attraction, but they are not necessarily incapable of or repulsed by engaging in sexual acts with another person.
In short, asexuality and aromanticism, while not commonly discussed groups in the LGBTQ+ community, are fairly common preferences. Sexuality and romantic attraction are fairly fluid concepts, with asexuality and aromanticism being no exception.