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And then there’s the representation of aromanticism in fiction. Oh, oh wait. No, there isn’t. There’s sexual aromanticism which is often misogynist (guy players are cool! girl players are hoors who need a man to settle her down!). Asexual aromanticism, however? That’s what you pull out when all your inhumanising methods have failed. The most normal thing in media is wanting a romantic relationship. If someone doesn’t want a romantic relationship (and if they’re not just waiting for the right man~~) they are probably going to commit genocide.

On the flip-side: romanticism is often used to humanise and/or reward a character. It’s lazy and it’s cheap, but it works. Robots want to be human? The thing they want the very most is a romantic relationship. Ex-villain is being rehabilitated and redeeming themself? They’re gonna start dating. Previously creepy/whacky side character starts being more important? Get them a significant other stat. Saved the world? Get a prospective girl/boyfriend. Realised they don’t need someone to be happy? Suddenly: someone to make them happy.

(This is why so many aces have a difficult adolescence. We know we’re different, but so often we don’t have the words for it, and no one understands when we try to explain. And then we finally recognise ourselves in a character on TV and… and they’re a serial killer or an alien, and a lot of people go “well no, they’re actually probably totes gay”. Media told me that — just because I didn’t feel like dating or having sex — I didn’t have the right to consider myself human. I am still — more than ten years on — dealing with the venomous headspace that created.)

Awesome stuff by pippin.. It’s titled asexuality in fiction, but there is a really cool section on aromantics too!

FONSFAQ post — asexuality in fiction

(via fictionalaros)

This is interesting, and there are a couple of sentences that are sparking ideas.

There are, of course, the bad guys who have those ultimately toxic “relationships” with the other Main Bad Guy (Bonnie and Clyde type of thing) or shallow sexual relationships with their killer bunnies (many Bond villains who have their sidekicks in bikinis). In movies like “D.E.B.S.” and other media, the presence of a real, grown-up relationships is supposed to show that a villain has stopped being a psycho who can only thing about murder, and has started thinking about other people. What about a villain who tries to find a group of friends? Who neglects their death ray because they went on Meetup.com and found people who share their other passion, cheesecake decorating, and now they’re busy talking about pastry with their awesome new friends who never knew they were a villain and just know them as Bob who likes strawberry cheesecake and kittens and reverse-quantum technology? That would be great.

Robots are another thing, of course. “What is this thing called…love?” Robots are a great metaphor for people who are kind of outside society and need to struggle to fit in, because they have been programmed to be sentient but don’t have any control over who they started out as, and they need to discover themselves. WALL-E is a good example of the love arc of a robot—it has a singular purpose, and then it starts watching old movies about love and wants love. Love is often shown as an item on the spectrum of human emotion that a robot wants to feel, but is also often shown as the pinnacle of humanity. countnocount and I have been exploring this theme, actually, but this is making me think about other stories. What about a robot who struggles with trying to have a romantic relationship because it’s told it needs to in order to be “human”, and finds another type of love in what it feels for its friends and creators? Or, heck, its fellow robots?

…I just like writing about robots.
(via pfdivadeathdealer-deactivated20)

Tagged: people should know fuck that bullshit

Posted on June 12, 2012 via Fictional Aromantics! with 896 notes

Source: fictionalaros
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