To start talking about asexuality and aromanticism, it helps to first talk about the Split Attraction Model. The Split Attraction Model is a concept that has been around in some form since at least the s, but has been popularized as a way to talk about identity over the last fifteen to twenty years.
It states that sexual and romantic attraction can function independently from one another. But when it comes to identity specifically, this model is used to talk about how, in addition to romantic and sexual attractions developing at different speeds, some people might only ever experience one or the other, or neither. It makes sense then that asexuals, often shortened to aces, can be defined as people that do not experience sexual attraction.
Another important distinction is that asexuality is not the same as abstinence. Asexuality is an innate lack of attraction, which may or may not mean abstaining from physical relationships. Since at least the early s, asexual has become the dominant identifier used for this community. Along the same lines, aromantics, often shorted to aros, are people who do not experience romantic attraction. Commonly stereotyped to be uninterested in serious relationships, a study found that aromantics are no less likely to commit to relationships or raise children, but are more likely to do so in nontraditional family dynamics such as queerplatonic relationships, which are committed relationships built around emotional connection and shared values rather than romance for a more in depth explanation of queerplatonic relationships, check out this article from Psychology Today.
Aromantics have often been overlooked in research because much of the historical research was focused on physical behavior and prevalence of relationships rather than internal desire, but the community has been gaining recognition of their identity and terminology since the rise of the Split Attraction Model in the early s. While asexuals and aromantics do not experience sexual or romantic attraction, agender people are, instead, individuals who do not have or identify with any gender.
Sometimes also called genderless, ungendered, nongendered, or gender free, agender people are often but not always considered part of the nonbinary community, which makes up all genders outside of binary men and women.
