Research on Aromantics

The following is a compilation of research done with and on aromantics as well as some academic resources on aromanticism-related experiences. This page will update as more investigations are conducted with the community. Where available, links and sources to find the reports have been included. For more on what AUREA defines as research, see the guidelines we use at the bottom of the page.

If you are a researcher wanting to get in contact with potential participants for an aroromanticism-focused or aromanticism-inclusive study, see our contact page.

Peer-Reviewed Academic Sources

Academic research on a-specs

Amatonormativity

Discrimination

Relationships

Orientation

Other Scholarly Sources

Academic research on aromanticism

Amatonormativity

Relationships

Community Research

The aro census

Experiences in the aro community

Activism and community building

A-spec community research

*Note: Some publications include aromantics and treat them as asexuals. While some are aware that there is a difference in some cases, others are not. Please read at your discretion.

Antonsen, A. N., Zdaniuk, B., Yule, M., & Brotto, L. A. (2020). Ace and Aro: Understanding Differences in Romantic Attractions Among Persons Identifying as Asexual. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1-16.
Freely available from UBC

Hammack, P.L., Frost, D.M., & Hughes, S.D. (2018). Queer Intimacies: A New Paradigm for the Study of Relationship Diversity. The Journal of Sex Research, 56(4-5), 556-592.
Freely available from eScholarship

Bulmer, M., & Izuma, K. (2018). Implicit and explicit attitudes toward sex and romance in asexuals. The Journal of Sex Research, 55(8), 962-974.
Freely available from White Rose Research Online

Görke, C. (2019). “Melted Your Cold Heart Yet?” Amatonormative Masculinity in Casino Royale and Spectre. The International Journal of James Bond Studies, 2(1).
Freely available from The International Journal of James Bond Studies

Clardy, J. (2018). ‘I Don’t Want To be a Playa No More’: An Exploration of the Denigrating effects of 'Player' as a Stereotype Against African American Polyamorous Men. Analize - Journal of Gender and Feminist Studies.
Freely available from PhilPapers

Morris, W., Sinclair, S., & DePaulo, B.M. (2007). No Shelter for Singles: The Perceived Legitimacy of Marital Status Discrimination. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 10(4).
Freely available from HAL

DePaulo, B.M. & Morris, W. (2006). The Unrecognized Stereotyping and Discrimination Against Singles. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(5).
Available from JSTOR, SAGE

Historical

Moore, L. (1992). “Something more tender still than friendship": Romantic friendship in early-nineteenth-century England. Feminist Studies, 18(3).
Available from JSTOR, ProQuest

Rotundo, E.A. (1989). Romantic Friendship: Male Intimacy and Middle-Class Youth in the Northern United States, 1800-1900. Journal of Social History, 23(1).
Available from the Journal of Social History, Semantic Scholar

Smith-Rosenberg, C. (1975). The Female World of Love and Ritual: Relations Between Women in Nineteenth Century America. Signs, 1(1).
Available from JSTOR, Semantic Scholar, The University of Chicago Press Journals

Modern

Diamond, L.M. (2000). Passionate Friendships Among Adolescent Sexual-Minority Women. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 10(2).
Freely available from CORE

Relationship Anarchy

De las Heras Gómez, R. (2018). Thinking Relationship Anarchy from a Queer Feminist Approach. Sociological Research Online.
Freely available from Doc Droid

Diamond, L.M. (2003). What Does Sexual Orientation Orient? A Biobehavioral Model Distinguishing Romantic Love and Sexual Desire. Psychological Review, 110(1).
Available from APA PsycNet

Weber, L. (2021). Health in the context of outness of people on the aromantic spectrum. (Master’s thesis). University of Vienna. Vienna. Austria.
Freely available from uTheses

• Note that this research has not passed our quality check according to our internal research policy, but we have determined it to be important to promote nevertheless because it attempts to examine important questions, including around aromantic orientation, mental and physical health, and outness in different contexts. Demographics, statistical methodology, and sampling methods were unclear or ungeneralizable.

Lang, C. (2018). Intimacy and Desire Through the Lens of an Aro-Ace Woman of Color. (Bachelor’s Thesis). Bates College. Lewiston. USA.
Freely available from Digital Commons@Bates

*Some publications define aromanticism as never experiencing romantic attraction or experiencing no romantic attraction., as opposed to the broader definition inclusive of other individuals on the aromantic spectrum.

Brake, E. (2012). Minimizing Marriage: Marriage, Morality, and the Law. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199774142.001.0001.
Available from Oxford Scholarship Online

Granger, R. (2020). Amatonormativity, Aromanticism, and What Defines a Relationship. (Bachelor’s Thesis). Bridgewater State University.
Available from Virtual Commons

Stucki, E. (2018). Compulsory Sexuality and Amatonormativity in Higher Education: A Photovoice Study with Asexual and Aromantic Students. (Master’s Thesis). Oregon State University. Corvallis. USA.
Freely available from ScholarsArchive@OSU

Historical

Benemann, W. (2008). Male-male Intimacy in Early America: Beyond Romantic Friendships. New York, USA: Harrington Park Press.
Available from Open Library

Modern

Nissen, A. (2009). Manly Love: Romantic Friendship in American Fiction. University of Chicago Press.
Available from The University of Chicago Press Books, Google Books, libraries indicated by WorldCat

The Aro Census is run biannually by AUREA. Check out our Census page here to learn more.

Allo Aro Survey. (2021).
This survey investigated the experiences of allosexual aromantics. It was conducted by the Tumblr user alloarboreal.
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

Loveless Aro Survey. (2021).
This survey investigated the experiences of loveless aromantics and all aromantics’ opinions about the term. It was conducted by the Tumblr user aro-and-tired.
Part One of the report can be accessed HERE. Part two is available HERE.

Arospec Identities and Experiences of Stigmatization, 2020 Survey. (2021).
This survey was a follow-up on the original survey of the same name from 2018-2019. It investigated the experiences aromantic spectrum people have in their everyday lives, with particular focus on stigmatization. It was conducted by the Tumblr blogs aro-neir-o and aromagni (these are Neir and Magni, AUREA team members, who ran the investigation independently).
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

Aromantic Experiences in Fandom. (2021).
This survey investigated aromantic people’s relationships to fandom content, including creating it, within or outside fandom spaces. It was conducted by the Tumblr user aro-and-tired.
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

Mental Health and Suicide Tendencies within the Aromantic-spectrum. (2020).
This survey investigated experiences aromantic people have with regards to mental health and suicide. It was conducted by the Tumblr user Arson.
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

Aromantic Spectrum People’s Relation to Romance. (2019).
This survey investigated what kind of experiences relating to romance were most common among aromantic spectrum people and if those experiences differed between people identifying with different labels on the spectrum. It was conducted by the Tumblr blog ncmadsteve.
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

Arospec Identities and Experiences of Stigmatization. (2019).
This survey investigated the experiences aromantic spectrum people have in their everyday lives, with particular focus on stigmatization. It was conducted by the Tumblr blog aro-neir-o (this is Neir, an AUREA team member, who ran this investigation independently).
A full report on the results can be accessed here: PART ONE, PART TWO, PART THREE.

Aromantic Friendship Survey. (2018).
This survey investigated aromantic community attitudes to friendships, both with alloromantics and other aromantics. It was conducted by the Tumblr blog arokaladin.
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

Aromantic Gender Experiences. (2018).
This survey assessed the experiences aromantic spectrum people have with gender and whether/how these experiences are linked to their aromantic identities. It was conducted by the Tumblr blog arokaladin.
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

Sondage sur la Communauté Aromantique. (2018).
This survey explored the French-speaking aromantic community. It gathered such data as demographics, experience with coming into aromantic identity, relationships, coming out, discrimination and involvement with LGBT+ communities. It was conducted by @robase - Association pour la promotion et la visibilité de l'aromantisme.
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

The Experiences of Allosexual Aromantic People. (2018).
This survey investigated the experiences allosexual aromantic people have in their daily lives. It was conducted by the Tumblr blog hella-aro.
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

Aromantic Activism. (2019).
This survey assessed the current opinions of aromantic people on the topic of activism. It was conducted by the Tumblr blog aroacepagans (this is Abhainn/Sea, an AUREA team member, who ran this investigation independently).
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

The Community Needs of Aromantic People. (2019).
This survey investigated ways the aromantic community can meet the needs of all types of aromantic people. It was conducted by the Tumblr blog aroacepagans (this is Abhainn/Sea, an AUREA team member, who ran this investigation independently).
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

*Note: Some publications include aromantics and treat them as asexuals. While some are aware that there is a difference in some cases, others are not. Please read at your discretion.

Grey-Ace & Grey-Aro Survey. (2022).
This survey investigated the experiences of gray-ace and grey-aro individuals. It was conducted by the blog The Ace Theist.
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

Discovering A-spec Identity. (2021).
This survey explored how a-spec people discovered their identities. It was conducted by the Tumblr blogs aro-neir-o and aromagni (these are Neir and Magni, AUREA team members, who ran the investigation independently).
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

Being A-spec and its Effects on Mental Health. (2019).
This survey assessed how being a-spec affects a-spec people’s mental health. It was conducted by the Tumblr blog magic-asexuals.
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

How non-SAM-using A-specs Interact with the Aromantic Community. (2019).
This survey investigated the experiences a-spec people have with the aromantic community. It was conducted by the Tumblr blog ask-an-aro.
A discussion of the results can be accessed HERE.

Romantic Ambivalence. (2019).
This survey examined the experiences of people without a romantic orientation, who identify to any degree with wtfromanticism or quoiromanticism, and/or who struggle with the concept of romance, romantic orientation, or romantic attraction. It was conducted by Coyote.
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

A-spec Labels. (2018).
This survey assessed what kinds of labels a-spec people tend to use. It was conducted by the Tumblr blog manningeli.
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

A-spec PDA Survey. (2018).
This survey assessed a-spec attitudes towards public displays of affection (PDA) in LGBT+ spaces. It was conducted by the Tumblr blog nblmgalaxy.
A full report on the results can be accessed HERE.

All research on AUREA’s research resources page is vetted for quality by internal team member reviewers.

While it is important to uphold a consistent standard for research quality, it is well known that many academic regulations and standards are inherently oppressive. As such, research conducted informally by individuals in the community is also considered.

Both quantitative and qualitative research (as well as mixed-method research), of any method, are considered legitimate research. Studies that are purely descriptive or theoretical as well as those that try to draw inferences both count as research. This is to be inclusive of non-Western methodologies that have historically been excluded from academia (e.g., studies informed by traditional Indigenous methods and principles, community-based action research, iterative and cyclical methodologies, narrative-based methods, etc.).

Our quality standards for peer-reviewed and academic research are more rigorous than those for community-based research, but we consistently look for the following indicators of quality:

• Investigators have prior research experience

• Investigators have obtained consent from participants (e.g., through an ethics statement, informed consent)

• Methods (e.g., participant recruitment, procedures involved in the research, data privacy) are transparent

• Analyses and interpretations are fair (e.g., conclusions are based only on the data given and do not jump to conclusions, data visualization is not exaggerated)

• Assumptions and limitations are explicitly stated

• Information about aromanticism is accurate

AUREA does not promote research undertaken by exclusionist or bigoted individuals, as this could contribute to further erasure and demonization of aromanticism.

In some cases, AUREA may boost community surveys undertaken by individuals that do not quite meet quality standards because they miss a key feature but nevertheless have merit. This is done on a case by case basis and accompanied by a note explaining the decision.

If you have any questions about our internal policy or feedback about what is on this page, let us know.