This is for the July 2016 Carnival of Aces – “Make ’em Laugh”
There is a phenomenon I have observed among both aces and aromantics: there is a tendency for them to become the go-to person for advice on sex and romantic relationships for their non-ace and non-aro acquaintances. This seems to happen mostly to aces and aros who have little to no direct experience with sex and/or romantic relationships.
What gives???!!!!
I recall one ace who had taken a test to determine which career was best for her. The result? “Marriage Counselor.” She said that her friends found that hilarious. IIRC, she said something along the lines of “If I were a marriage counselor, I would be like ‘Hmmm, your marriage has problems, have you considered divorce?'”
A long time ago, possibly before I identified as ace (I don’t remember for sure), my dad said that if I were a character in a soap opera, I would be the heroine’s best friend – the one she always turns to for advice. In retrospect, this casting may have something to do with the fact that I never showed the least interest in dating.
Maybe, for some bizarre reason, if someone is totally staying out of sexual / romantic drama, it’s subconsciously interpreted as a sign that they know the secret to dealing with sexual / romantic drama. In fact, the secret is that they simply don’t participate in sexual / romantic relationships in the first place. And then they share this secret, and advise the person seeking advice to simply break up … and hilarity ensues.
This phenomenon is already a theme in asexual and aromantic humor, for example this tumblr meme.
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Bonus: Mini Linkspam on Ace and Aro humor
First of all, there are the Aromantic Humor and it’s funny cause I’m ace tumblrs.
You all know about Queenie’s Sad Cookie, right? RIGHT?
I like this humorous post about fictional characters.
And finally, here is a Marvel Cinematic Universe fanfic where everyone is asexual and/or aromantic. Don’t read Marvel Cinematic Universe fanfiction? Me neither! Heck, I haven’t even watched any of the Marvel movies, and know little to nothing about most of these characters. I still laughed at these little vignettes. You don’t have to know squat about Marvel stories or characters to appreciate the ace and aro humor in these little stories.
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Hmmm, interesting. Maybe it’s like, we’re above it all, with a sober outside perspective?
Maybe. Though I think, in practice, our lack of an inside perspective sometimes skews the utility of our advice.
Oh, definitely XD But I’m just thinking, maybe that’s the kind of thoughts an advice-seeker might have.