An aromantic manifesto, or, how we treat rejections
Content warning for suicidal ideation, self harm and sexual assault. I have had to reject the romantic and sexual advances of a fair amount of people throughout my life. This will be a long winded story about that, and about how my rejection not being respected has affected me. This will be about how people who reject others are broadly viewed in a social lens. So let me tell you a story I have kept close to my chest. About a year into my current long term relationship, my partner brought a friend they'd made into our apartment. This girl was suicidal and self harming. I remember her cutting while sitting on our bed. I pulled the knife away from her, told her that she deserved to live, cleaned her wounds and made her something to eat. Later that night, when she was feeling better, she came to spend time with me and my partner. At one point she stroked my hair and groped my chest. It was sudden, unreciprocated and unexpected. I treated it as an accident and said nothing to my partn...
