Terms and Where They Came From

The origins of terms and labels used by the asexual community.

“A Genealogy of Queerplatonic”

A blog post tracking the etymology and development of the term “queerplatonic”

2019

Minimizing Marriage: Marriage, Morality, and the Law

A feminist work which first coined the term “amatonormativity”

2012

“A thought: ‘WTFromantic’”

The term “quoiromantic” is coined in a blog post

2012

“Writhing in the Throes of Unrequited Like”

The term “WTFromantic” is coined in a blog post

2011

“Word of the Day: Queerplatonic”

The term “queerplatonic” is first introduced on Tumblr by its coiner

2011

“A/romanticism”

The terms “queerplatonic” and “zucchini” are coined in the comments of a blog post on aromanticism

2010

“*SQUISH!*”

The term “squish” is coined in an AVEN forum thread

2007

“Gray-A’s”

The term “gray-asexual” is coined in an AVEN forum thread

2006

“Asexual sex”

The term “demisexual” is coined in an AVEN forum thread

2006

Coining of the term “aromantic”

The term “aromantic” is used for the first time in an asexual message board

2002

Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love

The book which first introduced the concept of “limerence”

1979

Kertbeny’s pamphlets protesting Prussian sodomy laws

Pamphlets protesting Prussian sodomy laws which coined the terms “homosexual” and “heterosexual”