Glossary

Due to the nature of this project, I will regularly be using terminology related to asexuality and aromanticism throughout this journal. As I’m aware that a lot of this terminology is not necessarily well-known outside asexual/aromantic communities, I felt it would be a good idea to provide some definitions up front for reference.

• Asexual - Experiencing no sexual feelings or desires; not feeling sexual attraction to anyone
• Aromantic - Experiencing little or no romantic attraction to anyone; not having romantic feelings
• Aspec – Umbrella term encompassing asexual, aromantic, and any other terms that fall on the asexual or aromantic spectrums
• Ace – Informal shortening of asexual
• Aro – Informal shortening of aromantic
• Amatonormativity - The assumption that "a central, exclusive, amorous relationship" is "ideal and necessary" (Chen, 2020, p.127)
• Compulsory sexuality - "A set of assumptions and behaviors that support the idea that every normal person is sexual, that not wanting (socially approved) sex is unnatural and wrong, and that people who don't care about sexuality are missing out on an utterly necessary experience" (Chen, 2020, p.35)
• Symbolic annihilation - "The systematic underrepresentation of a particular group or groups and/or media representations that favour stereotypes and omit realistic portrayals" (Douglas, 2019, p.40)
• Hypodermic model - Theory that media has a "direct and powerful influence on the public", the public are easily and wholly influenced by what they see in media (Croteau and Hoynes, 2000, p.237)
• Mass society theory - Theory that mass media plays "a crucial role in uniting (and homogenizing) a disparate and atomized population". Basically "interpersonal and group relations" are becoming less important, society is becoming more homogenised, and mass media plays a role in influencing everyone to follow the same values (Croteau and Hoynes, 2000, p.238)
• Minimal effects model - - Theory that media has "weak and short-lived" effects on people - "media messages acted to reinforce existing belief rather (Croteau and Hoynes, 2000, p.238) that to change opinion" (Croteau and Hoynes, 2000, p.239)
• Agenda setting model - Theory that media directs "people's attention toward certain issues" rather than actively influencing what they believe (Croteau and Hoynes, 2000, p.239)
• Media-reader interaction model - Theory that "media information is but one element that citizens use in developing political beliefs" and that audiences take an active role in interpreting media (Croteau and Hoynes, 2000, p.242)
• Political socialization theory - Theory that there is a "long-term, cumulative effect of exposure to mass media", most strongly on young people (Croteau and Hoynes, 2000, p.242)
• Cultivation theory - Theory that "television plays a homogenizing role for otherwise heterogenous populations" - however it is more specifically focused on "continued and lengthy exposure to television in general, not just exposure to individual programs or genres" (Croteau and Hoynes, 2000, p.243)
• Active audience theory - Complete refutation of the hypodermic model/mass society theory - people aren't "stupid, gullible, or easy to dominate" and are active interpreters of the media (Croteau and Hoynes, 2000, p.262)
• Chrononormativity - "The use of time to organize individual human bodies toward maximum productivity [by which] people are bound to one another, engrouped, made to feel coherently collective, through particular orchestrations of time" (Brown, 2022, p.45)
• Singlism - Prejudice against single people
• Pronatalism - "The policy or practice, particularly on the government level, of encouraging the birth of children without concern for the quality of life or health of those children and the people who birth them" (Brown, 2022, p.62)
• Hegemony - "The power or dominance that one social group holds over others" (Lull, 2015, p.39)
• Pornographic eroticism - Mode of representation where "sexuality is constructed as the 'primary characteristic of the person represented' (Heywood, 1998)" (McKay and Johnson, 2015, p.119)
• Intersectionality - "An intersectional framework suggests ways in which political and representational practices relating to race and gender interrelate" (Crenshaw, 2012, p.110)
• Split Attraction Model (SAM) - "A way of deliberately de-coupling sex and romance. Within the SAM, a person is seen as having both a sexual and romantic orientation. While connected, these don't necessarily go hand in hand. A person can be asexual but alloromantic, bi-, homo- or heterosexual but demiromantic, pansexual and aromantic, and so on." (Young, 2023, p.167)
• QPR - "A relationship that 'bends the rules' we use to distinguish romantic relationships from non-romantic ones. It typically involves more intimacy and closeness (physical or emotional) than what is considered normal or socially acceptable for friends. At the same time, it doesn't fit conventional ideas about what romantic relationships should 'look like'" (Young, 2023, p.220)

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