The Aplatonic Flag
Aplatonic, often abbreviated to Apl (pronounced "apple"), is an identity on the aplatonic spectrum used by individuals who do not experience platonic attraction and/or do not relate to the concept of platonic love.
The term has also been used by neurodivergent aromantic individuals and traumatized aro individuals who might not desire friendships or other platonic relationships.
Aplatonic does not refer to someone who simple "doesn't have friends" or "doesn't want friends," although these experiences may be true for an aplatonic individual, rather it describes someone who does not experiences "squishes" (or "platonic crushes"). Some aplatonic individuals may still have strong platonic bonds or have a general desire for friendships, however they never experience a strong desire to be friends with someone in particular or feel as though the term "love" can't be applied to their friendships.
History & Coining[]
The term aplatonic was first referenced by a homoromantic asexual individual on an AVEN forum on April 6, 2012. In his words, "I have friends and care about them; but love is a powerful word, and one I cannot apply to them."
Aplatonic seems to have been independently coined by aroarolibrary on December 30, 2014.
Flag[]
The earliest remaining record of the aplatonic flag is a submission to the now deactivated pride-flags-for-us Tumblr blog sometime before December 30, 2014. The colors are the inverse of yellow, pink and brown, colors that are typically used to represent friendship. White represents how an aplatonic individual can still be allosexual and/or alloromantic, in reference to the white stripe on the asexual and aromantic flags. Cream was used instead of pure white to make the flag more visually appealing.
Alt Aplatonic Flag
An alternative flag was created by Mod Hermy of Pride-Flags on DeviantArt on September 4, 2015. The black, grey and white stripes match the asexual and aromantic flags. Yellow is used to represent the platonic/aplatonic spectrum.
Alternative Flags[]
References[]
https://web.archive.org/web/20221105224123/https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/73079-aplatonic/