Carnival of Aces Call For Submissions for April 2017

The April 2017 issue of the Carnival of Aces will be hosted here, and I'm seriously excited about it.

The topic is "Asexuality, Aromanticism and Parenthood".

As usual, you can interpret this in many ways. I want this to be an inclusive topic. I want parents, planning-to-be parents, not-sure-if-want-to-be parents and will-never-ever-be parents to all feel free to weigh in. You can weigh in if you're a romantic asexual, aroace, allo aro or anything in the grey areas.

If you already have an idea what to write, go ahead. If not, here are some thoughts.

If you are or want to be a parent:

• Has or will being asexual and/or aromantic lead to a different family design than the standard 'two biological parents married to each other'?
• Has it made trying to conceive more complicated? Has it made trying to adopt more complicated?
• Have you come out to your children? If so, how did you have that conversation (or conversations).  If not, do you have any plans to?
• Does being asexual and/or aromantic affect how you discuss or plan to discuss sexuality and relationships with your children?
• Do you worry about society judging you for being an asexual and/or aromantic parent? Have you been judged negatively for it?
• Did you know you were asexual and/or aromantic when you had children? Would it have changed your decisions if you had?

If you are not sure or are childfree by choice:

• Is asexuality or aromanticism a factor in your decisions about parenthood?
• Do you get a lot of pressure from others to have children, and if so, how do you deal with it?
• Do you think wanting or not wanting grandchildren has or will affect your parents' reaction if/when you come out to them? Is it a factor in deciding whether or not you will come out?
• Do you see society's expectations of parenthood as part of heteroamatonormativity, or a separate issue?

I look forward to seeing everyone's thoughts. Have fun!