Expansive Intimacies: Celebrating the Intimacy of Asexual and Aromantic People

This qualitative grounded theory study examined asexual graduate and undergraduate college students' experiences in and with healthy intimate relationships. Using interview and survey data from 69 participants, the study presents a new emergent conceptualization of expansive intimacies, inclusive of more than 10 types of intimacy. The expansive intimacies model moves beyond rigid, gendered, allonormative conceptions of intimacy by instead challenging narrow or limited ideas of who gets to experience intimacy and what people classify as intimacy. Viewing intimacy as the ways asexual and aromantic spectrum people - as well as all people - build connections with others moves beyond conceptions of asexual and aromantic people as lacking, by instead celebrating their varied relationship experiences. This work also provides practical applications for rethinking relationship education.