why aren’t a-intimates a thing? Where are the healthy relationships with people who just don’t particularly form intimate connections
This is called “casual” when it comes to sex and relationships. Hookups are casual sex. There’s twitter gender discourse on casual cuddling. Let’s broaden the term. Porn consumption is casual. Romance fiction consumption is casual. Parasocial idol worship is casual. Usually.
Generally all the ways you work for someone else and buy things from someone else are all casual interactions (generally asexual and aromantic as well). Almost nothing you do to survive and thrive requires trust of others. Goods and services are unconditional on your internal state and therefore you gain very little by relating to them. We call people who live fully through casual relations to be “atomized”. Marx calls this “alienation”. Not all commerce happens this way though. Like, Japanese business culture relies a lot on personal ties. You can call such activity which relies on vulnerability and faith to be “acasual trade”.
This is called “casual” when it comes to sex and relationships. Hookups are casual sex. There’s twitter gender discourse on casual cuddling. Let’s broaden the term.
Porn consumption is casual. Romance fiction consumption is casual. Parasocial idol worship is casual. Usually.
Generally all the ways you work for someone else and buy things from someone else are all casual interactions (generally asexual and aromantic as well). Almost nothing you do to survive and thrive requires trust of others. Goods and services are unconditional on your internal state and therefore you gain very little by relating to them. We call people who live fully through casual relations to be “atomized”. Marx calls this “alienation”. Not all commerce happens this way though. Like, Japanese business culture relies a lot on personal ties. You can call such activity which relies on vulnerability and faith to be “acasual trade”.