Friendship-ambivalent, also referred to as friendship-conflicted, plato-ambivalent, or plato-conflicted, is a friendship stance that describes an individual who has mixed or complicated feelings regarding the act or concept of platonic interaction. The term is commonly used by aplatonic spectrum individuals, but is not exclusive to this community or platonicity.
Friendship-ambivalent individuals do not fit neatly into the basic friendship stance categories of friendship-favorable, friendship-indifferent, or friendship-repulsed. This can be for any number of reasons. Common plato-ambivalent experiences include the following:
- One’s feelings towards platonic interaction change or fluctuate over time (friendship-oscillating).
- One’s feelings towards platonic interaction are different depending on the situation or involved individuals. For example, one may feel friendship-repulsed normally, but feel friendship-favorable only when in a relationship with a partner who is platonically attracted to them.
- One’s feelings towards platonic interaction are different depending on the specific platonic acts. For example one may feel repulsed by the idea of sharing interests, but feel favorable towards other forms of platonic interaction.
- One’s feelings towards platonic interaction are confusing or unidentifiable. For example, one may struggle to tell if they are friendship-favorable or if their desires for friendship are caused by the internalized thought that an individual “should” want friends.
Flag
The friendship-ambivalent flag was designed by Tumblr user arco-pluris on March 12, 2018. It is based on the sex-ambivalent and romance-ambivalent flags.[1]
History
This term has existed in some form in the aplatonic community and was recoined for the purpose of providing a concrete source by AnonymousHermitCrab on the subreddit r/asexuality on April 27th, 2022.[2]