Quoiaesthetic, also known as quoisthetic, WTFaesthetic, WTFsthetic, whatsthetic and whataesthetic, is a term associated with challenging one's own aesthetic orientation as not personally helpful. It also can include not knowing one's aesthetic orientation or not wanting to define one's aesthetic orientation. It is part of the nonaesthetic spectrum.
Quoiaesthetic experiences may include:
- Being unsure what aesthetic attraction is, and therefore being unsure if one has experienced it or not
- Finding the concept of aesthetic attraction to be inaccessible, inapplicable, or nonsensical
- Being unable to understand aesthetic attraction as a concept or feeling disidentifying with the concept of aesthetic attraction, either as a social construct or as something potentially applicable to oneself
- Questioning aesthetic orientation for such a long time that the questioning itself becomes the orientation, rather than a path toward any other identity
- Having a difficulty distinguishing aesthetic attraction from other types of attraction
Quoiaesthetic is often considered an nonaesthetic spectrum identity, though not all quoiaesthetics identify with the nonaesthetic spectrum. Quoiaesthetic can more accurately be understood as a disidentification with the aesthetic/nonaesthetic binary, which may or may not overlap with an asen-spec identity.
History
Quoiaesthetic was first coined by wiki user Rat0Meat on May 29, 2021. It was inspired by quoiromantic and quoisexual.
Flag and symbolism
In 2015, Cor proposed cos own flag design for quoi identities, including quoigender, quoisexual, and quoiromantic: four lavender question marks, rotated in a ring to share a single dot, as if spinning in a circle. This design was overlaid on a cool grey background in a house-shape, instead of the traditional rectangular flag. The choice of question marks as a symbol references the questioning basis of quoi as an identity term.
Another simplified design had been proposed inspired by the nontraditional flag shape idea, using a triangular flag shape instead, with the intent of being easier to physically reproduce. Like Cor's design, these designs exhibit a ring of question mark symbols sharing a single dot, except that the number of question marks is three instead of four. These designs have been proposed in both a green and a lavender version, in reference to previous designs. The green version is intended for quoi orientation identities, specifically. The lavender version is intended for quoi identities as a whole, as with Cor's design, "to honor its intentional vagueness." This leaves it open to use for other types of quoi identities, such as quoigender.