Aromantic? Is that a word?

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There's an album by the ex-members of the Talking Heads. Its called, 'No Talking, Just Head.' Is that what you mean?

Close friend: I was capable of performing as expected as a young woman, but I found it incredibly boring and always waited for it to be over.
Another aspect of 'romantic' I disliked was the underlying expectations to it as being a forerunner for sex. I could never time my arousal in this way and plan to be horny in 5 hours when the 5.th dinner date is over and we've reached my doorstep.

However, now that I'm no longer confined by a gender I never identified with I am not at all closed to the possibility of a romantic date with someone I really like - providing this person likes romance, that's the one thing that makes all the difference. I feel so much more relaxed and free and unconfined as a man, and... yeah, I think I could possibly enjoy being romantic with a woman who would take delight in me being so.

One more thing: Before my 'revival' (as I call it), I never considered my aromanticsim to be a problem as such and certainly not one that stems from me or my personality. When it sometimes has been a problem and have been a dragging shadow on my femininity, this was always due to the rigid ways of mainstream society more than anything - and of course of the rigid thinking of those who couldn't help but conform to these ways. In hindsight I find it only natural that I also never felt attracted to people who placed an emphasis on romance.

I think if I had been self aware and my surroundings had been naturally accepting of my gender-diverse nature, I might have had moments with romantic elements that I enjoyed with someone else. But I have been so alienated that neither I nor others could develop a sense of closeness that didn't bring with it this suppressive expectation to sexual performance.

And like you I'm not in the least asexual. This confused me for many years because I never seemed to be able to feel aroused on the appropriate occasions, namely when someone had made a pass on me and I was supposed to react accordingly. Instead I locked down completely and attempts at forcing sexual activity anyway always either had to be abandoned (I was impenetrable) or it hurt like hell.