The Pro-Ship Flag FAQ
Welcome to the FAQ; your one-stop shop for information about the Pro-Ship Flag!
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[last updated: 9/25/22]
The FAQ
(+ additional questions)
“is this the official pro-ship flag?”
dear GOD no. that would be cool but i don’t think anybody even uses this. there’s no official flag and i don’t know that there ever will be one either considering how niche this topic is.
“@_______ already made a pro-ship flag, though”
cool! there is not, and probably never will be an official flag. use whatever flag you prefer! i’m just assuming this flag is gonna keep going mostly unnoticed outside of my circle of mutuals. i also didn’t coin the term “pro-ship” so as far as i know, anyone can design a flag for it :>
“who is this flag for?”
this is a pro-ship flag; a flag for people who like problematic ships or support others and their right to :)for more information on where the term “pro-ship” came from, keep reading!
“so what’s the deal with the doves?”
while these doves symbolize Peace, it is also a play on “Dead Dove, Do Not Eat”, which is a tag or warning that a fanwork has problematic themes in it. This can also represent tagging and content warnings. in the wise words of veteran fic writers: don’t like? don’t read!
“what does the _____ represent?”
the flower is a rhododendron, which is a flower that symbolizes love, temperance and general positivity, but it can also stand for caution or danger. I liked this choice of flower because it’s kind of like a “don’t like, don’t read” type of symbol (i’m not expecting many people to look that deeply into the symbolism of the flower though). The pen represents creativity in general, since many pro-shippers I’ve met are content creators of some sort. It is representative of any medium, whether it be drawing, writing, sharing headcanons, just posting about your ships in general, etc. This encompasses the creation of any fanwork really.
“this color pallet reminds me of the hetero pride flag”
it’s unfortunate that this makes me laugh as hard as it does-but to elaborate, this greyscale pallet is actually inspired by the concept of “grey areas”, and how not everything is inherently good or bad, so basically the palette symbolizes moral ambiguity! also cishets don’t own the colors black, white and grey, nor do they need a pride flag of their own anyway
“somebody told me to watch out for ppl who use this flag because it’s used by pedophiles and/or MAPS...is this true?”
okay i’ll admit nobody really asked this yet but before anybody even tries to i will clarify that this couldn’t be any further from the truth. pro-shippers do NOT condone irl pedophilia or incest. We do not use fiction as an excuse to be gross pieces of shit. A lot of us aren’t even into age-gap ships or incest and that’s okay too! as i always say, ship and let ship!update: technically you can still be pro-ship and condone that stuff, but just keep in mind that me and literally everyone else is gonna have your ass reported and put on a blocklist so fast-P.S. a minor (me) made this flag, along with help from other minors, so for the love of god please do not spread false info abt this being a MAP flag because it’s not!! it was literally made by minors who openly condemn those things!! many of us are or were victims of these things, so please, do not jump to that awful conclusion. also i will link this FAQ in response to any of those accusations cuz i’m not fuckin playin around this time.
“what are the guidelines of usage for this flag?”
as you probably just stated to yourself, no, unfortunately i cannot really control who uses this flag, especially because i have not been keeping up with this and who uses it at all, but i will make it known that you are not welcome by the creator(s) to use it if you’re racist, transphobic/TERF, homophobic/exclusionist (this includes bi & pan lesbians, xenogenders, and neopronoun users) or an apologist for racist/transphobic/homophobic/sexist art. like i said before, unfortunately there are pro-shippers who are like that, and i do not want y’all near me or anybody else for that matter
“I take an issue with this flag”
if you’re an anti-shipper i could give a shit less how you feel abt this flag design tbh. it’s not for you.
“why did you make this?”
honestly because i’m just generally sick of pro-shippers trying to coin our own pro-ship symbols just for people to take them and misconstrue the meaning to say it’s a “pedo signal” or something, like what happened with 🌈🍖, 🔞, or 🍐 (although the first and last ones are a whole different story so i won’t even bother getting into that). i’m hoping that this flag and the meanings behind it will show people what the general pro-shipper is REALLY like, since most of them are misinformed about what it even means to be a pro-shipper. pro-shippers are just people who condemn harassment/bullying over stuff as irrelevant as ships or fiction. as long as you don’t judge people for what they ship, you’re a pro-shipper. don’t believe me? ask Fanlore! you don’t have to like age gaps, you don’t have to like incest ships, you don’t have to like angsty ships, you don’t have to like enemies-to-lovers, you don’t even have to like a single ‘problematic’ trope! just as long as you’re aware that liking taboo fiction does not inherently make you a bad person, but also that as a shipper you must be able to keep fiction separate from your reality, then you can be a pro-shipper, too! there’s not much to it really, we just want people to stop coming at each other’s throats over icky ships and ppl who enjoy them
“who created this?”
nobody actually asked this yet either but just in case here’s my twitter!
The Pro-Ship Flag
Pro-Ship Flag V2 (Gradient)
The Doves (no bg)
Black Dove (w/ flower)
White Dove (w/ pen)
