Fish Flag
Original Flag, Inspiration, and Palette by @estrogenism (Thank you for the permission to edit this flag!)
What does Fish mean?
Fish is a black exclusive term for a femme lesbian. This label was first recorded as a counterpart the label 'Stud' in a Masters of Arts thesis titled, 'A Study of a Public Lesbian Community' by Ethel Sawyer. Black masculinity is to Stud as Black femininity is to Fish.
The Flag: Symbols and Colors
School of Black Fish: In the original flag I found on my dash, estrogenism uses an image of a tropical fish to represent the body diversity among black femmes. I decided to go with a school of fish to represent the community among black femmes. Initially, I wanted the school to look like a crescent moon to represent femininity further, but I wasn't fuckin' with it.
Colors:
The darkest purple: Womanism (a feminist school of thought centered around the black experience)
2nd darkest purple: Black sapphicism
2nd lightest purple: Black sapphic history
Lightest purple: Unity between all fish (trans, cis, intersex, aspec, arospec etc)
Lightest pink: Subversion of femininity
2nd Lightest Pink: Vulnerability (????)
Orangey-Pink: Persistence
Red: Love
Recommended Reading
Femme: Feminists, Lesbians, and Bad Girls (Edited by Laura Harris and Elizabeth Crocker) [There are two relevant segments. Fish Tales and Fish Pond]
A Public Study of a Lesbian Community by Ethel Sawyer (This study was done by a heterosexual woman. Due to the time it is from, harmful stereotypes of both studs and fish are portrayed in this thesis. These misconceptions are incredibly dated.)
Note: Based on the reading that I have done (Including the original thesis itself), some bisexual women were involved in the lesbian bar culture and identified with the label Fish. Out of the 7 fish interviewed by Sawyer, 2 out of 7 (28%) enjoyed sex with men. That being said I don’t mind or care if black bisexual femmes use this flag. But please understand the difference between presenting femininely and femme culture within the sapphic context (specifically butchfemme/studfemme/stud-fish community) before using this label.
