#lightshipper

It Is Never That Serious.

Those Are Balls Of Dough.

like youre missing the point, there is no good or bad, there is no morality to it, it is inherently morally grey, i may not ship really fucked up things because its personal preference, i have a few questionable ships that fall into abusive territory but those are ships i moreso keep to myself, but i still have friends who are darkshippers, i interact with darkshippers, i will fight people who harass people for darkshipping

(found on pinterest)

definition: also known as light comship, it means complicated but not problematic

Examples:

Enemies to lovers

kid x kid

human x object

Emoji combo:

💿🫧

Neuship flag:

Flag by @dupsydidahop

neutralship meaning:

somewhere in between proship and antiship in ship discourse

This may because:

They support a side ideologically but not how the group behaves ( e.g. believe that darkshipping is wrong but disagree with antishippers’ harassment of darkshippers/ believe all fiction has the right to exist but disagrees with proshippers posting darkship content against platform guidelines and therefore exposing it to kids)

they believe fiction affects reality but not 1 to 1

just don’t want to have a label in term and believes all shipping discourses should be dealt with a case by case and not in terms of proship and antiship

but yeah just a reminder

comship = complicated ship. definition-wise, a lot of popular ships are comships! I don't know all of the kinds of ships that fall into here, but some examples include mortal x immortal, living x ghost, robot x human, mirrorshipping, etc. basically any complex dynamic.

lightshipper = a subterm of comship. the reason this term exists is because darkships fall into the category of comship. however, not all comships are darkships of course. lightshippers are comshippers that do not darkship, simple as that! some people say this is just normal shipping, but that's not excactly the case.

proshipper = a proshipper is against harassing (or generally hating on, I think?) anyone for what they ship. darkshipper? comshipper? neither? they think you shouldn't be hated for it. unfortunately, people are trying to pose this as a synonym for darkshipper, as well as harassing others despite having this label.

darkshipper = dark ship. I don't know how to explain this in one chunk, but it includes plenty of things. human x non-sapient animal, family x family, minor x adult, etc. while some use this as a coping mechanism, many factors suggest it's not a very good one, especially if posted publicly. (I can elaborate if asked)

(in the case of fandoms having a different species as society instead of humans, human is just whatever species that is I think?)

personally, I'm a lightshipper, slightly wary of proshippers, and against darkshipping

I am proship. not proshipping, not proshipper. proship. proshipping and proshipper don't functionally work as words, because thats not how proship works.

Proship means: Anti-Harassment and Anti-Censorship, with the belief that Fiction does Not Equal reality (NOT that fiction doesn't affect reality) It means fiction doesn't affect reality to a 1-1 basis. Which seems obvious, but i've seen some just. plain ignorant takes, so i wanted to be sure thats clarified.

the Anti-Censorship Stance: first off, censorship is dangerous! in general, both in fandom and reality. You've all likely heard the phrase "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it", which is fairly relevant here. Take states, or even countries where things in media are censored. things such as Queer books, as a largely understood topic. Schools removing books that talk about Sex Ed, Queer spaces, sometimes even religion. censorship as a whole is a way to control, to keep people uninformed of things so in many cases they can't fight back. This is something very important in many places in the current day. Anti-censorship is against this, it advocates for freedom of speech, the ability to access things freely, to learn, to explore.

well, you might be asking, "how does this have anything to do with shipping, or fiction at all? this all seems quite real!" because, historically, if you give an inch, they'll take a mile. you censor fiction you don't like, and suddenly a loophole is found. a show you don't like gets taken down, censored? well, now a line is set. "but this is good! {X Show} had {X thing you are uncomfortable with}! it shouldn't be up!" well what happens when someone complains about something you DO like? well the lines been set, it's okay to take things down that make people uncomfortable. so that gets taken down as well. This becomes an ideology, that if you're uncomfortable, you can just have it taken down. this spreads, and suddenly people in power have this. homophobic people can point at something gay, say it makes them uncomfortable, and it gets removed. then with people.

Can you see how this goes down? give an inch of censorship in media, and you get people taking a mile of very real, very political power.

"but what about (X thing) that makes me uncomfortable!" you ask? you see, people have a wonderful thing, called free will, and opposable thumbs. most dark medias that most associate with the proship label (incorrectly, but i'll be getting into that later), will get tagged, have content and trigger warnings. These are important, and ABSOLUTELY should be used. however, it's important to note they need to be used truthfully. a papercut shouldn't go under a gore warning, for example. this waters down the meaning of gore. gore has a meaning, and using it for things outside of what it means is just false as a concept. It's functionally incorrect, and if it becomes common to have papercuts under gore warnings, then someone who is deeply disturbed by true gore but is fine with a papercut might continue, with the thought well, every other thing under the gore label are papercuts, this must be one too. and then be faced with very real gore when it appears. can you see how this can pose issues?

remember, words have power. use them confidently, but also, don't be afraid to understand what you're saying. research things, learn. This will help you grow, in so many ways, regardless of age. It is Never a bad thing to Learn, and change. ever.

Now! onto other labels, usually associated with the proship ideology. sadly, i can't easily do this because youtube doesn't like some of the words, so i'll do my best

Com/Darkship. these are the ships normally connected with the word proship, mostly because most people with the proship label also tend to be comshippers.

now, personally, theres no deep difference in the two terms of comship or darkship, but people are free to correct me on this. this is not an ideology like proship, this is a flavor of shipping. a comshipper is simply someone who likes darker media, more toxic pairings. you may think "oh what a bad person, they like these things. they must clearly endorse it if they show them so blatantly". not true! many comshippers simply like the topics, same as you may like horror, or games like GTA. it is fiction, and no one is physically being hurt. this is one of the main concepts of proship, which is another reason why many comshippers fall under the proship label.

No one is Physically being hurt. Kinks are okay (even the ones you don't like or aren't into!). paraphilias are okay, and are common! are you attracted to a certain aspect of people? did you know that is a paraphilia? a paraphilia is simply a certain attraction to certain things. it's not inherently bad. and even the Big 3? they're not bad either! one those, it's only the action thats bad, not the thoughts. thought crimes are not real! which is another reason censorship of media is bad, because people who have paraphilias that are considered harmful can and many times will have the ways they can safely express and handle these thoughts and desires. outlets through fiction and medias in safe ways are actually highly encouraged by many, many therapists. dark medias and fiction are also ways to cope with other things, such as traumas. (BUT NOT ALWAYS!! SOME PEOPLE JUST LIKE DARKER TOPICS, AND THATS OKAY!!). it can be a way to vent, or to explore their own minds.

and as i mentioned, some people just like dark topics, and like exploring the human mind, what makes people uncomfortable and pushing the limits of fiction, some like getting a visceral reaction to their work. i certainly do, and have written things that do make people shudder, and that was the intent. it was meant to be frightening, to make you uncomfortable. a great example of this kind of writing is most horror! have you seen the alien movies? they're not exactly meant to be comforting, feel good, slice of life stories. they're meant to frighten you, and smaller writers and creators often aim to do the same thing!

and some people can't handle those writings, and thats okay. some people can't watch certain movies, because the level of discomfort isn't worth the recreational value of witnessing the things, and thats okay! the best thing you can do, when writing, or reading, is Mind the Warnings, Read the Tags. Make sure when it's something that can potentially trigger someone, to cause real distress, to put a warning.

This last part isn't even some strange fandom stance, but human decency. use trigger warnings as needed, when they apply. don't misuse them, but don't actively go out of your way to not use them. if you're unsure, google it! there are dozens, if not more, ways to learn. don't be afraid to learn, it makes you stronger. fight for your ideals, but don't be afraid to listen to someone elses side, and be prepared to realize you may be wrong.

fandom is meant to be fun, to be shared. it's meant to be safe. it's a place to explore ideas, even dark ones. it's okay to be uncomfortable, and it's okay to not look at some things.

i may have forgotten some things in this, but i'm happy to respond to respectful additions or questions

and to everyone, proship or not. take a while. breathe. it will be okay. the world will be spinning again in the morning. set an alarm, watch the sunrise. the world will get better. we will get better."

Definition: A lightshipper is a comshipper who does not ship anything problematic.

I created the userboxes not the flags