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so, what does pro-ship really mean?
an explanation of what being pro-ship really means, and the other terms seen within our community.
The original meaning to the term pro-ship is constantly being washed away and replaced with a (sometimes damaging) replacement — both by people who are part of this community, and the ones who oppose it.
Many people define pro-shipping in one simple phrase:
Nobody should be shamed or harassed for fictional ships.
This is understood to be the most accurate definition, and an opinion that’s shared between the vast majority of people within the pro-shipping community. That, no matter what, all ships and shippers should be respected; that all ships are valid within a fictional setting, regardless of how unsavory the dynamic between those characters may be in canon.
Because of this, many people assume that pro-shippers support, encourage, and enjoy ‘problematic’ ships: ships between characters that are family, or share age gaps considered to be unhealthy in our society, or show abusive tendencies, and many more things that may make a ship controversial. This is an incorrect assumption. Being pro-ship does not automatically mean you enjoy certain types of ships; it simply means you accept them as a part of fandom.
Pro-Ship ≠ ‘Problematic Ships’
Pro-ship individuals often have tropes we dislike, that make us uncomfortable, or that we find strange and unsettling. However, instead of harassing the people who create content for these ships, and trying to change their minds, we instead choose not to engage with the content. If we don’t like it, we don’t look.
You could say that being pro-ship has nothing to do with the actual ships we enjoy and create, and instead focuses on our opinions regarding harassment and freedom of creativity within fandom spaces.
Some people prefer to use the term “anti-harassment” to describe themselves. This can be because the term pro-ship has too many misconceptions around it, and people don’t feel safe or comfortable using it anymore; because people feel like anti-harassment describes their opinions much more explicitly than other terms; or they just prefer the way it sounds!
“Pro-fiction” is another term seen commonly in this community. The meaning is similar to that of pro-shipping: nobody should be shamed or harassed for the fictional content they’re creating. Whether this be darkfic (fanfiction which deals with situations that may be disturbing and possibly triggering), kink related works, or other themes that may be considered taboo. Again, this doesn’t necessarily mean that we personally create and/or enjoy those works — just that we accept the existence of them.
Seeing as many pro-shippers hold this opinion already, the two terms are often used interchangeably as most people agree they hold the same sentiment; some people may prefer to call themselves pro-fiction to avoid the negative misconceptions of its synonym.
Some pro-shippers also like to describe themselves as being “anti-anti”, short for anti-anti-shipper. Being anti-anti means that somebody opposes the actions and opinions of anti-shippers. Originally a term used to describe people who are against specific ships (e.g. “Anti-Sonamy”), anti-shipper is now also used to describe people who shame and harass others for shipping ‘problematic’ or ‘morally wrong’ pairings.
Pro-ship, pro-fiction, anti-harassment, anti-anti — people in our community have different reasons for using each of these descriptions, but all these terms are united under a core belief:
Nobody should be shamed or harassed for the fictional ships and content they create.
And that is what the pro-ship community stands for!
TL;DR: Pro-shipping does not mean supporting and encouraging problematic ships. Pro-shipping means being anti-harassment and pro-creation of fictional content within fandom.
Note: There is an ever-growing number of terms synonymous to pro-ship, and I haven’t included all of them here. If you use something else to describe your stance, feel free to add onto this in reblogs!