was scrolling thru proship tags last night and saw a post complaining about someone who said they recovered from being proship, and i almost wonder if that comes from a lack of understanding why proship is what it is and why we fight for it, per se
A lot of ppl know proship as being problematic ships, which is incorrect and its actually ur for all ships, (tho u can see how that can be assumed) but does everyone know why we need to allow problematic ships? do they know that we want it because we don’t want censorship and allowing it in one place will allow it to slowly creep into others, causing problems not only with media you don’t like, but with media you DO like? same thing with why people in the queer community need to accept ALL queer people, when we allow for “weird” identities, no matter how weird they actually are, to be bullied, that’s slowly going to creep out, as more typical identities get labeled weird so they can be bullied
do they understand that you can be proship without having problematic ships, too? you can be okay with other people doing whatever the fuck they want while staying in your comfort zone! if you go to a restaurant, are you going to tell your friends they all need to eat your safe food because it’s your safe food, or are you going to let them try something new while you stick to what you’re okay with? it’s okay not to like their food, but you can dislike it without being rude about it
do they understand the idea that thought crimes aren’t real? and that there’s a difference between fiction and reality? this one i think is so important and you know it if you know me at all. the characters in the ship are not actually being harmed, or harmed by anyone else, they won’t really feel it. it’s okay to empathize and be able to put yourself in their shoes, but that doesn’t make it real. i can empathize with aubrey omori and understand how she’s feeling without her now being real, and her having to fight through her grief in real time. the thoughts in your head are just that—thoughts. when you lose teeth in a dream, you don’t lose them when you wake up. when you daydream about being famous, you aren’t suddenly in the spotlight. when you want to enact revenge on your bully, it won’t be on the news just because you had the thought.
you do not have to suddenly start having problematic ships to be proship. you do not even have to engage with anyone who does. you don’t have to read anything you don’t want to. but that doesn’t mean nobody else should get to, either. life is short, have fun.
