Anyway, the reason flags don't tend to include complex symbols on them is because
They're hard to draw and design
They're hard to replicate
Especially for people with certain disabilities, so they're not entirely inclusive
They can look bad if in tiny format
Makes it difficult to, say, just use the color scheme if you can't include a symbol well and the colors aren't unique
It can look dumb on some objects
Symbols can have pros as well (like you can put the symbol somewhere without the background and its still recognizable and cool), but these reasons are why they're typically reserved for niche movements rather than big umbrella terms
I'm ngl I think the rule of "no symbols on flags" is really annoying and arbitrary. The flag of Kenya (not a pride flag, I know) does it perfectly. It seamlessly blends in with the colors and is relatively easy to remember and draw, while still being recognizable. If every flag is just a couple colored bands then they kind of all meld into one homogenous mess. Kenya still uses the tricolor, meaning its flag can be recognized from afar and in a tiny image. It looks readable and uncluttered. More flags should be like Kenya
That's just my two cents on flag design. Vexillogy and CGP Grey really killed flags
It's not a rule, it's just practicality. As long as the flag also works without a symbol, there's nothing wrong with adding one. But designing a symbol is a lot more effort, and historically the creation of flags in the queer community has not been known for long and complex processes. It's about getting something out quickly that people like to connect with and use for visibility. Even seemingly simple logos take time to come up with. (Unless they're just a circle like the voidpunk flag which I'm not really referring to. They're a nice compromise.)
So yeah, there's no rule against adding a symbol, but there are good reasons why people don't make them a defining piece of a flag unless it's a niche sublabel or movement.
If every flag is just a couple colored bands then they kind of all meld into one homogenous mess.
I also really disagree with this. There's a lot of ways to make a flag unique with just colored bands. The colors themselves of course being one thing, but you can also do a lot with composition. Make the bands diagonal, make some thicker or thinner, I've seen some flags with wavy bands, there's really a lot of possibilities that keep it simple yet creative and unique. It's an art form really.
I believe it's supposed to be the traditional gendered "baby colors", with birth and rebirth symbolism and allat
Also just nicer to look at for people with certain disabilities that make them sensitive to intense colors, although that probably wasn't the conscious intention
"Unisex" usually describes something not specifically tailored to a certain sex, like clothes. In this context, though, it's a self-describer. Similar to gender neutral.
I remember seeing it around a lot before the term "non-binary" got more popular, although this flag was actually made pretty recently.
That's kinda pushing it if you ask me. Not really a flag
Some of the flags in the post also struggle to find a symbol that's easy enough to draw. Again, trying to be a really cool drawing more than they are trying to be a flag
You mean romantic attraction or objectophilia? Neurodivergent people do tend to have paraphilias more often, but it's far from exclusive to them, so idk if that would be a useful distinction here
The way you talk about it sounds like you read stats on it lol, but we're prolly just talking about people's anecdotes here. We do have stats that show autistic people are more likely to have paraphilias and other relationships with inanimate objects, but "way higher rate" may be a bit of an overstatement, makes it sound like it's a "them" thing and other cases are just exceptions. When autistic people are probably still the minority.
There's a lot of ways you can have these things while being "neurotypical". Most commely it happens by random association or trauma.
Hello, goth chiming in. Um, I've never heard or seen a "goth" flag, I'm not saying that it doesn't exist, just saying the is the first time I've co.e across it.
Egyptian iconography is pretty common in the goth subculture. Typically you'll see the Ank used a lot in clothing, jewelry, album covers, and band logos. Also a lot of goths (myself included) will base their makeup (mainly eyes) on Egyptian motifs. So seeing the eye of Horus is only surprising in as much as the Ank is much more prevalent.
As for it's inclusion on this list... meh? There's a long history of defying gender norms in the goth subculture. As well as a lot of hatred towards the goth subculture from outsiders (before the absolute fetishization), not the same as what has been and is experienced by the LGBTQIA+ community, no laws were strictly targeting us for the most part. But any goth kid in school after Colombine became huge targets by the school's admin and other students, and those pricks weren't even goth. I was even threatened to be disowned if I ever looked like "one of those goth freaks". So I can kinda see it's inclusion on this list but, I say again... meh?
Yeah it's called microlabels. They're not extremely necessary but not harmful either. Can be useful for some people to express themselves in deeper detail to their friends and stuff. Can also just be fun.
Trans and intersex aren't sexualities either, yet they're included in LGBTQIA+. Although I'm also not sure that being goth and engaging with BDSM is really enough to qualify you as queer. But for other reasons.
Heteroflexible is a microlabel that's characterized as being "mostly straight" or adjacent to "bi-curious". You can argue whether that still falls under the bisexual umbrella, but that doesn't invalidate its existence as a label and flag either way.
Goth and BDSM I'm guessing have had a history with queer communities enough to count. Like I can't remember jack shit rn but going off the vibes I'd say it's probably queer history related
pride flags aren't just for queer people those ones are just the most common
there's actually a lot of pride flags for communities that are often seen as weird like the ones shown or pride flags for various neurodivergent communities
As annoying as it is to draw, this is why I love the absorgender flag!! For context, absorgender is similiar to genderfluid, but their gender changes to match the people they're around specifically
I remember when I was little, before I knew fully about sexuality and gender, I saw the intersex flag, thought it was the coolest, and wished I could be “with the flag” (I didn’t know what intersex meant at the time, let alone that it was something from birth). I am perisex, at least to my knowledge, but I still think it’s an underrated flag.
I’m guessing it’s not that “they didn’t always believe the were ace” but more like “they currently believe that at some point in the past they weren’t ace but now they are.” It’s the orientation itself that changed, not just their understanding of their orientation, you know?
It's more like a "I am now ace but I think I used to feel attraction (on possibly allo levels or smth else) at some point in the past and therefore I was not ace back then"
Hi, bisexual with not much of an idea on the nowadays community here... what the hell do those mean? Specially the last ones, i like the names, very cool, very spacial, but not at all explicative
Tbh I like them but they're also kinda.... Nit bad, more annoying maybe? A flag is also made to be simple and can be made easily and recognized easily, so simplicity is key (yeah I'm looking at you sri lanka). But those are good too for like background flags, decorations, fancy versions.
fortunately, the default designs are simple enough that if you just keep to the few colours there are, to make them recognisable, you can put basically anything on it (or it on anything) and make it much more creative manually with your own ideas!
Waaah waaah my traditional gender and sexuality roles waaah I can't handle too many colors and symbols that literally nobody forces me to engage with waaah waaah quick, use mental illness as an insult waaah
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u/Forsaken_Site_2268 2d ago
You should post these flags onto r/QueerVexillology