Recipromantic Pride Flag

Overview

The design was published, not announced. The Pride-Flags upload gives the flag, a definition of the identity and the colour meanings, and credits a source elsewhere; it names no designer. ^[1]

Identity & Context

Represented Identity

recipromantic people

Subcommunity

aromantic spectrum

Recipromantic, also written reciproromantic, is an aromantic-spectrum identity for someone who experiences romantic attraction only after learning or believing that another person is romantically attracted to them.

The earliest located documentation of both terms is a list of asexual-spectrum and aromantic-spectrum identities posted on 17 June 2014, written by hyaenahart and preserved through a reblog by asexualityexists. It defines recipsexual as "Experiencing sexual attraction only after realising someone is sexually attracted to you" and reciproromantic as "Experiencing romantic attraction only after realising someone is romantic attracted to you". ^[4] That post credits the coinage to a Tumblr post it links under the blog name knuxouge. The 2016 compilation credits the same coinage to a post under the blog name cameoes. Both links carry the same Tumblr post identifier, 84085050689, and the same slug. The post itself is gone and neither account survives, so who coined the terms is not established here. ^[3][4] The compiler of the 2016 post wrote that the person it credited had since disavowed the label and invited others to coin an alternative. ^[3] Neither name is a flag-design credit.

Creators

Associated Figures

Attribution notes

The designer is not documented. The Pride-Flags account published the artwork and names no designer; its pages link a "Flag source" that leads to the June 2014 terminology post, which contains identity definitions and no flags. ^[1][6][4] The pride-color-schemes compilation of July 2016 states "Designed by: Unknown (Edits by me)" and links its full-size files to the DeviantArt gallery. That documents a publication relationship and an editing role; nothing located establishes that the two accounts are the same operation. ^[3]

Origin

Digital Origin

Yes

Online. The design circulated through Tumblr and DeviantArt, and no physical creation place, creator residence, country, event debut or organization is documented. ^[1][3]

Dates & Chronology

Earliest located publication

May 20, 2016

Documented circulation

2016 to present

Creation Bounds

When the design was made is not documented. The earliest located publication is the Pride-Flags upload timestamped 2016-05-19 at 23:24 Pacific time, which is 20 May UTC. ^[1] No earlier publication of this five-stripe design has been located, which bounds it but does not date it. The four colours it shares with the rest of the family were already published in July 2015. ^[2]

Circulation is documented online. The flag appeared in pride-flag archives in 2016 and was later reproduced by reference guides including Library.LGBT. ^[1][3][7] No organization, standard-setting body, event or physical debut carrying it has been located.

Five artifacts are documented, all published by the Pride-Flags account on DeviantArt at 5,000 by 3,000 pixels. 3 July 2015: a general recip flag of four stripes, #E84772, #EFB2DA, #FFFFFF and #000000. ^[2] 10 May 2016: a recipromantic design of four lighter stripes, #F4A3B9, #F7D9ED, #FFFFFF and #808080, charged with a large heart outlined in #E84772 whose interior carries the four base colours. ^[5] 19 May 2016 Pacific time, 20 May UTC: the five-stripe recipromantic flag at 23:24:07 and the five-stripe reciprosexual flag at 23:24:28. ^[1][6] 6 July 2016: pride-color-schemes compiles four of the designs, links each full-size file to the DeviantArt gallery, and adds grouped colour meanings. ^[3] The four base colours run through every member of the family; the two five-stripe flags each add one middle stripe.

Lineage

Indirect influences

Aromantic Pride Flag

Related flags

A-Spec Pride Flag, Reciprosexual Pride Flag

The counterpart Reciprosexual Pride Flag is the paired variant of this design, published the same minute and differing in one stripe. Neither derives from the other. ^[1][6]

Both belong to a family of five documented recip designs. The general four-stripe recip flag of July 2015 already carried the four colours these flags share, and the recipromantic heart design of 10 May 2016 carries them inside its heart. No source states that any one of these designs was drawn from another, so the family is recorded as a group of related designs rather than a line of descent. ^[2][5][3]

The relationship to the aromantic pride flag is an homage, not a derivation. The 2016 colour note describes the pinks as slightly mixed with purple in homage to the ace community; Library.LGBT later read the lower stripes as an homage to the aromantic flag. Neither is a statement of formal derivation. ^[3][7]

Colors & Symbolism

The colour meanings published with the flag are grouped rather than assigned stripe by stripe. The pinks stand for attraction and are described as "slightly mixed with purple to give homage to the ace community", white for lack of attraction, and black for asexuality and aromanticism. ^[3] No meaning is given for the pastel mint green stripe in the 2016 sources.

Measured from the 5,000 by 3,000 original and confirmed against the July 2016 compilation copy. ^[1][3]

The two pinks

Attraction, described as slightly mixed with purple in homage to the ace community. ^[3]

These groupings come from the publisher and its compiler, not from the designer, who is not documented. ^[3] Library.LGBT later assigned a meaning to each stripe individually, reading the pastel mint green as aromanticism and the lower three stripes together as an homage to the aromantic pride flag. That is a later interpretation by a flag guide and is not creator-confirmed. ^[7]

These values were measured from the published artwork itself, and the two generations agree exactly: the 5,000 by 3,000 DeviantArt original and the 500 by 300 copy embedded in the July 2016 compilation carry the same five values. ^[1][3] They are not a designer specification, because no designer is documented. Library.LGBT publishes a different palette for this flag, including #FF218C in place of the measured #E84772; those are the guide’s own values and match no located artifact. ^[7]

Design

Aspect Ratio

5:3

Orientation

horizontal

Stripe Count

5

Layout

horizontal stripes

Stripes (Top → Bottom)

dark pink, light pink, pastel mint green, white, black

Five horizontal stripes of equal depth and no symbol. The published artwork is 5,000 by 3,000 pixels, so each stripe is 600 pixels deep, one fifth of the height, and the proportion is exactly 5:3. Measured from the file rather than specified by anyone. ^[1]

No construction sheet or designer specification has been located. The flag differs from its counterpart in the middle stripe alone. ^[1][6]

Five horizontal stripes of equal depth: dark pink, light pink, pastel mint green, white and black.

Usage & Adoption

Online Usage

Published in online pride-flag archives from 2016 and later reproduced by reference guides. ^[1][3][7]

Current Status

Documented in online circulation

No verified organizational adoption, standard-setting process or physical debut has been located. Documented circulation runs through archives and guides.

Discourse & Debates

Common misidentifications

• The two five-stripe flags differ in the middle stripe alone, pastel mint green here and pastel purple on the counterpart. Both were published on 20 May 2016 UTC, 21 seconds apart. ^[1][6]
• The "Flag source" link on the DeviantArt page leads to the June 2014 terminology post, which contains identity definitions and no flags. It is not a link to the July 2016 compilation, which did not yet exist. ^[1][4]
• The general recip flag of four stripes, published in July 2015, is a separate member of the family rather than an earlier version of this design. ^[2]

The earliest located documentation of both terms is a list of asexual-spectrum and aromantic-spectrum identities posted on 17 June 2014, written by hyaenahart and preserved through a reblog by asexualityexists. It defines recipsexual as "Experiencing sexual attraction only after realising someone is sexually attracted to you" and reciproromantic as "Experiencing romantic attraction only after realising someone is romantic attracted to you". ^[4] That post credits the coinage to a Tumblr post it links under the blog name knuxouge. The 2016 compilation credits the same coinage to a post under the blog name cameoes. Both links carry the same Tumblr post identifier, 84085050689, and the same slug. The post itself is gone and neither account survives, so who coined the terms is not established here. ^[3][4] The compiler of the 2016 post wrote that the person it credited had since disavowed the label and invited others to coin an alternative. ^[3] Neither name is a flag-design credit.

Footnotes & Citations

Image Sources

Rendering

Reconstruction to the measured 2016 colours

• Encycloflaggia reconstruction, drawn to the colours measured from the 2016 original · Credit: Encycloflaggia · DeviantArt · verifiedRights The underlying design is anonymous and its rights are unestablished. This rendering is the archive’s own.