The answer to this is much more complicated than the answer with regard to fiction that only involves purely fictional characters.

It’s honestly not something I’m generally comfortable discussing, if only because it’s not relevant to me. I’m not a ‘fan’ of real celebrities, of any kind, either mainstream or youtube celebs.

I don’t create, consume or participate in any rpf content, because I’m not interested in celebrity content, or parasocial relationships with real-life non-fictional people.

But here’s my take on it.

🔎 From a purely legal standpoint (in the United States at this time), rpf is acceptable, as long as it is clearly identified as fiction, and does not stray into the realm of libel or misinformation. This is why you can have real-life, living presidents appear in comic books, or use Elvis as a character in fiction.

🔎 From a practical standpoint when one becomes a Public Figure like a celebrity, a musician, a head of state, one commonly accepts that it means that people are going to be very weird about you, and you are going to lose a certain amount of privacy, whether that means dealing with paparazzi, people who send you letters about how you should marry them, or finding weird fanfiction about you. There’s no way to stop all rpf writers– they have existed forever along-side all other versions of weird (and I mean weird in a completely non-judgemental way) fans.

🔎 From an ethical standpoint its going to depend on your personal code of ethics, and this is where it diverges from fictional shipping for a lot of people. Some people believe that it is always a violation of a person’s privacy and boundaries. Some people don’t agree that it is. These people are unlikely to be persuaded in either direction.

If you are someone who wants to write rpf and wants to go about it in the most ethical possible manner, here is MY advice, in adherence with MY ethics, for how one would go about doing so.

🔒 Always clearly identify rpf content as fiction. Include a clear disclaimer at the beginning, and possibly ending as well.

🔒 Never attempt to create photoshopped or computer generated rpf images with the intention of making them photo-realistic or indistinguishable from reality.

🔒 Never share rpf content in places where you believe it is likely for the person you are writing about to stumble across that content unintentionally.

🔒 Only publicly share rpf content of people who can reasonably be considered public figures. Do not ever publicly share rpf content of private citizens or anyone is ‘just some guy’.

🔒 Do not ever send rpf content to the people who it is about, or to people who are related to them.

🔒 Do not ever harass, stalk, or solicit the attention of public figures, celebrities, or their friends and families for any reason.

Some people consider rpf content to fall under the proship umbrella, some people do not consider it to.

I do not take a firm stance on whether it falls under the proship umbrella or not, because I do not create or engage with those materials.

Personally, I would say that I am closer to saying that no, rpf doesn’t fall under proship.

HOWEVER that does not mean that I think writing rpf is necessarily unethical, I just think that it has different ethical considerations attached to it than when only fiction is involved.

AND IT IS NEVER OKAY TO BULLY OR HARASS SOMEONE FOR WRITING OR POSTING RPF.

DO NOT BULLY OR HARASS PEOPLE.

Do not bully or harass rpf creators.

If you see rpf content that you believe is harmful, or that disturbs you, your best course of action is to block the user posting it, and, if you believe it is warranted, report the user for whatever violation you believe is taking place.