(Editor's Annotation: With the new "mask when going out" regulations for Greater Palm Springs, we idea it was time to revisit the Hanky Code and consider applying it to wearing one on your confront!)

When 2 men are negotiating a sexual run across or fifty-fifty compatibility to engagement, the phrase "What are y'all into?" will inevitably come from one or both.. Quite often in "Grindr" chat, this is shortened to be but "into?" — but similar ships used cyphers (flags) to communicate, we gay men have our own way to communicate sexual preferences and proclivities. It's chosen the Hanky Lawmaking.

Himeros

Originating in the early 1970's in either New York or San Francisco (let's non even try to settle that argue), the hanky code is a system of signaling sexual preferences, fetishes, and roles by choosing to wear a specifically colored bandana on a particular side of the body. With simply a glance at your rear finish, (the bandana being tucked in your dorsum pocket) anyone who is in-the-know volition know what you're "into!"

Then how practise you know which colour to wear, and where to habiliment it? The commencement critical variable is the side of the body on which you choose to article of clothing your colors, considering this signals your preferred role:

  • Left side of the body = Pinnacle/Ascendant Role
  • Right side of the trunk = Bottom/Submissive Role

Every bit a manner to call back which is which, consider that we read left to right, so left comes first. Similarly, the top/ascendant role is primary, with the bottom/submissive beingness secondary. Therefore, when "reading" the backside of a hanky-wearing man, if he's wearing it on the side that "comes start," he identifies equally meridian/ascendant, and if it's on the side that "comes second," he'southward bottom/submissive.

The 2nd signal is the colour you wear, which specifies the scene or sex activity act you are seeking. This is where information technology can get complicated, depending on your source of information, just nosotros will keep it simple with some agreed-upon nuts:

  • Black = South&M
  • Dark Blueish = Anal sexual practice
  • Low-cal Blueish = Oral sex
  • Chocolate-brown = Scat
  • Green = Hustler/prostitution
  • Gray = Bondage
  • Purple = Piercing
  • Red = Fisting
  • Yellow = Watersports
  • Orange = Anything goes

For those who like to keep their options open and/or reject all of this with a flat "I don't like labels," take note of the flexibility inherent in this system: You lot can change your colors as quickly as your mood shifts, habiliment several colors at once, switch sides if you change your heed, and for the truly versatile, why non vesture the same color hanky in both pockets to indicate your openness to different roles!

Hanky Code Gay Men
The Hanky Code For Gay Men, Gay Sexual activity, Palm Springs

Obviously some thought and logic went into the system of choosing which colors represent which scenes, and if you bank check out this expanded reference, you'll run across the system specialized even further. Some interesting examples:

  • Night Green = Daddy/Boy Scene (a relative of the hustler green?)
  • Low-cal Pink = Dildos (they're often that colour)
  • Dark Pinkish = Nipple Torture (might make them that color)
  • Fushcia = Spanking (rosy cheeks)
  • Rust = A Cowboy (ruddy complexion)
  • Khaki = Armed services Sex (naturally)
  • Gilded Lamé = Muscleboys (recall Rocky Horror)
  • Mosquito Netting = Outdoor Sex (that's merely being pragmatic)

Herein lies the potential for confusion: with at to the lowest degree vi unlike blues and six different pinks, tin can you lot really know you're seeing the same color intended by the wearer? Simply ask! Maybe this is the all-time thing about the hanky code: information technology's an icebreaker and a conversation starter. In a world where nosotros often seek compatible playmates through online profile photos, negotiating that spark of allure in person, with the aid of a low-tech system, could be a refreshing return of sometime-school ingenuity.