Handkerchief codes

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(Merged from 'Gay Hanky Code'. Wipified. Edited.)
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'''Handkerchief code''', more commonly known as '''hanky code''', was a way of indicating, usually among [[gay]] male casual sex seekers or [[BDSM]] practitioners in the US and Canada, whether they were a [[top (sex)|top]] or [[bottom (sex)|bottom]], and what kind of sex they were seeking, by wearing '''color-coded handkerchiefs''', usually in the back pocket.  These were worn on the left side of the body for tops and the right for bottoms (this division is still somewhat common: tops may wear keys on the left belt loop and bottoms on the right, for example).  
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'''Handkerchief code''', more commonly known as '''hanky code''', was a way of indicating, usually among [[gay]] and gay [[Leather Community|Leather]] casual sex seekers or [[BDSM]] practitioners in the US and Canada, whether they were a [[top (sex)|top]] or [[bottom (sex)|bottom]], and what kind of sex they were seeking, by wearing colour-coded handkerchiefs (or some other piece of material), usually in the back pocket.  These were worn on the left side of the body for tops and the right for bottoms (this division is still somewhat common: tops may wear keys on the left belt loop and bottoms on the right, for example).  
  
There is no universally understood color code, and there may have been regional variations. There is general agreement upon the colours for more common practices:  yellow for [[Urolagnia|watersports]]), red for [[fisting]], navy for [[anal intercourse]] and black for generalized [[S&M]], but there was no consensus for the more uncommon practices, mainly because of the difficulty in acquiring such colored handkerchiefs, but particularly because no one save for a gay sex shop clerk ever bothered to learn them all.  
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There is no universally understood colour code, and there may have been regional variations. There is general agreement upon the colours for more common practices:  yellow for [[watersports]]), red for [[fisting]], navy for [[anal intercourse]] and black for generalized [[S&M]], but there was no consensus for the more uncommon practices, mainly because of the difficulty in acquiring such coloured handkerchiefs, but particularly because no one save for a gay sex shop clerk ever bothered to learn them all.  
  
It is less common that before perhaps due to the advent of internet dating and the coming out of more members of the leather and BDSM communities. For the universally understood colors, however, they hanky code still holds, and is often a part of one's everyday street wear (but red hankies need to be further explicated before one makes a pass in non-gay contexts).
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It is less common that before perhaps due to the advent of Internet dating and the coming out of more members of the leather and BDSM communities. For the universally understood colours, however, they hanky code still holds, and is often a part of one's everyday street wear (but red hankies need to be further explicated before one makes a pass in non-gay contexts).
  
 
==Further Reading==
 
==Further Reading==
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==External links==
 
==External links==
* [http://www.sexuality.org/l/bdsm/hanky.html Fetish Club Hanky Code]
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*[http://www.maturecoupons.com/gay_hanky_code.htm Gay hanky codes] (brief)
* [http://members.aol.com/OfficerJim/hankycodes.html The Compleat Handkerchief Code]
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* [http://members.aol.com/OfficerJim/hankycodes.html "The Compleat Handkerchief Code"]
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*[http://www.gaycityusa.com/hankycodes.htm Gay hanky codes] (extensive but possibly debatable)
  
  
 
[[Category:Gay]]
 
[[Category:Gay]]

Revision as of 03:44, 2 March 2007

Handkerchief code, more commonly known as hanky code, was a way of indicating, usually among gay and gay Leather casual sex seekers or BDSM practitioners in the US and Canada, whether they were a top or bottom, and what kind of sex they were seeking, by wearing colour-coded handkerchiefs (or some other piece of material), usually in the back pocket. These were worn on the left side of the body for tops and the right for bottoms (this division is still somewhat common: tops may wear keys on the left belt loop and bottoms on the right, for example).

There is no universally understood colour code, and there may have been regional variations. There is general agreement upon the colours for more common practices: yellow for watersports), red for fisting, navy for anal intercourse and black for generalized S&M, but there was no consensus for the more uncommon practices, mainly because of the difficulty in acquiring such coloured handkerchiefs, but particularly because no one save for a gay sex shop clerk ever bothered to learn them all.

It is less common that before perhaps due to the advent of Internet dating and the coming out of more members of the leather and BDSM communities. For the universally understood colours, however, they hanky code still holds, and is often a part of one's everyday street wear (but red hankies need to be further explicated before one makes a pass in non-gay contexts).

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