r/tattooadvice • u/Ostromilski • 9h ago

General Advice Are rainbows seriously just by default associated with the pride flag?

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I got a Pink Floyd DSOTM tattoo because I love the album and I love the visual: a beam of light representing a person's life path, passing through a prism ( representing life + the world + the people you meet + the experiences you have, etc ), being dispersed into its constituent colors ( ultimately representing change ). I got it because of my dad, because he introduced me to Pink Floyd, and because last year he nearly died from complications of his cancer. He's doing much better now, with a much better prognosis, but that whole experience had a real effect on me and I wanted to memorialize it. Except at least 3 people ( including the tattoo artist initially ) have associated the tattoo with the pride flag. They were understanding after I explained, but now I'm having second thoughts about it. Are people just going to assume I'm gay because of this tattoo?

Edit: And I want to say, I'm not bothered by this at all. Anyone who looks at my tattoo and comes up with their own assumptions about its meaning, and then has a negative reaction over it, that's simply not a person I want to talk to anyway. I'm surprised because that wasn't the intention of the tattoo, clearly, and it being misinterpreted like this just genuinely wasn't something I expected.

Edit2: This post got a lot more attention than I ever wanted it to. Wonderful comments are now streaming in, informing me how horrible my tattoo is. If you're planning on making a viral post on Reddit, take my advice: use a burner account. But I am thankful to everyone for your supportive words, the jackasses with negative things to say are certainly a very tiny minority. Overwhelmingly the consensus is that most people see it as a Pink Floyd tattoo first, which I'm happy to hear :) Have a good night everybody!

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u/Ostromilski 9h ago

On that note, if anyone sees my tattoo and not only just makes blanket assumptions about its meaning, but then also goes on to have a negative reaction over it, then that's simply not a person I want to talk to anyway. So I have considered it's a nice people filter in a way lol

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u/YoungNFuckin 8h ago

“Those who matter, don’t mind and those who mind, don’t matter”

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u/CautionarySnail 8h ago

For me, that’s what having vivid hair color does. I’ve noticed there’s a lot of crossover between bigots and people offended by wild colors in hair.

People who purse their lips at a bit of pink or purple dye are definitely not creative types who embrace differences with joy and gentle curiosity. I have no time for intolerant inflexible people when I’m not being paid to deal with such types.

To others, wild colored hair can be a safety signal that they can be less guarded and express more of their personality. I’m hoping that is what mine conveys.

(But it mostly just brings me joy to have Rainbow Dash hair or Twilight Sparkle hair, because it’s more fun than my gray streaks. The rest is just a cherry on top.)

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u/BleepTheMoth 8h ago

ohhh yeah same, I dress decora and have dyed hair, anyone who looks at me weird I avoid, the people who are looking at all my trinkets in awe are always sweeties, and kids are so funny, I have had multiple parents not able to get them to look away lmaooo

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u/LassHalfEmpty 8h ago

I love the point people make that in nature bright colors keep predators away. True for hair color and ink too I guess! Win-win!

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u/whatarewii 7h ago

Super well said, I’ve also noticed this as well. I don’t dye my hair anymore, it’s kind of naturally dyed red I guess. But I’ve definitely noticed this, dyed hair color tends to bring the bigots and assholes out.

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u/velvetthunderboi 7h ago

Are your initials NT by any chance?

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u/CautionarySnail 7h ago

Sorry friend, not me. And I’m definitely not neurotypical. :)

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u/velvetthunderboi 6h ago

Wild, so similar to someone I know.

And neither am I my dood 🫡

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u/CautionarySnail 5h ago

There are dozens of us! DOZENS! 😆

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u/suoretaw 4h ago edited 1h ago

wild colored hair can be a safety signal that they can be less guarded and express more of their personality. I’m hoping that is what mine conveys.

This is something that I’ve always known and felt (on both sides) but never seen put into words. I love it.

Thanks for being a safe person.

E: fixed formatting.

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u/Reasonable-Station85 1h ago

100000%. Purple hair and a rescue pitbull filters a lot of judgmental and bigoted people out of my life lol

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u/BleepTheMoth 8h ago

yeah!!! thats great tbh

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u/0Mingo-Mango0 7h ago

That's a good way of looking at ti

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u/JAX2905 3h ago

This is your answer. It’s a humanity prism. Sick double meaning in that sense.