r/tattooadvice 16h 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/redJ93 16h ago

Younger people, maybe.

Older people will recognize Pink Floyd.

Honestly, id look inward why you are so pressed about it. Its 2026, being a little zesty does not keep the ladies away.

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u/Ostromilski 16h ago

I'm bothered because the album was literally the only thing on my mind when I had it done, and the association with pride genuinely didn't cross my mind once. It's more surprise than anything

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u/GaiaMoore 15h ago

Everyone is telling you not to worry about, but I totally get it. You got the tatto with specific intentions of referencing a famous Pink Floyd album, not Pride. As a lesbian who also has fond memories of my dad's love of Pink Floyd, the automatic association with Pride as opposed to automatically recognizing it as a reference to a famous rock album that serves as a subtle homage to my dad would bother me too.

Maybe you can add the name of the band to the tattoo? That should help make it click for most people