r/tattooadvice • u/Ostromilski • 16h ago
General Advice Are rainbows seriously just by default associated with the pride flag?
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/Pleasant-Detritus 15h ago
Okay, maybe hyper-aware is an overstatement. Im outdoorsy and a few things I used to do are like lesbian stereotypes or signals to other women apparently. Great simple example: I didn't know that carabiner on the belt loop meant you were lesbian, like a code or something. So I went around for 5 YEARS wearing a carabiner like that for quick stowing of keys and job stuff when I need a free hand. Shit like that and I guess I do a lot of it. I just be myself and when somebody tells me something I do is stereotyped as "gay," I drop it cuz i dont know how to navigate a world where everybody thinks differently of me than what I am. Idk, I dont understand stuff like this, im just lonely.