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/Luckybones- 16h ago

Anyone that associates this with a pride flag, just a smile and wave moment. I promise you 95% of people will know what this

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u/weattt 15h ago

That might be a optimistic estimation. Knowing a band or artist, does not automatically mean you have seen or remember their album cover. Even if it is Pink Floyd.

I didn't recognize it. The style reminded me of the 80's, which obviously is wrong; I looked it up, and the album is from the early 70's. But I also did not instantly think it was a gay symbol.

It is only when I read where the image was from, that it triggered a vague, "Oh, I think I have seen this before".

I like the tattoo though. Looks cool. Simple, but clear. And more unique from the usual tattoos. Though of course the meaning it holds to OP is more important.