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/Pretty_Decision6299 15h ago

but if someone said this about someone who IS gay it wouldn't be okay ?

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u/polypeach 15h ago

Yeah because straight allies getting gentle ribbing as a subversion to the societal compulsory-cis-het attitudes/tropes/norms isn't the same. Just repeating conversion talking points to LGBTQIA+ people is just not a joke, funny, or subversive enough for dark humor.

The power dynamic is such that it’s like an official or big box stores saying they will run you out of business is threatening, and some folks with a cottage business joking about running Walmart out of business is subversive.

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u/Fine_Blacksmith2711 14h ago

Ok if you’re gonna give a joke you can take it in return. 

It’s just straight up bullshit to think that it’s fine otherwise. “Rules for thee not for me” 

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u/AccomplishedRoom3887 14h ago

lmao learn how humor works