For those of you up on your gay history, you’ll remember that back in the old days before you could list your sexual kinks on a hookup profile like it’s a Chinese takeout menu, men would hint at their sexual proclivities with flagging. Basically, you’d shove a flag in your back pocket — left for top, right for bottom — and the colour would indicate what you were into; red was fisting, light blue was oral, regular blue was anal, etc.
Fun fact: if people still did this, an Ed Hardy flag would mean you were into douches. Think about it.
Well, turns out flagging is having a resurgence in the world of femme lesbianism. Sweet, huh? The way it works is this: you paint all your nails one colour, and then paint one solitary finger — usually the ring and/or middle finger — a different colour. XO Jane reports:
Femme-flagging manicures first came to internet-fame through -– what else — a Tumblr. Primarily, what I’ve seen has been ladies painting all their nails one color, and then painting their ring fingernails, or ring and middle fingernails (fucking fingers!), a different color (their “flagging” color). A pink manicure with a glitter ring finger, for example, could mean “femme for femme” (ie I am a femme lesbian who prefers to date other femme lesbians). Meanings can also parallel traditional hanky code colors –- ie grey for bondage, black for S&M, light blue for oral (hooray!), and so on.
You can actually go to the Femme Flagging Tumblr yourself to see how this works, but I think it’s all kinda super cute. I especially like the Leather Pride flag that someone put together for Folsom, included below. I would totally do this if it weren’t for the fact that all my nails have been nibbled down into fucking nubs. And also, you know, not a femme lesbian. Sad Panda . . .
Why you can trust Xtra
