What is the hanky code? Colors, meanings and history

Before apps, you couldn’t filter a bar by “into bondage, bottoms only”. So guys put it in their back pocket instead. A dark blue bandana hanging on the right said more, faster, than an hour of small talk.

Left pocket or right pocket?

The pocket is the half of the code most people get wrong, so start here.

• Left pocket: you’re the top, or the active one, for whatever the color means.
• Right pocket: you’re the bottom, or the receiving one.

The same color means opposite things depending on the side. Dark blue on the left says you like to fuck. Dark blue on the right says you like getting fucked.

What the hanky colors mean

There was never one official list, and bars and shops printed their own cards. The version most people learned comes from Larry Townsend’s The Leatherman’s Handbook II (1983).

The classic hanky code colors

The classic hanky code colors

Color	Left pocket (top)	Right pocket (bottom)
Light blue	Gets sucked	Sucks
Dark blue	Fucks	Gets fucked
Red	Fists	Gets fisted
Black	Heavy S&M top	Heavy S&M bottom
Gray	Ties you up	Gets tied up
Yellow	Pisses	Gets pissed on
Green	Hustling, as the top	Hustling, as the bottom
Orange	Anything goes, as the top	Anything goes, as the bottom
Purple	Pierces	Gets pierced
White	Gets jerked off	Jerks you off
Pink	Uses a dildo on you	Takes a dildo
Brown	Scat top	Scat bottom

Later cards kept adding colors and patterns, and no two lists match. Treat anything past the classic list as local slang unless the guy wearing it tells you what he means.

Where the hanky code came from

Nobody agrees on exactly who started it, which feels right for something that spread by word of mouth in bars.

• The keys story: before hankies, some men wore a ring of keys on the left or right hip to say top or bottom. SF Gay History says the usual story is that a Village Voice writer in New York joked around 1970 or 1971 that colored hankies could carry more detail than keys.
• The San Francisco story: Hal Fischer’s 1977 photo book Gay Semiotics says the hankies appeared in San Francisco around 1971, and that a shop called the Trading Post printed cards explaining the colors.
• The bandana order story: Alan Selby, who later co-founded the Mr. S Leather store, said he wrote the first code in 1972 at a shop called Leather ‘n’ Things, after a supplier sent twice the bandanas he’d ordered. That’s his account, and nobody else has confirmed it.

There’s also an older tale from Gold Rush San Francisco, where few women lived: men at dances supposedly wore a blue bandana to lead and a red one to follow. It’s a good story, but treat it as folklore.

By 1980 the code was printed in Bob Damron’s Address Book, the gay travel guide of its day, so a guy visiting a new city could read the room.

Does anyone still use the hanky code?

Some do. SF Gay History says the code faded in the early 1980s, but leathermen still wear it, and plenty of guys wear a hanky at Pride, Folsom or a leather night as a nod to history or a bit of a joke.

Today it works best as an opener, not a contract. Apps and a direct “what are you into?” do the filtering now. If you see a hanky you like, ask the guy what he means by it. If you wear one, be ready to explain it, and don’t be surprised if someone reads it with a different card in mind.

Hanky code etiquette if you want to try it

• Check the side before you wear it. Getting left and right backwards is the classic mistake.
• A hanky isn’t consent. It says what you might be into, not that you’re up for it with anyone, anytime. Talk before you play.
• Know your venue. At a leather bar, people may read it literally. At Pride, most will assume it’s a look.

Frequently asked questions

What does a dark blue hanky mean?
Anal sex. In the left back pocket it means you top, and in the right it means you bottom.

What does a red hanky mean in the gay hanky code?
Fisting. Left pocket is the one doing it, right pocket is the one receiving.

Which pocket is top in the hanky code?
The left. The right pocket means bottom.

What does a black hanky mean?
S&M in the classic code. Gray is the color for bondage.

What does a green hanky mean?
Hustling, meaning sex for pay. As with every color, left is top and right is bottom.

Is the hanky code still used?
A little, mostly in leather spaces and at Pride. Most guys use it as a conversation starter rather than a strict signal.

Sources: Handkerchief code (Wikipedia), SF Gay History: Origins of the hanky code, The Saint Foundation: Hanky code and Bob Damron’s Address Book, GLBT Historical Society: The life and legacy of Alan Selby.