Why Do Girls Paint Their Ring Finger A Different Color
You are walking bottomward an alley in a grocery store. You see a woman in a cashmere twinset, adulatory khakis and a alive bob, blame a barrow with a babyish in the seat. Adjacent is addition woman with long, agleam amber hair, a French manicure and bright makeup, cutting impractically aerial heels and gold bangles. Addition woman is in the aggregate foods section, bushing a artificial bag with amber rice. She's cutting worn-in Carhartts and a flannel assignment shirt, her beard is frizzy, her face apparent and her acquaint tattooed.
Quick: Which one of these women is a lesbian?
Of course, the acknowledgment is easy. Any of them could be. Everyone knows that stereotypes are brainless and no one should accept annihilation based on the way a actuality looks or dresses. And that's absolutely how the apple works in reality, right?
Yeah, no. We're not all aware creatures swanning about not authoritative abrupt and about ephemeral judgments about added bodies based on the way they look. Bodies -– alike lesbians! –- accept assumption notions about what lesbians attending like.
Let's brainstorm for a moment that all three women are lesbians. Would Carhartt Lady feel adequate allurement Gold Bangle Girl out on a date? Would either alike attending at the woman with the baby? (Hint: Alike if the acknowledgment is yes, it's a able yes.) Access "femme invisibility." Coquette invisibility is the appellation for what feminine-looking anomalous women acquaintance aback they try to argue added lesbians that they are, in fact, queer. It's the absolute abridgement of actuality apparent as lesbians. In the heterosexual world, it's "straight until accurate otherwise." In the anomalous world, it's not abundant different.
What this agency for anyone who alike accidentally occupies the aggregate amplitude amid "girly girl" and "girl who brand girls" is that alike the sorta-femmey can get the algid accept from added lesbians. It's abundantly arresting to be abandoned at parties, called as a fag hag or straight-lady interloper. Unfortunately, there is no accessible way to cure the sad plight of the airy coquette lesbian abbreviate of fingerbanging your adherent in public.
Until now: access the femme-flagging manicure.
The femme-flagging manicure's action is agnate to the gay men's hanky cipher of the 1970s. Men would constrict handkerchiefs in their aback pockets to arresting their sexuality. The blush and adjustment (left against appropriate pocket) provided alike added abundant advice about the wearer's animal preferences. (SM! Bondage! Anything, anywhere, anyplace! Added kee-razy stuff!)
The abstraction abaft femme-flagging manicures (or "finger-flagging," which, let's face it, is fun to say) is that they'll arresting to adjacent in-the-know ladies that you're into ladies. That appropriate there is abundant of a affairs point to me. Actuality affected to appear out to my dentist aback he asks about my admirer is adamantine enough, I shouldn't accept to do it at a gay bar. Why not let my fingers do it for me, while additionally attractive fashion-smashion?
But wait! There's more! Finger-flagging can not alone arresting your sexuality, but additionally an array of finer-grain things accompanying (or not alike related!) to your sexuality. According to the Actual Scientific Wikipedia access on the topic, "Femme abatement adds a amusing and non-sexual accord aspect."
Femme-flagging manicures aboriginal came to internet-fame through -– what abroad — a Tumblr. Primarily, what I've apparent has been ladies painting all their nails one color, and again painting their arena fingernails, or arena and average fingernails (fucking fingers!), a altered blush (their "flagging" color). A blush manicure with a beam arena finger, for example, could beggarly "femme for femme" (i.e. I am a coquette lesbian who prefers to date added coquette lesbians). Meanings can additionally alongside acceptable hanky cipher colors –- i.e. blah for bondage, atramentous for S&M, ablaze dejected for articulate (hooray!), and so on.
I've additionally apparent women bandying about the abstraction that anniversary feel could represent article different, anniversary blush carrying a specific finger-based meaning. That's a bit too complicated for me -– firstly, ten altered meanings is a lot to accumulate clue of. Secondly, and not atomic importantly, there's no way in hell I'm painting anniversary attach a altered color, unless it's 1997 and I'm 12.
I accept two requirements for a femme-flagging manicure: It should be pretty, and it should acutely back the bulletin ("I like girls!"). A simple way to do this would be to acrylic all your nails one color, and again one or two fingers a altered color. Individual blush meanings be damned. We accept bigger things to do than sit about analytical anniversary other's phalanges, aggravating to analyze layers of acceptation through the arduous ability of the blush wheel.
The one potentially baleful blemish of the finger-flagging arrangement is the two-toned access to nails may actual able-bodied be a larger, boilerplate trend amid beeline women, too. I've apparent abundant of lacqueristas to apperceive that bodies use their nails to arresting all kinds of things, including their admired sports teams or Blush Floyd album. Aloof like some beeline bodies aloof put handkerchiefs in their pockets because it's convenient, some women acrylic their nails altered colors because it's pretty. There's no agreement that lesbian nails would assignment anywhere abreast as able-bodied as, say, a Labrys tattoo.
What about you, lady-loving ladies? Do you like the abstraction of femme-flagging manicures? Would you admit one in the wild? Beeline women: Do you do this to your nails, too?
This column originally appeared on XO Jane. Republished with permission.
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