Since the 70’s when being openly gay was dangerous, and apps meant potato skins, the hanky code help ‘like minded’ individuals understand what each other were looking for.
The code essentially boiled down to a Color and pocket.
LEFT pocket meaning Top, Active or DOMinant and RIGHT pocket meaning Bottom, Receptive or submissive…
Pair that with a color: Kelly Green for Escorts, Blue for Fucking, Red for Fisting, Black for Heavy SM , Yellow for Piss the list goes on.
The hanky code has become less common as Digital social connections have brought ‘interests’ into check boxes and the ‘flagging’ is within a profile, not a pocket.
But at Hanky2 we think the diversification within the kink world has also contributed to the fading of the hanky code. Take for example a Power Dynamics relationship. Where a SIR is seeking a ‘boy’ (legal age of course).
In the original Hanky code Hunter Green Hanky would mean on the left – DADDY and on the right – boy, but in a SIR / boy power dynamic SIR has a more strict definition than Daddy… There are SIRs who are NOT daddies, and not all Daddies are SIRs. So now what?
Add a Black Hanky? Well, black signals Sado Masochism, GREY hanky is bondage. Neither really work…. So we thought, lets upgrade the range of information conveyed by the single color hanky, and add the flexibility to display on either Left or Right and still be understood.
HANKY 2
Hanky 2 has TWO parts…. Direction and color
Direction
Using Direction eliminates the need to think LEFT and RIGHT, or to only have an item on your left or right.
Arrow points UP ( Active, Top, Dom )
Arrow points down ( Receptive, bottom, sub )
SECOND COLOR
Hanky 2 uses 2 colors… Think of it as a OUTER and inner color.
The OUTER color is Wide, and the inner is narrow.
To make it easy to identify the OUTER color is always in CAPS, and the inner is in lower case.
The result, with just Green and Blue, there are 4 combinations
| OUTER 2 inner | blue | green |
| BLUE | BLUE 2 blue | BLUE 2 green |
| GREEN | GREEN 2 blue | GREEN 2 green |
2 colors raised to the 2nd power… and you can see the power of Hanky2.
Hanky 2 BLUE 2 green : SIR / boy
So back to the example, the new combination of GREEN 2 blue, has a definition of SIR / boy Power Dynamic relationship.
Worn with the arrow pointing up, means “I am SIR seeking a boy”
, worn with arrow down “i am a boy seeking a SIR”.
So let’s wrap up this brief intro with a bit of the WHY HANKY2?
In exploring Hanky2 we have been heard:
“Why bother? no one uses Hanky codes anymore”
“Most people don’t even know the basic codes”
“Aren’t you just complicating things?”
Good questions, and it takes us back to diversification, and how robust and rich the variations in kink have become.. With even 8 basic colors, using 2 colors, and either OUTER or inner, there are over 128 variations. It means EVERYONE can be represented… go deep into your kink.. Choose unique colors to signal to each other.
There are thousands of bird songs, but a mockingbird knows the song of a potential mate.. With hanky2, kinksters can signal each other more clearly, while displaying their colors for the world to see!