femme flagging

Queers re-fashion ‘flagging’ codes by Jo Latham (The Scavenger, undated)

“The point of flagging is to invite questions, to initiate conversations about the specifics of sex and of desire and to acknowledge the complexities involved in sexual interaction. Flagging does not tell you everything (indeed even a good double or triple flag can only tell you so much), and clubs are dark: maybe what you thought was red was actually dark pink. Flagging, then, demands an explicit and specific understanding (and practice) of consent. Without it, flagging makes no sense. A flag is an indication, a reference to interest in certain activities and a way of non-verbal initiation. In this way, flagging provides a radical resistance to the kind of “hands on” harassment and abuse many of us endure….

…The queerness of contemporary flagging culture is less about ‘homosexuality’ and more about drawing attention to the ambiguities of desire, of gender and of bodies. Flagging in this way takes into account the realities of transexuality, transvestism, bisexuality, heterosexuality, and indeed female bodies, in ways that the traditional system failed to do so. Thus, flagging resists conventional (and sexist) assumptions about who wants what and how, as well as emphasising that talking about the specifics of sex is a necessary part of practising safer sex (that is, sexually interacting with anyone).”

http://www.thescavenger.net/glb/queers-refashion-flagging-codes-27856-368.html