about snake tattoo - is that biohazard?

[kotcas]

Hi all,

I've seen a few amateur BB vids (like in twitter, telegram) where there are young guys with snake tattoo either on a leg, around buttock, or on the chest, anche they are usually fucking bb stragers or random hookups.

It seems that snakes indicates poz guys but I don't  have much info about.

And, how come that they use snakes? is that a secret code for lgbt community, or so?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

[evilqueerpig]

The only POZ indicating tats I'm sure of are scorpions, BioHaz and radioactive symbols.  Of course, a snake with fangs dripping venom might be a new twist.

[viking8x6]

Snakes are very popular tattoo subjects (as are most venomous creatures) way beyond our little sub-subculture here, and have been for centuries. Snakes in general are a very old symbol with quite a few powerful meanings, and so the symbology of the tattoos can cover quite a lot of different topics.

[think before following links] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpent_(symbolism)

[kotcas]

oh cool, thank you to you both 😍

[BootmanLA]

As @viking8x6 notes, snake tattoos have a long history with different meanings in various cultures (and sometimes many multiple meanings within a culture) - not to mention that the US basically has no "tattoo culture" of its own, and so people here adopt designs willy-nilly from all over in combinations that range from the sublime to the ridiculous.

So if you see one, you can always, you know, ask. What it means to him might be relevant or not.

[booTybump]

4 hours ago, BootmanLA said:

As @viking8x6 notes, snake tattoos have a long history with different meanings in various cultures (and sometimes many multiple meanings within a culture) - not to mention that the US basically has no "tattoo culture" of its own, and so people here adopt designs willy-nilly from all over in combinations that range from the sublime to the ridiculous.

So if you see one, you can always, you know, ask. What it means to him might be relevant or not.

The US is the mother of all tattoo culture. The African American community is the grandmother of tattoos. 

[BootmanLA]

19 hours ago, WestLosAngeles said:

The US is the mother of all tattoo culture. The African American community is the grandmother of tattoos. 

Interesting perspective. If the US is the "mother" of tattoo culture, who are its offspring? Considering that Central and South America and Asia (and even natives of North America) have tattoo cultures that long predate even the "discovery" of North America by Europeans, how do you place these entities on the "tattoo culture" family tree? Even Europe has a tattooing history that predates the U.S.'s existence.

This is about the dumbest take I've seen on anything this week. 

[ErosWired]

On 11/16/2021 at 5:12 PM, BootmanLA said:

Considering that Central and South America and Asia (and even natives of North America) have tattoo cultures that long predate even the "discovery" of North America by Europeans, how do you place these entities on the "tattoo culture" family tree? Even Europe has a tattooing history that predates the U.S.'s existence

You’re omitting Australia/Polynesia.

Europe’s tattooing history is in fact, as far as we know, the longest. The oldest known example of a tattooed human found is that of the mummified body found in the Alps of the man referred to as Ötzi the Iceman, dated at 3250BC. He had 61 tatts on his body. African American culture has many legitimate claims as the original driver of social style, but I’m afraid tattooing isn’t one of them.

Indeed, among some cultures on the African continent, as well as darker-skinned cultures globally, you see a tradition of scarification, or cicatrization, patterns rather than tattoos as body ornament simply because tattooing does not provide enough contrast against the skin’s natural pigment.

Edited December 1, 2021 by ErosWired

[hntnhole]

On 11/15/2021 at 5:41 PM, BootmanLA said:

As @viking8x6 notes, snake tattoos have a long history with different meanings in various cultures (and sometimes many multiple meanings within a culture) - not to mention that the US basically has no "tattoo culture" of its own, and so people here adopt designs willy-nilly from all over in combinations that range from the sublime to the ridiculous.

So if you see one, you can always, you know, ask. What it means to him might be relevant or not.

BootmanLA is right.  There are a handful of specific tats that indicate the wearer is positive.  

What I take into consideration (other than the fact that I particularly like fucking guys who are heavily inked) is what -if any - message is reflected in the rest of the tats.  Almost always there are a number of more amorphous tats, before the wearer gets around to snakes.  Frankly, I think most guys that wear a big, bold snake tat are just trying to reinforce their perception that it's a "butch" tat, without sending any "status-specific" message.

[hntnhole]

33 minutes ago, ErosWired said:

You’re omitting Australia/Polynesia.

LOL .... I wonder how that happened !!!

[hntnhole]

35 minutes ago, ErosWired said:

the "discovery" of North America

ErosWired is far too polite to say this, but I'm not:

Wouldn't that be the theft of North America?  Or, invasion?  Or rape of the North American Continent by Europeans - and mostly Northern Europeans?

After all - we just wrapped up the Thanksgiving (more appropriately, ThanksTaking) holiday, wherein we celebrate the generosity of the indigenous population of N.A. shown to the initial arrivals, which generosity was eventually repaid by the wholesale butchering said indigenous population, leaving the few remaining escapees relegated to what was (at the time) deemed worthless land.  We tend to think of the depravities visited against Africans, taken against their will to slavery in North America, for the purpose of enriching their Caucasian "owners" long before there even was a USofA.  But that depraved outrage against humanity was hardly the only outrage; it was only the largest. 

Witness Oklahoma - site of the Tulsa Eradication of Af/Am financial success.  Or, the outright mass-murder of the Osage, simply because only Caucasian's "deserved" to be wealthy. Even more breath-taking, these depravities, crimes against humanity were excused by what had been torturously bending/breaking every message of what these Caucasian Overlords called "Christianity".  Today's notion of that belief system is so far removed from the original Universal Message (beginning with Constantine) that it's virtually unrecognizable today.

My apologies, but this total failure of any shred of decency by - yes - ancestors that looked just like me - is the sand upon which no house can stand.  Anyone who reads a newspaper, owns a television or other means of consuming the news of the day knows that the Piper has come to be Paid now.  Either we finally, finally begin to address this flaw, or we'll be done for in short order.

My apologies - this probably doesn't belong in this thread.  Maybe I can move it to the political department ... I'll try.

[hntnhole]

Well, got it moved, but now I don't know how to ditch if from the snake tattoo thread ... maybe one of the moderators can ... 

[Menbendovr]

While all this talk about tattoos and their cultural origins is interesting, no one has really answered the original posters question about snake tattoos and if that means the man having one is poz or not.

I don’t know the answer either, but my guess would be if the snake tat is a venomous one or has dripping fangs like someone else said the chances are good he’s saying he’s poz.  But that’s just a guess.

I’ve seen guys with black widow and wasp tattoos and they’ve said they were poz and used those tats to be different while saying they’re poz.

My takeaway is that if I see a tat that portrays a venomous creature then I’m assuming they are advertising they are poz.  The next step would be to ask them if my assumption was correct.  But I usually never ask status anyway.

[Justaholeff]

I've always wondered about snakes and the infinity symbol...

[BootmanLA]

7 hours ago, Menbendovr said:

While all this talk about tattoos and their cultural origins is interesting, no one has really answered the original posters question about snake tattoos and if that means the man having one is poz or not.

I don’t know the answer either, but my guess would be if the snake tat is a venomous one or has dripping fangs like someone else said the chances are good he’s saying he’s poz.  But that’s just a guess.

I’ve seen guys with black widow and wasp tattoos and they’ve said they were poz and used those tats to be different while saying they’re poz.

My takeaway is that if I see a tat that portrays a venomous creature then I’m assuming they are advertising they are poz.  The next step would be to ask them if my assumption was correct.  But I usually never ask status anyway.

You highlight the issue there. The biohazard symbol was almost unknown as a tattoo choice until it was adopted as a symbol of being proud of being poz. Ergo, it's a reasonably safe assumption that, especially on a gay man, it means "poz". (I suppose it's possible that some straight guy who has a career in handling biohazardous materials might get one, but even that seems like a stretch.)

I've seen lots of tattoos of venomous creatures on people who I'm pretty sure are not poz. There are undoubtedly some on people who ARE poz. But that just proves the point - unless it's a reasonably universally recognized symbol - the star of David for Jewish people, the biohazard symbol, the anchor for sailors, etc. - it's a crapshoot guess what a particular tattoo means to the person who's wearing it.

Ask.