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Rubber/Latex Pride flag

Last modified: 2020-07-11 by randy young
Keywords: sexual orientation | rubber | latex | pride | zig-zag |
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[Rubber/Latex Pride flag]
image by Tomislav Todorović, 21 June 2020

See also:

Introduction

According to Wikipedia, "Rubber fetishism, or latex fetishism, is the fetishistic attraction to people wearing latex clothing or, in certain cases, to the garments themselves. PVC fetishism is closely related to rubber fetishism, with the former referring to shiny clothes made of the synthetic plastic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and the latter referring to clothes made of rubber, which is generally thicker, less shiny, and more matte than latex. PVC is sometimes confused with the similarly shiny patent leather, which is also a fetish material. Latex or rubber fetishists sometimes refer to themselves as 'rubberists.' Gay male rubberists tend to call themselves 'rubbermen.'"
Randy Young, 21 June 2020
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_and_PVC_fetishism

Description and origin of the flag

This flag was brought to my attention through an E-mail I received from Scott Beach on 19 June 2020, pointing out that there is a Rubber/Latex Pride flag for sale on several flag-selling websites.

The Rubber Pride/Latex Pride flag features a black field with a wide, gold zig-zag stripe, outlined in red, about one-third of the way from the top of the flag, with another thin red stripe following a parallel path roughly one-quarter the width further below. According to Wikipedia, "The rubber pride flag, also known as the latex pride flag, which is a symbol used by members of the rubber and latex fetish community, was designed in 1994 by Peter Tolos and Scott Moats." Unfortunately, there is no discussion of the symbolism behind the design.

There is a graphic of the flag found on Wikimedia, originally created by Wikimedia user RayneVanDunem on 20 December 2012, and most recently updated by user Thomas_Linard on 8 April 2018. The colors specified by user Thomas_Linard are Black (RGB 0-0-0), Red (RGB 211-32-17), and Yellow (RGB 252-200-0).
Randy Young, 21 June 2020
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_and_PVC_fetishism

IMHO, the image from Wikimedia Commons employs too dark shades of yellow and red, which should be Y and R, respectively. I have been encountering these flags while researching other sexual orientation flags, and the shades were never as dark as used in that SVG file. While it would require an extensive research to collect a good number of examples, even a quick Google search can provide several results which speak in favor of lighter shades. First, a photo from Cologne, taken at the Christopher Street Day 2017, displaying the flag used together with a number of Leather Pride Flags (incorrectly called BDSM Pride Flags)—note that shade of red is the same in both flags, and that used in the Leather Pride Flag is already known to be R. Next, a photo from Chicago Pride 2017 reveals the shade of yellow being the same as in the Rainbow Flag which is Y by default - and indeed, rarely appears to be darker, usually when all other shades are darker as well. Lastly, a photo from Twin Cities Pride 2019 displays light shades of both colors.[1] While there is another photo on the same page where the shades indeed look about as dark as used at Wikimedia Commons, but it clearly depends on the lighting conditions—note how white on the Non-Binary Pride Flag looks like gray there, and yellow looks darker as well.
Tomislav Todorović, 21 June 2020
Sources:
[1] — https://www.lavendermagazine.com/our-lives/leather-life-beyond-the-rainbow-theres-a-flag-for-that/ (image: https://149388635.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Rubber-flag_DSF0733-640x842.jpg)


More examples of this can be seen in the photos from Manchester Pride Parade 2018, which can be viewed here, here, here, and here, and the photo from Manchester Pride Parade 2019, which can be accessed here.
Tomislav Todorović, 7 July 2020