Here's a link to the wikipedia page on the gay hanky code. In short, the gay hanky code was used in leather bars in the 1970s to signal men about the various fetishes one might participate in. It is still used today amongst the gay BDSM crowd. This site provides an extensive chart on the different colors, and what they mean on each side of the body.
I think this is a really cool form of the gay "hairpin" that Chauncey discusses because not only does it go unnoticed by the heterosexual community, it often goes under the radar of the more vanilla gay men. Using the hanky code is very much a part of a subculture within gay subculture.
This is really interesting. It's so amazing that large groups of people can create "codes" which let them communicate with each other - and even more impressive that they're able to do so while being undetected by those outside the group.
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