Community For the love of carabiners

STRAP COMMUNITY For the love of

CARABINERS

Smooth like butter against the skin. The gentle rattling of keys. In various colours, shapes and sizes, the carabiner is spotted on the belt hoops of butches and femmes. But what made these metal loops a symbol of queerness? It is time to take a closer look at the obsession.

Standing in the shadow of a yellow-leafed tree in Central Park, Andie Kent (@andieekent), 23, exclaims “I’m a lesbian”. Pause for dramatic effect. “...and this is my carabiner,” they say and reveal a familiar object. The TikTok, posted in November 2021, has since gained 73K likes and is among the (close to) 500 videos of lesbians from around the world that are using the sound as an excuse to show off their carabiners. “I posted it thinking it would get a few thousand views, like my other videos. Suddenly, I saw an influx of notifications and the number of views soared,” they say about what remains one of their most-liked pieces of content. So, what exactly lies behind the magnetism between lesbians and carabiners, you ask.

Let’s go back in time, long before the height of TikTok. The story begins with our beloved masculine-presenting lesbians of the 1950s. At this point in history, many butches worked blue-collar jobs and carabiners were a practical choice of wear for those who needed easy access to keys. They naturally become a signifier among queer women, not only because utility wear is associated with masculinity, but because lesbian fashion has traditionally relied on subtlety. Communicating queerness comes at a risk and the power of the carabiner is that, while they seemed nothing but practical to an outsider, people in the community could recognise them. In the very beginning, carabiners were worn by gay men and women and could signal sexual preferences depending on the placement. Gay men soon replaced them with handkerchiefs but carabiners remain a well-known flagging device among women-loving-women to this day.

While carabiners were traditionally worn by butches, they are now also popular among “straight-passing” (appear to be straight based on stereotypes) femmes and bisexuals wishing to remain true to their style and simultaneously communicate sexuality. Similarly, queer people who have recently come out tend to appreciate signifiers, like the carabiner, seeing it as a way to connect with their newfound community. They might even feel more comfortable taking part in the community when they feel they “look the part”. Senior writer for Slate, Christina Cauterucci, describes carabiners’ significance in an article: “The beltside key ring is one of the most enduring sartorial symbols of lesbian culture, one of the few stereotypes of our kind that’s both inoffensive and true.”

Andie refers to the Mehrabian’s rule, which states that communication is seven per cent verbal and 93 per cent non-verbal, when explaining that signifiers provide a means for queer people to find one another without having to explicitly state what their sexuality is. “Wearing a carabiner brings me joy as a masc-presenting lesbian. I love going to Trader Joe’s and seeing all of the other queer people walking up and down the aisles with their carabiners clipped to their pants,” they continue. Kerrina Williams (@kerrinarose), 24, who also jumped on the trend by posting a TikTok showcasing their carabiner, says: “Queer signifiers are empowering because you’re standing open and loud against a system that others you. You’re calling out that difference and embracing it.”

Kerrina points out that signifiers have always existed but social media has allowed for a more widespread and intentional creation of queer coding. “Platforms like TikTok have created spaces where people can learn from and celebrate each other no matter where they’re located. I think that’s resulted in queer signifiers being more widely known.” Similarly, Andie says the internet played a pivotal role in them embracing their sexuality: “The way these creators helped me come into my queer identity is what I want to do for others with my content on TikTok.”

Boosted by social media, and more general acceptance of different sexualities, signifiers have become more outlandish than their predecessors. Whenever the mainstream co-opts these trends, they grow more exaggerated in order to still be recognised as lesbian. In other words, a far cry from the subtlety of the carabiner. “Lesbian fashion signifiers just keep updating themselves and getting simultaneously more obvious (like jewellery that says DYKE) and ridiculous,” says Tab Hawkes, 24, co-founder of Leftbians, an Etsy shop selling DIY gay jewellery. She uses the “lesbian earring” trend as an example. “A straight person may see someone on the tube with their lighter and lip balm on their earrings as ‘quirky’ but I see them as the queer icon they are. And I see the ‘practical accessory’ vein of our shared history and culture beautifully illuminating throughout the carriage.”

As queer trends continue to develop, carabiners still hold a special place in lesbian hearts, remaining one of the traditional signifiers that the mainstream is yet to adopt. Like Kerrina puts ever so eloquently: “What makes a trend queer is that queer people are doing it. Mainstream fashion can never take that history away.”