Well, we take the hankies out when someone catches a whiff of Lily Law or Jennifer Justice.

But for real, both are really cool means of coded communication. Hankies are definitely less of a “Gay men” thing than a leather community thing, though that’s getting into niche enough subcultural divisions that it’s not the sort of thing most people care to learn and there’s really no point for them to. But yeah the hankies partly served the same role as polari, it’s a way to communicate illegal desires in a way that requires being taught the code. It’s actually quite similar to learning drug slang, except with a higher barrier to entry back in the day.