Xs and Ohs: The Mark of a Straightedge

If you've ever been to a bar or a nightclub on an 18+ night then no doubt you've seen people walking around with big black Xs solidly written in Sharpie on their hands. For those lucky barflies and club hoppers that were born before this date in 1990, they will receive a wristband. (This is sort of two cultural objects but they go so well together.) Both the wristband and the X marks on the hands are signifiers that send two very different messages.

The basic messages that the X is supposed to send is a message of denial.

Historically, I’m sure we could go on for hours searching out the origins of the X and how it came to be seen as a mark of denial. (Think of how the X has been used on game shows like Family Feud, or in bowling to indicate a strike, or to indicate striking out in baseball.) Its message is meant to be read by the bartender (or if you’re unlucky, by security) so that when you ask for a drink he or she knows to give you water or soda instead of something with a bit more of a kick. On 18+ nights, the conventions that everyone is a customer waiting for a drink are turned upside down and every bartender must be on guard. Now, I won’t even get started with the whole alcohol/age connection, somewhere along the way the government decided in its infinite wisdom that 21 was when you could drink alcohol, but you legally became an adult at 18. So, the X became the mark of that period in life when you are legally considered an adult but not old enough to enjoy an adult beverage. (Feel free to enjoy cigarettes, voting, and pornography though.) This also makes it blatantly obvious to the other patrons exactly what age bracket you fit in which may result in either keen interest or snobbish disdain.

The wristband on the other hand allows access to every Irish Car Bomb and White Russian your little alcohol-loving heart craves. The wristband is so often overlooked once a person has entered a bar or club but it is more the absence of the dreaded X that affirms your drink order. The X has become a social construction of what it means to not be drinking, some even self apply the X to the back of their hands to prove that they are straightedge, which is someone who follows the rules and doesn’t drink. Basically, the X, with its thick black lines is just as effective as any stop sign because when you reach for that drink it is hard to miss that mark.