People get tattooed for any number of reasons - to follow a trend, to indicate membership in a group, to display something that is meaningful to them, to rebel against society... and these are only a few. What began in the U.S. as a form of expression utilized mostly by lower-class males has now become a trend that is embraced by people of all ages, genders, races and socioeconomic statuses.  Lawyers, doctors and corporate execs are flocking to tattoo parlors to become permanently inked, as are stay-at-home moms, middle-aged businesswomen and college girls. Everyone has a different motive behind becoming "inked," women in particular. In this field report, I will explore the different motives behind contemporary women's tattoos through various books and webpages.

In the past, and still in some circles today, tattooed women were looked upon as "loose," unsophisticated and lower-class. They were discriminated against in society, in businesses and in courts. One example, "extreme but not atypical," takes place in Boston in the mid-20's, and describes a woman whose claim of rape was thrown out when the court discovered that she had a butterfly tattoo (Revolting Bodies: The Monster Beauty of Tattooed Women). It was assumed that with this tattoo, she was inviting sexual assault, and because she had already unpurified her body in this manner, other manners of physical acts were insignificant. Other tattooed women were restricted to a life of being circus sideshows and public spectacles. Betty Broadbent, for example, advertised herself as the youngest tattooed woman in the world, estimating her art at 365 tattoos (Bodies of Inscription, 59). While the circus' tattooed ladies were presented as "feminine and refined," they still lacked the traditional "look" that would have allowed them to be part of the "respectable" mainstream society.

When looking at the above paragraph, one might wonder why a large range of women ever decided to get tattoos - society certainly wasn't very receptive to the idea. The reasons women began to ink their bodies stem from a large variety of things, including husbands who tattooed, aesthetic pleasure, spirituality, symbolism and a "shield" of sorts.  While some of these motives are universal for both men and women, many of them are uniquely female. "Tattoos appear to contemporary women as both emblems of empowerment in an era of feminist gains and as badges of self-determination at a time when controversies about date rape, abortion rights, and sexual harassment have many women thinking hard about who controls their bodies and why," says Margot Mifflin in Bodies of Subversion.  

Tattoos, as Mifflin stated, are often used as personal empowerment for women. This personal strength often comes when the tattoo is inked over something that represents something negative. "After Karen had a hysterectomy, she was self-conscious about wearing a bikini because of the big horizontal scar running along her abdomen. Even though she's not, as she put it, 'the tattoo type,' she had a beautiful line of flowers inked over the scar to camouflage it" (The Body Art Book, 35). In my research, I have discovered many stories of women who have gotten tattoos to cover scars of surgeries that may have made them feel less like women. Hysterectomies and mastectomies are often the most traumatizing operations for a woman because they are depriving her of physical attributes that make up her femininity. One way that women get over this experience, or rise above it, is to replace the scar with something that makes them feel stronger. Pam Huntley said, "Getting my tattoo was the culmination of a three-year dance with breast cancer. The tattoo changed my mastectomy scar into my shield" (In Celebration of a Scar).  Huntley celebrated her mastectomy and the greater appreciation for life that it brought her by tattooing a redwood branch with Native American symbols on her chest. The Native American symbols represent her femininity and her strength, and the redwood branch symbolizes a guardian force in her life.  

Many tattoo artists find that women are becoming tattooed in order to reclaim their bodies, and many women have a more "holistic" approach to the process than men (More Than Skin Deep). Betty Broadbent, one of the most famous "tattooed women" in circus sideshows, participated in a beauty pageant, almost as if she were "demanding a revision of feminine beauty" (Revolting Bodies). For her 60th birthday, feminism advocate Elaine Schieve got a Nile River goddess tattooed on her ankle (Revolting Bodies). Instead of being excited for her, her friends "asked first what her husband thought, and went on to comment on what their husbands would think if they were to get a tattoo. By their questions, these women demonstrated that on some level they do not think that Elaine owns her body, nor do they seem to think that they own theirs."  Beginning with the feminist movement, women realized that their bodies were their own canvasses, and became inspired to ink themselves. Tattooing was a way of expressing that they were no longer "owned" by their husbands or society, and that they had the freedom to do with their bodies as they wished. Valerie Export, performance artist, has "a rendering of a garter belt clip... reminding her of 'obsolete' definitions of women" (Revolting Bodies).  

"I would say about half the men [I worked on] got tattooed just to get tattooed, whereas almost all the women were getting a tattoo for a reason. Some did it just because they thought it was pretty, but usually there was some symbolism," said artist Sheila May in Bodies of Subversion. Some women get tattoos to cover scars, some get them to assert control over their bodies, but nearly all get them because their tattoos represent some kind of symbolism to them. Butterflies represent change or growth, angels represent protection, and fairies represent nature and the wild magic (The Body Art Book, 37). While many men do, in fact, get tattoos that represent a stage of personal growth, it has been speculated that more women cite this as a reason. Female tattoos represent a never-faltering place to draw strength from; tattoos don't disappear, they don't change their minds, they don't dump you. When a women who got a tattoo after a divorce was asked for her reasons, she said, "I want a mark on my body that my husband has never seen" (Bodies of Subversion, 7). This tattoo was less about covering a scar (though emotionally, it was probably doing that), and less about independence (though it was doing that, too), and more about symbolizing a stage, a change in this woman's life that was there to stay, and that she realized she'd have to come to grips with. Her tattoo, for her, no matter what it was, represented the beginning of a new life, a freer life, a life that she could make distinct from her ex-husband. Another woman got a turtle tattoo when she was freed of the hindering back brace she had worn through most of her youth (Bodies of Subversion, 106). The Body Art Book describes several instances in which tattoos are inked on women as a form of symbolism and deeper meaning. Sarah's story is particularly interesting. "Sarah sports a Celtic legband with a grapevine running through it.  This is a representation of her heritage: her mother is Irish and her father's family worked the vineyards in Italy. She's currently designing a band for her other leg, a music staff (she's a musician) with different fruits and vegetables as the notes (she's a vegetarian). The notes correspond to the first two bars of her favorite childhood lullaby" (The Body Art Book, 33). Sarah's story is unique because she is designing a tattoo in which every element corresponds to an aspect of her life - family, vegetarianism, music and childhood.  Instead of choosing a butterfly off of the parlor wall to represent "growth," she chooses to have every piece of her tattoo be something that means something to her.

This research by no means encompasses every motive behind the female tattoo, nor do I mean to imply that men do not get tattooed for any of the above reasons. However, in perusing the Web and various tattoo books, I have found that the motives I have listed are quite common and often have a very distinct spirituality behind them. Tattoo artist Maree Docherty believes that "tattooing is a strongly spiritual activity" (Spirituality of Tattoos). She says, "I... tattoo in a women-only environment, so the support friends they bring must be female." For many women, the inking of their bodies is a deeply personal act, and this research was fascinating to do because I began to delve into my own memories of friends' tattoos, and why they got them. While some of the tattoos weren't what my own personal choice would have been, they were all important to the woman who was inked. Most of them got tattooed in England, where they went during high school for a Chorale trip. The design itself may not have been particularly symbolic (a dolphin for a girl who wasn't really very dedicated to the swim team), but the tattoo was, and the trip that it will remind her of forever.

I had a very good experience while doing research; both the Internet and the books I looked at proved very helpful, and yielded excellent information. Looking back, I might have done well to make this the report where I conducted the interview, because I certainly know quite a few women who are tattooed, and it would have been interesting to hear their motives behind it. I learned a lot from this research, some of which I already suspected. The contemporary woman, the woman who just a few years ago would have been psychologically prevented by society from getting a tattoo, has a variety of reasons for becoming tattooed. Whatever the motivation, the conquering of a disease, a declaration of freedom, or a symbolic personal statement, women are coming into the tattoo scene at a faster rate than ever, and they're there to stay.

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