IIRC “tramp stamps” became more popular at around the same time as low-rise jeans, so a tattoo in that particular spot would be both easy to show off in casual settings and easy to hide in professional/formal settings. So from a practical perspective that sounds ideal for most women with tattoos. Other popular places for women’s tattoos like the ankle or shoulder would be revealed by many formal gowns and even some office-appropriate summer dresses.
My sister got her tramp stamp to cover scars from her spinal surgery. I would imagine, though, most people get them just because they think they’re cute.
Why not? It lets them have it both ways: they can appear slutty (and get free attention) when they want, and cover it up when they want to pretend to be serious, and avoid any negative consequences. The tramp stamp is in that sense the perfect metaphor for feminism.
Watch out! She will cut you!
Please work a bit harder on your reading comprehension.
I never said I had an issue with tramp stamps or any other kind of tat. My question was: now that lower back tattoos are considered slutty, why do girls who do not want to come across as slutty still get them?
I was talking to a rather attractive (read: gorgeous) friend the other day and she declared her intent to obtain a tramp stamp.
I asked her why, given the ubiquity of the location and the negative connotations, and she pointed out both how well-suited the spot is to easily hiding one’s tattoo, and that it’s also the most attractive place for a female to get a tattoo*.
I couldn’t really argue. Put the concept in a whole new light, especially considering that my about-to-be wife has a (now regretted) tattoo between her shoulder blades which severely limits her ability to wear low-backed dresses.
*that is, we took a straw poll of the other 20 people in the bar and everyone agreed that it was either the least unattractive or the most attractive location.
Tamp Stamps are not universally considered slutty. A woman could get one and still think that she won’t be come across as slutty. At least in a negative slutty way.
Personally, I like most of the ones I’ve seen. They have a certain whimsical, more than slutty, quality.
I never considered them slutty per se, but I’ve always thought of them in a negative way, especially the really cliched images (butterfly, kanji, flower, etc.)
They’re like the Volkswagen Jetta circa 2001 - it seemed like every college girl had one.
I can’t wait until the Carny Decade* is over.
- Tattoos, shaved heads, piercings. When I was younger, this was the look of skeevy carny workers, not respectable people.
“Tramp-stamps” might not be slutty ; but for that, it takes the mastery of Man Ray.
I’m starting to get my schadenfreude from the stories of people who spend big money and lots of time and pain getting tattoos removed now. 
Honestly, if someone is getting a tattoo in that location, they are thinking about the bedroom, not the boardroom. Referring to women thinking of sex as “slutty” or “trampy” is so loaded with baggage that I don’t even want to open that can of worms. You kind of get at that in your own comments. “Slutty” is only negative if involves being sexual in a way that the person using the term “slut” disapproves of.
But I think the number of women getting a tattoo on the lower back without thinking of it in sexual terms is vanishingly small. This would be true both before and after the emergence of witticisms to describe said tattoos.
Penn Jillette: “A tattoo used to mean you’d been in the joint, to sea or on the bally. Now it just means you’ve shopped at Hot Topic.”
Unlike anyone else in this thread, I know what an 80 year old woman with a tattoo looks like. My dad, at one point, was a rep for AGVA, the Associated Guild of Varity Artists (basically, acts that had appeared on Ed Sullivan or aspired to do so). There was some overlap with carnival people. So I had met a former “Tattooed Lady”.
This was someone who actually had a good reason to get tattooed - to earn a living. And she regretted them. And they were as ugly as sin - faded to a smeary blue bruise.
My son (18 next mth) was recently sharing his desire to maybe get an eyebrow piercing and I said, “Your body, and I think that would look ok…but whatever you do, DON’T pierce the tongue or get gauges in your ears or get a tramp stamp.” 
(like I could stop him, but he got a kick out of that…NO mom, don’t worry! :D)
I suppose some women choose that location for a tatt because they LIKE it and could give a good flying fuck what the stereotype is. Also because it is easily hidden or showed off, depending. I have one on my hand, very small, never had any issues even working in very conservative settings, but some people prefer to be able to hide them. And it is an area many women consider one of their best, so they want to accentuate it.
Me, I would hesitate only because it seems like it would hurt like hell! The skin on my lower back is very sensitive. :eek:
But then, I am currently working on one for an ankle…a spot I have heard is pretty close to bone and therefore painful. But I like the location…again, to be able to hide it AND to accentuate one of my better areas (legs/ankles).
One thing…lower back tatts can sometimes cause problems with medical procedures like wth that childbirth injection is called…some Drs don’t want to inject through that area if it is inked. 
Me, no worries, as I had both mine at home w/o drugs and no plans on any more, but something to be aware of if a woman is considering such a tatt.
Now that sports cars are commonly called “overcompensating (for a small penis)”, why do men still get them?
I think ‘tramp stamps’ are pretty hot. So I encourage all young women to get them.
I have heard them referred to as “coasters” because you need someplace to set your beer when … well you know.
I’ve also heard them called “targets” because you need someplace to… well, you know.
My understanding is that there aren’t actually any problems with injecting through tattoos; the problem is that people think there are problems, and doctors are responding to the fear rather than any actual problems. Which sort of gets you to the same place - having a problem getting an injection you need through a tattoo.
InterestedObserver, I have one on my ankle, close to the bone - it did hurt - but I love it.
In the 80’s I knew a biker chick who had a ‘tramp stamp’ that read: “No Putt- No Butt”. She’d be over 50 now - I wonder if she regrets it.
Pretty tame, considering what’s out there in the world of body modification. Compared to the unfiltered results of a Google-image search for “anal starfish tattoo,” tramp-stamps are the equivalent of our great-great grandmothers dabbing vanilla extract behind their ears at the church basement supper.