# Tattoos on Females **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 5, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690 "2004-05-05T19:04:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690/101 "2004-05-09T15:46:33Z")
> [@OhFace](#): > > What do you think about tattoos on females?[etc] Tattoos on females…yes or no? Ya know, I am not a big fan of tattoos, period. They just don’t turn me on. A possible exception is very stylized one-color tattoos (henna?) that use ancient traditional patterns instead of more modern colors and pictures. My main problem is that tatoo colors fade, which I find unappealing. You asked! BUT, you’ve already got some, so go with it! Dare to be yourself and don’t care what others think. BTW, I think short women are very sexy. Uh oh. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690/102 "2004-05-09T15:50:58Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > Because it’s not for anyone else. It’s for me. I call a possible B.S. on it being just for you. How often do you tell people about it? Brag about it? Display it to lovers, expecting praise or compliments? In a nutshell, methinks the lady doth protest too much. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690/103 "2004-05-09T20:24:42Z")
> [@BoringDad](#): > > I have apparently been unclear in my question. Yes, but that’s no crime. I misunderstood your meaning. That’s why I asked. > [@BoringDad](#): > > So it is just for you. That is fine. I am not judging or saying it is good or bad. Hmm. How can I best put what I am asking so as not to continue to unintentional piss you off. I’m not pissed off. Just trying to explain. I do tend to come off as aggressive sometimes. Sorry 'bout that. > [@Knorf](#): > > How often do you tell people about it? Brag about it? Display it to lovers, expecting praise or compliments? Well, I got it about 8 years ago (for my 30th birthday). Aside from the artist, my sweetie has seen it (I don’t sleep with a whole lot of people, sorry 😛 ), and my three best friends. Other than that, nobody. And, yes, now that I’ve posted, you all know I have one. But not where it is or what it is. Unless you decide to track me down, I could pass you on the street and you’d never know I have one. ---
**Author:** ![MrO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@MrO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrO)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690/104 "2004-05-10T01:30:19Z")
> [@BoringDad](#): > > But would you not agree that this is the exception rather than the rule? Yes, possibly. But it is the rule for those who take good care of their tattoos. > [@](#): > > Wait a second! If tattoos are not an act of individuality, then why shouldn’t I choose one from the wall? If you are advocating me create my own design, then you are telling me that tattoos SHOULD be an attempt to show my individuality. But didn’t you just say that they weren’t? Oh, come on, I don’t believe you’re that obtuse. There’s a degree of creativity and individuality in pretty much everything we do, but there ain’t nothin’ that’s truly original. “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun,” and all that. (I know, I’m quoting from the Bible here, but let’s leave Leviticus 19 out of this, shall we? 😉 )\* I just mean that one’s choices should be an expression of the person making them, and that to make those choices well, one must know oneself very well. It’s unreasonable to expect anyone’s choices to be truly original, but we can still exercise a level of creativity in our choices. There’s a long way between following the crowd, with no individual thought at all, and going where no one has gone before. The fact that I wear a tie to work is not very original, but I still like to choose ties that are a little different from the cookie-cutter variety I see for sale in most places. And almost every day, someone asks me where I get my ties. > [@](#): > > Yow! Did anyone in this thread say that? Did I miss it? I think that tattoos are art. Some good, some bad, just like on canvas. (This quote refers to tattoos being an inarticulate means of expression.) Yes, someone did say that, on the first page–reply #50. But it wasn’t you, so of course you needn’t defend it. To be honest, I haven’t found your posts here to be particularly insulting or offensive. I have no problem at all with those who don’t like tattoos or don’t understand them, and the only reason we’re having this exchange is that you’re the one who responded. But there are others who aren’t satisfied with not liking tattoos; they feel it necessary to insult those who do. I won’t claim that people with tattoos are better than those without, but I’ve never heard of a tattooed person insulting a non-tattooed person for being ink free. [sub]\*By the way, this is my 666th post.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690/105 "2004-05-10T12:25:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Kind of like the mystery of why people eat yellow mustard when there is brown mustard available. **Boring Dad** , we seem to have a lot in common! Maybe we can hang out at a Dopefest someday. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690/106 "2004-05-10T19:20:50Z")
Late entry here: I do not find tatoos attractive, nor do I find body piercings attractive. Just my personal opinion. I like the way the human body looks just as it is, unaltered. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690/107 "2004-05-10T21:33:24Z")
Great Ghu! **Blowero** and I agree on something! I, too, find just about all tats and piercings to be repellent. A definite deal-breaker. If I can see them and we just met, forget it. Not interested. Luckily for me, the wife doesn’t even have pierced ears! 😃 I try to talk my students out of doing such things to their bodies, but it is a losing battle. Style-of-the-Month trumps common sense any day, it seems. One of my students just got a giant American eagle tatooed across her chest!!! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690/108 "2004-05-11T01:25:52Z")
Well put it this way: I’ve seen plenty of tattooed women where I’ve said to myself, “She’d look a lot better without the tattoos.” But _never once_ have I seen a woman _without_ tattoos and said to myself, “Gee, she’d look a lot better with one or two tattoos.” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690/109 "2004-05-11T01:42:42Z")
> [@BoringDad](#): > > OK. Here is a situation that seems analagous to me, but I am sure that it will not to you **Maureen**. If you could tell me where the analogy breaks down, perhaps I would understand. > > I have a child, and to celebrate, I have an artist paint a picture for me. I then take the picture and lock it up where I cannot see it without great effort. I take it with me wherever I move. And I do not show it to anyone. And if someone asks to see it, I tell them “No, I’d rather not show it. It is just for me.” Meanwhile, I can perfectly well remember that I had a child, and what day she was born, because I think about her every day. So why did I have the picture painted? Shortly after I outgrew my first pair of shoes, my mom had one of them bronzed. For a few years, it sat on our mantle, but eventually (probably during a move) it was boxed up and put in storage. A few years ago, while helping my parents clear some stuff out of the house, I found it. My mom hadn’t seen it in probably close to ten years, and she was thrilled to see it again. She cooed over it, made comparisons to the size of my current footwear, talked about how cute I was when I was a kid (boy, did I ever outgrow that), and then put it back in the box. Probably won’t be seen for another ten years. She also has, somewhere, all of my baby teeth, and my baby blanket. None of which have any practical use, not even the blanket, which is too worn out to even serve as a rag. Do I need to explain why, despite the fact that she keeps these items in places where even she will almost never see them, she would never, ever, not in a million years, ever throw them away? Same thing with tattoos. Memories are ephemeral. They fade unless attached to something concrete. Tattoos are permanent, and although they may fade (and I understand that the new inks they use are much longer lasting than the ones they had twenty years ago) they are always going to be there, even if the person who has it loses everything else, down to the clothes on his or her back, the tattoo will still be there. And not just as a general reminder, but as a specific anchor to memories of a specific day. It must be coming up on two years since I got my tattoo, and I remember _everything_ about it, down to the article in the magazine I was reading while I was waiting for my turn. And my tattoo wasn’t meant as a commemoration of any specific event or milestone in my life, except insofar as getting a tattoo at all was a bit of a milestone for me. If someone gets a tattoo to commemorate the birth of their child, it is not just a reminder that they have a child somewhere, but an emotional snapshot of that particular day, and all the attendent details of who they were at that time, and who their kid was, before the intervening years blurs it all beyond recognition. > [@](#): > > If this still pisses you off, I apologize, and I give up and accept it as a mystery I will never understand. Kind of like the mystery of why people eat yellow mustard when there is brown mustard available. That question, at least, is easy to answer: brown mustard tastes like gasoline. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690/110 "2004-05-11T02:30:41Z")
Personally, I like the way that _some_ women tatoo themselves. Personally, I like it when a woman has blocks of tatoos, like a piece that covers her shoulder and upper back or the like. Despite the “in for a penny, in for a pound” overtones (ok, _along_ with the overtones) it’s more of an originalty thing for me. On the other hand, Celtic knots, small of the back things and the like don’t do anything for me; my impression is that the woman is just following the herd. > [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Well put it this way: > > I’ve seen plenty of tattooed women where I’ve said to myself, “She’d look a lot better without the tattoos.” > > But _never once_ have I seen a woman _without_ tattoos and said to myself, “Gee, she’d look a lot better with one or two tattoos.” Good point. On the other hand, I have said to myself “Boy, that woman is nice, but she’s really straitlaced!” I think the odds are better with a tatooed woman that I won’t end up feeling that way. ---
**Author:** ![BoringDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@BoringDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoringDad)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690/111 "2004-05-11T11:45:41Z")
Thanks for the tattoo answer, **Miller**. > [@Miller](#): > > That question, at least, is easy to answer: brown mustard tastes like gasoline. Yes, but ooohhh, such yummy yummy gasoline. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690/112 "2004-05-12T07:22:13Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Great Ghu! **Blowero** and I agree on something! Do I know you? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690/113 "2004-05-12T14:28:10Z")
Nope. Our interaction on the SDMB has been minimal at best. The last time you posted on a thread of mine, it was to tear me a new one for being an idiot (and you were correct.) But I generally read your posts, because I find them to be literate and well-argued, even though I almost always totally disagree with them. I would expect us to disagree about any number of things, so when I found out that we share the same opinion on tats, I was surprised. That’s it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Contrabass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Contrabass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrabass)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690/114 "2004-05-12T15:16:29Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Shortly after I outgrew my first pair of shoes, my mom had one of them bronzed. For a few years, it sat on our mantle, but eventually (probably during a move) it was boxed up and put in storage. A few years ago, while helping my parents clear some stuff out of the house, I found it. Wow, best explanation yet; I was with **BoringDad** in genuinely not understanding the idea at _all_, but now I think I’ve got it. I mean, I’d still never want a tattoo for myself (26, male) and I still find them a turnoff on women. (Not that that should stop anyone… women with tattoos historically haven’t been in the least bit interested in me, either. So I guess it works out. 🆒 ) …but at least I get it now. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690/115 "2004-05-12T17:51:50Z")
I have three fairly smallish ones (L ankle, R collarbone, just under nape of neck). I spent much time in deciding what I wanted, researched artists, thought twice before doing it. I do dislike one (R collarbone)- it was a botched coverup on an itsy bitsy tat. I am planning on being inked again this summer. I can’t give a reason for my enjoyment of them. Some of it is due to being a closet extrovert. I guess it’s a way to be noticed without having to open my mouth. Also, every one has meaning to me. Even the botched one. I do agree it has become faddish. The reason behind the tailbone tats? Because of lowrider pants. Silly, IMO. I do like tribal, but it’s become overdone. A friend has a badly done rose on her arm- looks tacky. I also despise tats on breasts. Ditto calves. Tats on men- love 'em. Last guy I dated had full sleeves and a large back piece. I could spend hours tracing it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tattoos-on-females/243690.md?page=5)