House of Eratosthenes

It appears sexism is alive and well when it comes to tattoos. Although just about as many women as men get tattoos nowadays, a new study shows that women seek removal of tattoos more than men because of negative social fallout.

About 25% of people ages 18 to 30 have tattoos, and that number is expected to rise to about 40% in the next few years, according to the study, published today in the Archives of Dermatology. Previous studies have shown that about 20% of people end up dissatisfied with their tattoos, and about 6% seek tattoo removal using laser treatment.

In the study, researchers analyzed data from two surveys of people undergoing tattoo removal. One survey was taken in 1996 and a second survey in 2006. In both surveys, men and women said they wanted the tattoos removed because their identities had changed and they had grown to dislike the tattoos. But in the 2006 survey, women also reported that they felt stigmatized by the tattoos. For example, 93% said having to hide the tattoos on occasion was a factor in the removal compared with 20% of men. About 40% of women endured negative comments at work, in public or in school compared with 5% of men.

From whence arises the notion that things should be parallel between boy-land and girl-land in the tattoo department? Yeah, “just about as many women as men get tattoos nowadays” but what in the world does that mean, exactly? Do they intend to send the same message with their tattoos?

Lemmee see…a guy gets a tattoo, the message he wants to send is if I look at him wrong, he’s gonna kick my ass. Is that what a lady wants to tell me when she gets inked? When she has that “tramp stamp” needled in down south by the tailbone? She’s an ass-kicker? I think not…I think there’s a difference there. Something about being wild and sexually adventurous.

You know, call me crazy — but I think most people would have some words for someone who imprints herself as being sexually adventurous…like, at work…that they wouldn’t have for someone who brands himself as being an ass-kicker. Without being the least bit sexist. Especially if they think their asses might really get kicked.

The author of this article is also apparently forgetting what a tattoo is. It is a measured dose of individuality. In many cases, it is an inherent contradiction because it dares to stand alone against hated convention, but only to a certain extent. Nowadays the real rebel has piercings. But of course, to most of us that’s a little too “weird,” and so the thing to do is get a tattoo. To show your uniqueness, but not to show it in a way that everybody else isn’t already doing it. And don’t forget to work in your personalized design.

My question is, when do the gals work up some personal responsibility here? They go and get their bodies permanently altered in anticipation of the reaction they’ll get out of people. They get a different reaction, and then grind off the marking just like they’d go into a department store and return a dress they wore for one occasion…knowing from the outset that this was not what the procedure was designed for. And then they get to chalk it up to sexism on the part of the people who didn’t show the reactions they were supposed to.

There’s another little-known fact about women; little-known, because it is seldom-discussed.

Women are trusted. They really are.

I go to the bank to deposit a check, maybe a larger check than usual…and when I reach the front of the line, if the next teller who is available for me is a dude, my heart’s going to sink a little bit. Why is that? Because with a female teller, there’s a certain potential that she has a certain amount of experience throwing money around. It’s an even distribution…slightly bell-curved. There is a marginal possibility she’s a “newbie” and a marginal possibility she’s been doing it for thirty years or more. The overwhelming likelihood is her experience level will be somewhere in between those two extremes.

The dude? He’s a newbie. It’s almost a sure thing. Yes there’s exceptions to everything; gimme a break, I said “almost.”

I’m not alone.

And here’s where it relates to tattoos. Once the teller is waiting on me, if it’s a dude and I see he has a tattoo, I’m not any more disappointed than I was before. Hey, it’s 2008. A lot of dudes have tattoos. But if the woman is waiting on me and I had all this confidence she’d handle my money right, and then I see she has a tattoo…not a subtle or discreet one, but something that will show nearly all the time. The barbed wire around the upper arm, maybe. Or a neck tattoo. A snake on the face, something like that.

That just isn’t good. No, I’m not going to grab my check and deposit slip and go running out the door shrieking. But it isn’t the reaction you want out of customers, either.

Is that sexist? Absolutely — although it should be noted it’s reverse sexism; I have confidence in the gals that I don’t have in the guys, and so my hopes can come tumbling down from loftier heights where the women are concerned. But that isn’t the kind of sexism the article was trying to talk about, was it? It was the typical bitching. Oh mercy me our poor gals are oh so oppressed. The kind of crap that sells newspapers — “World To End Tonight, Women and Minorities Hardest Hit.”

Here’s something to think about: Maybe articles like this manufacture stereotypes where they did not previously exist. Think about it — once again, our tattooed neighbors, man and woman alike, come off looking a bit…short-sighted. Failing to consider the consequences down-the-road. Living for the moment. Twenty percent of guys (plus the guys who are lying), and ninety-three percent of gals. That’s a lot. Now those statistics could be overblown, but the nature of a tattoo is such that you aren’t supposed to regret having it. It’s supposed to show you’ve got some balls and you can make lifetime commitments to things, that your identity isn’t going to change. So when it happens, and it causes this kind of crisis, it makes you look like a little bit of a flibbertygibbit.

But only if & when people start talking about it. So to me, it’s a little bit of a dichotomy to see someone scribbling up articles like this, and then bellyaching away about “sexism” and “social stigmas.” Articles like this make it happen. They cast a shadow even on the tattooed folks who haven’t changed their minds yet.

As someone once said, “Not all people with tattoos are criminals, but all criminals have tattoos.”
- vanderleun | 07/22/2008 @ 14:05

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Sexism Alive and Well with TattoosTuesday, July 22nd, 2008

Sexism Alive and Well with Tattoos
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008