Tattoo Taboo: What Tats Mean For Women Today
“Bad girls,” female executives and grandmas get them. Body art is an increasingly common statement for women.
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Lori Peters, then a 40-year old single mother of three, spent weeks saving to pay for her first tattoos. She gathered her cash and a manila folder of eleven Japanese kanji characters that she had imagined carved along the length of her spine.
At the Crimson Dragon, one of the oldest tattoo shops in Austin, Texas, she told an artist that she had chosen the symbols—which included wisdom, courage, laugh and mother—to represent her hard-won strengths after years of family violence and homelessness.
GALLERY: Celebrities with Tattoos
“I asked if $35 was enough to get one tattoo,” she says. “I lifted my head to look at him, expecting to see contempt, but he had tears in his eyes. He said that he would give me all the tattoos for free—that this is what tattoos were meant for.”
“I stripped to the waist and got on my knees, leaning over a chair. It was terrible work. He’d hold his breath to carve a straight line, and when he finished the line he’d exhale explosively and push himself back. My body was slick with sweat and my muscles were doing tiny little writhing movements while I tried to stay still.”
When Peters’ artist said, “this is what tattoos were meant for,” he called up a long tradition in which tattoos demonstrate the strength to endure pain and a physically hard life. Tattooed sailors—think Popeye’s forearms—didn’t have it easy. Body art once meant that you were tough.
MORE: Body Art Guide
In some cultures, it also meant that you lived at the bottom of the social ladder or off to one side. Ever since 1769, when Captain James Cook first noted in his ship log that he had seen “tattows” on the natives of the South Pacific, body art has been a badge of membership in sub-cultures, popular among sailors, circus performers (sideshow tattooed woman, anyone?), bikers, and prisoners. In Japan, tattoos still strongly signify your involvement with the yakuza, Japanese organized crime.
Drawing upon that history, in the 1980s, teenagers, punks and some in the gay movement got tattooed to shock and protest.
In the last ten to fifteen years, however, body art has enjoyed a renaissance that makes it no longer “fringe” but something else. Between 8 and 24 percent of respondents in national surveys in North America and Europe report having at least one tattoo. Because getting a tattoo is now safer and cheaper, you might choose to wear a rose on your ankle just because it’s pretty. Tattoos show up on celebrities, in advertising campaigns, on action figures, and even on Barbie.
Celebrity Tattoos: Guess Whose?
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Can you match each celebrity with their tattoo?
Having a tattoo once meant you were part of a fringe group—an outlier in society or someone living at the bottom of the social ladder. But now getting inked is a fashion-forward practice! Tattoos have become a popular accessory for sports stars and Hollywood celebrities, with their ink representing emotional triumphs, personal achievements and, of course, a flair for style.
Guess which tattoo belongs to which star!
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Guess Whose Tattoo?
The tattoo on this celebrity’s left shoulder is a prayer of protection, although it overwrites a former tattoo, the Japanese sign for “death.” Can you guess who?
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It's Angelina Jolie's Tattoo!
Angelina Jolie is no novice to tattoos. Her back, stomach, legs, and arms have all been inked. Getting a tattoo has become so second-hand for Jolie that once, after a night of drinking, she woke up with a tattoo of a blue dragon on her stomach that she has no recollection of getting. The rest of her tattoos, however, were all received in a sober state of mind and form a collection of spiritual sayings and symbols honoring the adoption of her children. The tattoo on her back left shoulder is a Buddhist prayer of protection.
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Guess Whose Tattoo?
The new “Office” boss has donned a similar tattoo for a film role. Does he pull it off as well as this celebrity who also sports a Mao Zedong tat?
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It's Mike Tyson's Tattoo!
Mike Tyson has several tattoos, including ink of his ex-wife Monica Turner, Che Guevara, Arthur Ashe and Mao Zedong. But it is last spring’s release of “The Hangover, Part II” that has brought Tyson’s face tattoo to the forefront of media controversy. In the film, actor Ed Helms fashions a Tyson look-alike tattoo and Victor Witmill, Tyson’s tattoo artist, had brought suit against Warner Brothers, claiming copyright on the design. In the end, it was determined that the tattoo is part of Tyson’s persona and is therefore not the property of the artist. The film was released without a hitch.
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Guess Whose Tattoo?
This celebrity wasn’t born this way. Her body art was all inked on. Can you guess who?
MORE: Body Art Guide
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It's Lady Gaga's Tattoo!
Lady Gaga may be running out of real estate for her tattoos. In fact, when asked about how many tattoos she has in total, she admitted that she has lost track. The tattoo featured in this photo on her inner arm is a tribute to poet and philosopher Rainer Maria Rilke, the text of which urges its reader to dig deep into her soul and decide whether she feels called to be a writer. Who knew Gaga was so in touch with her literary side?
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Guess Whose Tattoo?
This celebrity has read a 464-page biography of her idol, Marilyn Monroe, who is featured in tattoo-form on her right forearm. Can you guess who?
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It's Megan Fox's Tattoo!
Megan Fox is a big fan of body art. She has nine tattoos in all, including a tat of Marilyn Monroe on her right forearm. Fox has been an aficionado of Marilyn Monroe since she was a little girl and says that she cried every time she heard her voice on TV. But it is not only 1960s mega stars that Fox has inked on her body—in a surprising shift from her Monroe tattoo, Fox has tattooed a quote from Shakespeare’s "King Lear" on her ribcage.
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Guess Whose Tattoo?
This celebrity was inked by tattoo artist Jonathan Shaw, who also played a tattoo artist in Clint Eastwood’s “Tightrope.” Can you guess who?
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It's Johhny Depp's Tattoo!
Depp’s tattoos are not just for vanity’s sake. He has said that his body art is “a journal in a way. It’s like what sailors used to do, where every tattoo meant something, a specific time in your life when you make a mark on yourself.” Depp’s tattoos mark the birth of his daughter, various film roles, and past loves. The tattoo featured on his right forearm is a near exact replica of Captain Jack Sparrow’s tattoo from "Pirates of the Caribbean," the only difference being that Depp changed the direction of the swallow so that if flies toward rather than away from him. Depp said of this change, “He’s gotta always fly back to you.”
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Guess Whose Tattoo?
This “rebellious flower” (a phrase which is inked on the back of her neck) also has stars running down her back. Can you guess who?
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It's Rihanna's Tattoo!
Did you know that Rihanna has a tattoo in her left ear? The star-shaped tattoo in her ear is only one of fourteen tattoos strategically placed on Rihanna’s body. In fact, Rihanna’s tattoo collection is somewhat eclectic and includes the birthdate of her assistant Melissa Forde in roman numerals on her shoulder as well as the sound, “Shhh...” on her right index finger. Now she can ask someone to be quiet without even saying a word.
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Guess Whose Tattoo?
This celebrity’s tattoos make him a walking advertisement for his familial love. He says of his tattoos, “When you see me, you see the tattoos. You see an expression of how I feel about [my wife] and the boys.” Can you guess who?
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It's David Beckham's Tattoo!
Not only has David Beckham wracked up a long list of soccer feats, he has also built up quite a collection of tattoos. Beckham has over twenty tattoos in all which have personal, spiritual and athletic significance. His numerous tattoos tell a story in body art form, with tattoos honoring the birth of his children, his marriage to his wife Victoria, and his physical and spiritual journey as a professional soccer player. Beckham’s most notable tattoo, a cloud and cherub design on his right arm, is nearly two feet long and took two sittings to be completed.
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Guess Whose Tattoo?
As an animated and comic book cartoon character, this “celebrity’s” tattoos were drawn on, literally. Can you guess who?
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It's Popeye's Tattoo!
Popeye, a cartoon with superhuman strength fueled by spinach, has bulging biceps and two forearms inked with anchors. The Popeye anchor tattoos are so iconic that they have served as the inspiration for real life tattoos ever since Popeye’s inception in 1929. Tattoo chains have even taken on the name “Popeye” in honor of the cartoon character’s trend-setting and culturally ubiquitous tattoos.
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It's Eve's Tattoo!
Eve actually got her tattoos on a dare. At age eighteen, a friend of Eve’s challenged her to get paw print tattoos on her chest. Surprised by her daughter’s tattoos, Eve’s mom immediately thought her daughter had made a tacky mistake. However, as Eve’s fame has grown, the tattoos have become a signature look that even her mom supports. “You don’t mess with your trademark, right?” she insists.
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Guess Whose Tattoo?
Snorting bulls face off on this celebrity’s chest. Can you guess who?
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It's Dennis Rodman's Tattoo!
Dennis Rodman, former NBA superstar, has inked himself to the max. His tattoos have transformed his arms into a work of art and are so famous that he had to sue a clothing company for producing a Dennis Rodman Tattoo T-shirt without consulting him. His tattoos compliment his ever-changing hair color and his plethora of piercings.
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For an older person, a tattoo can be a statement that you’re still up for the ride. Jane Bryant Quinn, a prominent journalist, gave herself a tattoo as her 60th birthday present, along with a red convertible.
“It was my fight against the dark,” she says. “I found a tattoo parlor by looking at tattoos young people had and asking who did the one I liked best. It was Big Joe’s in Yonkers—me in my LLBean puffy coat and a bunch of kids, all very polite, in leather jackets and pierced in one place or another. The hardest part was deciding what I wanted; I’m interested in Mayan art, and chose a Mayan agricultural symbol. My only regret is that I was too timid—I made it too small.”
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