Back in the 50s, you'd never imagine seeing a woman - gasp! - with a tattoo. Unless she was part of the circus. Hell, even up into the 80s it was probably pretty rare. And if you did see a woman with a visible tattoo, well, we all know what kind of woman she must be...
Sadly, even today, I can't say that all those stereotypes are dead and buried. But, it has become much more socially acceptable, sometimes even trendy, to sport tattoos.
I come from a majorly inked family. Both my brother and uncle are tattoo artists. The good thing about that: I get free tattoos. The bad thing: they live across the country and I rarely see them to get said free tattoos. In fact, I currently have the fever pretty severely. It's been quite a while since I've had any work done, and it is well past time for my current unfinished project to get some love.
Both of my parents have tattoos, though it is my mom who currently has me outdone. I plan on amending that one of these days. Even the dogs got tattoos when they were spayed and neutered! In fact, pretty much the only family member with untouched skin is my Nana. We keep threatening to get her, though.
I've added a pretty comical collage of photos up above to illustrate how society (generally speaking) tends to feel about tattooed women with kids. I'm not a mom yet, but will be in a few short months, and I know all too well how my tattooed mama friends get the stink-eye from some folks. Especially because they're a female with ink. Of course, men are judged just as much, but I do think the standards for women are always set a little higher. I wish those judgy people would actually take the time to have a conversation with an intellegent tattooed individual rather than just assuming we're all ex-cons and Hell's Angels. I've had the unfortunate experience of becoming an aquaintance with someone when I had long sleeves on, only to be treated completely differently when the sleeves were gone. I feel pretty fortunate now to have a job where I don't have to cover myself up.
I invite those folks who think tattoos are weird, or evil, or disgusting to think about what a tattoo really means for most people who have them. Because they usually do mean something. Of course, they won't ever know the true meaning behind all tattoos, but perhaps they can think of the tattoos as a sort of photo wallet that's not kept in a pocket, but in a much more permanent place. An expression of art, or joy, or love, or loss. And perhaps they can learn not to judge a book by it's cover - or by what they think that cover should look like.
