1. Tramp stamps, Pin-up and
Tattoo Modelling:
Negotiating Femininity through
Contemporary Australian Tattoo
Mair Underwood
School of Social Science
The University of Queensland

2. Introduction
• Tattoo and other body decorations part of ethnographic literature
since before the birth of anthropology.
• Inscribed skin highlights issues central to anthropology:
• the boundary between individual and society, between societies, and
between representations and experiences (Schildkrout 2004:322).
• little attention has been paid to Western practices.
• Tattoo prevalence in Australia today:
• women beginning to outnumber men
• now highest among women aged 20-29 years (29.4%)(Heywood et al 2012).

3. This study
• Are tattoos ‘simply the latest forms of modification that have
constrained, minimized and contorted women’s bodies in the interests of
men’s approval in previous periods” (Jeffreys 2000:425)?
• Do tattoos only punctuate meanings already attached to women’s bodies
(Braunberger 2000:1-2), or do tattoos change the meaning of that body?
• multi-sited ethnography of women’s tattoo practices in SE Queensland:
• participant observation at two tattoo events and online
• 6 in-depth interviews with tattooed women (5 tattoo models, and a female
tattooist).
• non-academic publications e.g. 27 issues of Australian tattoo magazines.
• approximately 20 years of experience in the Brisbane tattoo scene.

4. Western women and tattooing
• Beginning in 1882, “tattooed ladies” as part of
circuses and carnival sideshows (Braunberger
2000:9).
• Level of nudity required to display tattoos was an
added attraction
• Thus upstaged tattooed men
• at the point of entry into the world of tattoo Western
women were sexualised
• 1960s: ‘the last tattooed lady trod the boards in
Australia’ (Cohen 1994:49).
• women continually dissuaded from involvement
in tattooing
• not until 1970s that Western women became
tattooed in significant numbers (Atkinson
2003:44).
Bev Robinson: last “tattooed
lady” in Australia (Cohen
1994:171).

5. A gender divide in placement
• 1970s, 80s and early 90s:
• Western women’s tattoos were generally private, men’s more public
• Women: breasts, hips, shoulder blades and abdomen (Sanders
1988:413).
• Men: arms by far the most common site (Sanders 1988:413).
• Prior to mid 1990s most tattoos on women could be easily hidden
and were only selectively revealed.

6. Lower back tattoos:
An increase in
visibility
• From mid 1990s increased in popularity
• Often consisted of butterflies, flowers, tribal
patterns or a combination of these.
• Low pants, short tops = visible when the
woman bent over, and sometimes even
visible when standing.
• about 2005 the term “tramp stamp” was
coined (precise origins unknown).
• Through use of the term “tramp” a symbolic
connection between lower back tattoos and
sexual promiscuity was made
Image circulated on the internet

7. The increasing visibility of women’s tattoos
• Since the “tramp stamp” the size and visibility of women’s tattoos has
drastically increased.
• 21st C:
• arms, upper chest, neck, hands and legs increasingly popular
• popularity of hidden, private tattoos on the decrease amongst some women
• primarily hidden and emphasising
secondary sex characteristics (e.g.
breast, hips, abdomen) → occasionally visible
(e.g. lower back) → readily apparent (arms and
upper chests) and visible despite clothing
(e.g. hands and necks).
• Appropriation of masculine placements

8. Tattooed women increasingly visible as
the “face” of tattoo
• Images of women:
• used to advertise tattoo conventions
• frequently featured on the covers of tattoo
magazines.
• only 2 out of the 28 (7%) issues of Custom Tattooz (since
2007) have featured men on the cover (and one of these
was pictured with a woman).
• 71% of covers of Tattoos Down Under featured “covergirls”
• no men appearing on covers of these magazines for the
last 2 years.

9. Changes in the gendered subject matter
of tattoos
• Previously a fairly distinct
gender boundary:
• Women:
flowers, butterflies, fairies, cute
cartoon characters, celestial
motifs and the like.
• Men: stronger and more violent
images such as
skulls, dragons, monsters, scant
ily clad or nude women, and
predatory animals.

10. Contemporary subject matter: diminishing
gender differences
• Due to rise in popularity of:
• oriental designs
• “old school”, traditional
• Facilitator:
When I first started
getting tattooed, it seemed that men’s
and women’s tattoo were quite distinct.
Has that changed?
• Interviewee:
Yeah, it's totally
different now. With the full sleeve, it
could generally be on a boy or a girl. It
wouldn't really make too much of a
difference, I don't think (Interview 4).

11. The persistent sexualisation of tattooed
women
• tattooed women are viewed as promiscuous (Swami and Furnham 2007).
• Gueguen 2013:
• more men approached the tattooed women and the mean latency of their approach
was quicker.
• Men also thought they would have more chance of obtaining a date, and having sex
on the first date, with tattooed women.
• I get a lot of guys come up and start a conversation with me now [that I am
tattooed]. Even when I go out and I don't have any visible tattoos there's a
massive difference between guys that approach you when they can see
tattoos, to guys that approach you when they can't see tattoos (interview
5).
• I think a lot of men look at me like “Oh, she'll be easy to pick up or let's go
talk to her”, because a lot of people hit on me in that sort of sleazy way
(Interview 4).

12. Can’t meet mum
• senior member of the clergy:
• They’re loose *laughs+ not the sort of people that my mum would
have invited home for afternoon tea dear [laughs].
• I've dated a guy who said I could never take you home to my mum.
You know, this is never going to go anywhere because you have a lot
of tattoos (Interview 6).
• at the symbolic link is made between tattoos and sexual availability
regardless of their conscious personal motivations.

13. Tattoo
modelling
• Last 5 years in
Australia
• change in how
tattooed women
were being
perceived. As a
heavily tattooed
woman in her 30s
said, tattooed
women went from
“tough, one of the
lads, to sexy
feminine” (name).

14. Observation at modelling events
• “Tattooed Beauties”
• Quite a standardised look:
• very revealing clothes, often more than is necessary to reveal the tattoos (e.g. with
fly open).
• Slender (and some very thin), large breasted (many obviously fake breasts).
• Many of them have hair extensions, fake tans and false eyelashes.
• Focus not on tattoos:
• There is no time to see their tattoos in any detail, they keep moving.
• a separate prize for “best ink on a beauty”.
• “Miss Tattoo”
• Less revealing clothes (e.g. larger swimsuits).
• range of bodies on display: some are thin, some are very curvy and some even have
cellulite.
• Pose in front of judges so tattoos can be examined.

15. Pin-up
• “Pin-up” originally referred to a
photo or picture of a person
intended for display on a wall
• is said to have originated with
the trend of military
• increasing number of women
are also getting tattoos of pinups.
• now used to refer to a certain
style of dress and body work.

16. Why so popular with tattooed
women?
• classy (Interview 2).
• gorgeous without being trashy
(female competitor in “best pin-up
category).
• not like sexy is the least amount of
clothes you can possibly wear, or
the skinniest that you can be.
(Interview ?)
• balances out the masculinity of the
tattoos.

17. Balancing masculinity and femininity
• It's [pin-up is] very elegant and I think having tattoos, having
something about you that's elegant and feminine was one of the big
drawcards for me … it just makes me feel like a lady (Interview 2).
• When I don't have my hair done and makeup done and nails done, I
reckon they [the tattoos] make me feel kind of manly, like a bit butch
(Interview 1).

18. Empowerment
• As a woman I feel, I suppose, empowered that I've got them
(Interview 5).
• Interviewee:
I think it's the empowerment as well, of being able
to say I'm a girl, I can get a tattoo if I want … it's my choice and my
body (Interview 2).
• But increased power is not just an individual perception. Tattooed
women have been found to be viewed as more powerful and less
passive than non-tattooed women (Hawkes, Senn and Thorn
2004:602).

19. A shifting power balance?
1995
2013

20. Conclusion
• practice of tattoo has become in some ways de-gendered
• However one important difference between tattooed men’s bodies and tattooed
women’s bodies has remained: the extent to which they are sexualised
• Braunberger (2000:1-2) states, “When a woman’s body is a sex object, a tattooed woman’s
body is a lascivious sex object”.
• sex as a source of strength and independence
• subvert the ever-present “male gaze” by forcing men (and women) to look at
their bodies in a manner that exerts their control (DeMello 2000:173).
• The gaze denotes at the same time power (it enables us to exert control over the
situation, to occupy the position of master) and impotence (as bearers of a
gaze, we are reduced to the role of passive witnesses to the adversary’s action).
(Žižek 1991:72)
• complex interaction of power relationships in which dominant norms, values and
meanings both limit and provide sites for resistance.
• women actively negotiate gender boundaries and the power relations attached to
them.
• Tattoos invest women’s bodies with qualities such as power and activity,