One of my first memories of tattoo art,
was seeing my gymnastics coach's tattoo.
It was located in the middle of her lower back.
In the years following this, there was an explosion
in the popularity of tattoos. The medium had
become popular with a new demographic: young
females. What would later become known as the
"tramp stamp" within the subculture, emerged as a
very popular means of cultural expression. It became
the "acceptable" tattoo to get as a young woman.
The "tramp stamp" is a very interesting phenomenon
because it uses the medium of a once predominantly
"masculine" art form to perform/embody contemporary
understandings or suggestions of what it means to
be "feminine". All the while the 'male gaze' is steadily
positioned on the woman's body, as John Berger writes,
"Men act, women appear. Men look at women, women
watch themsleves being looked at, and the surveyor of
woman in herself is male". So, somehow, an art form that
was once a way to break away from conventional,
naturalized beauty standards became a tool for further
prescribing and reinforcing beauty ideals.
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