Female Tattoos - A Growing Culture

Getting a tattoo or getting "inked" as it is known is becoming more and more common among women. It is a strange thing that women have been getting inked for thousands of years but it is only recently that the stigma associated with tattooed women is dying down. There are some cultures where only women got inked and men were forbidden from doing so. The tattoos in such cultures were used as badges by women to show off their skills like food gathering, basket weaving, marriage ability, and so on. The word "tattoo" comes from the Tahitian word "tattau" and it means "to get marked".

For more than 12 centuries the whole art and process of tattooing has been swinging up and down with it banned in some cultures and promoted in others while going dormant in yet others. Now it seems that tattooing has finally been accepted all over the world and is here to stay with us for a long time. Women in particular were not accepted when tattooed because of social stigma and stereotyping. This was true in western culture up until the 20th century. Things are vastly different now with women outpacing men when it comes to getting inked. Until around half a century ago only 10% of western women got tattoos. Today that number stands at nearly 60%.

According to one study the biggest reason why women are getting tattoos is because they believe it makes them look sexier. This is confirmed by 43% of the women surveyed. 13% get tattooed as they believe it increases that appeal and guys are more attracted towards them and 12% said that tattooing was done for personal reasons. Quite a few number of women also said that they got tattooed after a breakup or divorce as a mark of their independence.

The number of women getting tattoos is growing at an astonishing rate. Gone are the days when women got small tattoos in places where only their husband or partner could see it. The feminine tattoo is now a thing to be displayed with pride. This has also created a high demand for great designs that appeal specially to women and accentuate their femininity. Women are now getting tattoos they can show of instead of hide. Women also spend a lot more time choosing the right design when compared to men who seem to have a limited mindset when it comes to tattoos. Women prefer original designs rather than something out of a catalog that might have been used by dozens of other women.

Among the most popular tattoo designed preferred by women are all sorts of floral patterns, angels, unicorns, butterflies, fairies, dragonflies, shooting stars, and so on. As a rule women tend to choose smaller tattoos as compared to men though even that trend seems to be changing now. They most preferred body areas where women prefer to be tattooed include lower back, tail end, ankle area, wrist, tummy, and buttocks.

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