From the book, "Deviance, Conformity, and Social Control In Canada", written by Bereska, I found a study concerning women and tattoo culture. Tattooing, throughout history, has been closely tied to masculinity, thereofore making it acceptable for men to promote body art. However, when it comes to women and tattoos, society holds a different judgement.
Social theorists, Hawkes, Senn, and Thorn (2004) conducted a study of human reaction to women with tattoos. They discovered that females with tattoos are perceived more negatively than non tattooed women!
WHY IS THIS SO?
It appears that tattoos continue to be seen as violating some of the standards of feminine appearance. Gender also plays a role; more men then women perceived female body's with tattoos in a negative light. Maybe this is so because of the ultimate threat to MASCULINITY, which is FEMINISM. Atkinson found that women who utilize tattoo culture are doing it to develop identities, established femininity or resistant femininity.
Tattoos and body art are about self expression, creating your own identity. I personally have a few pieces done, and I can relate to the negative perception towards females with tattoos. Its like society thinks its okay for males to get inked, but as soon as a female does she is breaking some unspoken rule. This is a super sexist way of thinking, BUT it is also an old fashioned way of thinking. I find that the majority of individuals who have a problem with female tattoos are older, where as younger generations have not only come to accept this, but are also actively getting tattooed themselves. Either way, I really hope one day the negativity towards this subject disappears. THE SOONER THE BETTER.
ReplyDeleteHey, I agree. Note that these aren't my personal views on tattoos, I just thought it was an interesting case study to share with people. I have never looked at a woman and thought badly about them having a tattoo. The older generation definitely are the ones who have a hard time accepting the modern woman, but all the power to us.
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