Misogynists hate, hate, hate it when women get tattoos. They just can’t all agree on why. The standard misogynist line on tattoos for women is that they are all, essentially, “tramp stamps” – a way of broadcasting that the woman displaying them is a slut, a skank, a whore. You know the drill.
But the “alternative right” racist/sexist/homophobe who goes by the handle agnostic has a rather different take. In a post on his blog Face to Face, he argues that women with tattoos are actually trying to broadcast their Puritan prudery.
Tattoos, you see, are just plain ugly, and help to accessorize a dreary look designed to repel men.
Notice how those girls dress in drab, dark monochrome colors, wear no girly jewelry, and sport flat hair rather than Big Hair. Their sassy, sarcastic, even nasty attitude echos their off-putting look.
Fundamentally, they are part of the larger trend toward drab dressing, and its signal of reluctance to get loose. Their personalities are more anti-social, so they express the neo-Pilgrim style in a more antagonistic fashion than the less abrasive girls in their generation, but they’re both variations on the same theme.
The tattoo-bearers are likely to be man-haters as well.
They are also part of the larger trend among women toward fear of or hatred toward men. …
In such a climate, women will alter their appearance and demeanor in order to deflate rather than excite the male libido. They act like prey trying to give warning signals to potential predators. The tattoo chicks are only the extreme version of this widespread trend. Girls sure don’t look or act as cute and flirty as they used to in the boy-crazy Eighties, when they thought of guys not as predators but as conspecifics who they wanted to court with engaging mating displays.
“Conspecifics” simply means “members of the same species.” Agnostic loves to drop that sciency lingo in order to make his prejudices seem smart.
Anyway, he continues by arguing that tattoos are especially offensive to pickup artistes and other “assertive” dudes.
Off-putting style also serves to filter out the more assertive and independent males, who would rather spend time on a girl who looks cute, rather than settle for one who’s all marked up or not willing to show anything at all. … By inking themselves up, girls ensure that only the guys who are willing to get walked over and slapped in the face will approach them. Why go through the long hassle of having your new boyfriend fixed when you can advertise that only the neutered need apply in the first place?
Ah, but this last bit is perhaps more revealing than agnostic means it to be. Tattoos are an affront to misogynists because they’re seen as too assertive, too masculine – a challenge to traditional femininity, and to men who prefer traditionally feminine women.
Tattoos on women make misogynistic men angry because on some fundamental level these men don’t think women have the right to decorate their bodies in a way that displeases men –or at least their kind of men. It’s the same kind of creepy, possessive anger that many misogynistic men show towards women who cut their hair short. It’s as if these men on some level believe women’s bodies belong to them, and not to the women themselves.
And that’s pretty unattractive.
snicker.
That tat is where it’s at. Seriously.
@Fibinachi
I know, right? Librarian owls don’t have horns, that makes no sense.
I second, third or forth the cool tat compliment.
@bunnybunny I don’t get that, I’ve seen so many gorgeous upper arm tattoos, my fav was a lady in her 60s who had flowering vines twining up her arms from just above the elbows.
There are librarian owls? I need more info! (my google-fu is weak today, apparently)
It’s sitting on what appears to be a pile of books.
Librarian owl is a good guess, pile of books and the symbol of wisdom, and librarians are badass, at least in the US where they are often the last defense against book banning. I was just being silly.
Have you ever seen an owl irl? They’re pretty intimidating. I wouldn’t fuck with one.
(For some reason I had the impression that they were usually pretty small and harmless but lolno, when you see one in flight then yep, that’s a bird of prey alright.)
There was a mating pair of Great Horned Owl that took up residence in a tree on one of my regular running routes.
One night I came up on the female intimidating a coyote away from something red & squishy she had just killed & was trying to eat. The coyote ran off as I got closer but she stayed put (I gave her a wide berth) and continued with her meal.
I skipped that route for a while, but I did get to see a pair of owlets when I worked it back in again.
I saw a huge grey one in Southern CA years ago, it was absurdly big and completely silent, the only thing that made noise was the palm tree it launched itself from. I can’t imagine seeing it tear into fluffy prey like piratejennie did, that would be intense. It was a big big bird, bigger then any hawk I saw in the same area.
There’s one that lives near me that I’ve heard but never seen. It seems to hang out in a tree near my favorite outdoor cat, so I really hope it’s eating rats or something.
Hey? Are we talking owls?
http://flyinkit.deviantart.com/art/Fear-214662349
Aaaaaand, more impressive:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/Owl6.jpg
Aw, thanks for the tat love, everyone. (I got it done by The Family Business in London, and would highly recommend them to anyone looking to get inked in that area!)
I’m not sure if he’s specifically a librarian owl, I think he might just be chilling on a pile of books with a letter opener clutched in his talon. Much like me, in my daily life.
Also, yes, some breeds of actual owl are absolutely terrifying. When I first had the idea for the tattoo, I was originally thinking cuter rounder owl, but I love how fierce this guy turned out!
Also, owl story. When I was around 13, I was staying over in a friends house and we were up late chatting and suddenly there was a huge THUMP at the window that literally shook the whole room. We were too terrified to do anything, but the next morning when went downstairs and looked out into the back garden, there was an ENORMOUS unconscious owl on the lawn!
Of course, because we were the Harry Potter generation, our immediate reaction was OMFG IT’S OUR OWL WE’RE GOING TO HOGWARTS!!!
Spoiler alert: We did not end up going to Hogwarts and my friend’s mum called the local vet to get our unconscious pal sorted out.
There are men just like me who don’t like tattoos on women. It is an atheistic choice. Everyone can do what they like to themselves but you can’t label someone a misogynist because they don’t like tattoos. I don’t think their tramps; I think they lack imagination, if the only way to show your personality is to disfigure yourself. PS: I hate them on men too but don’t sleep with men so care less about it.
Dude, I think you meant aesthetic. Those of us who get tattoos, and piercings, and stretch our piercings, and colour our hair differently consider ourselves just us imaginative as those who don’t do those things – because body modification isn’t well correlated with imagination.
The 1950s called, they want you back.
Nothing like a boner report first thing in the morning.
I wouldn’t find boner updates half as annoying if the boner updates didn’t feel the need to say “because this doesn’t please my boner, I believe it is silly/stupid/less intelligent”
Boners do not have the magical ability to evaluate intelligence, creativeness, or suchlike.
Thanks.
Yes they do, silly! Nothing on earth is more important and special than the ALMIGHTY BONER. They’re even able to make atheistic choices. Wow!
I can’t believe how often this thread get necro’d for Very Important And Urgent Boner Dispatches.
But, WWTH, can boners make theistic choices? Or choices of a non-theological bent? Or is the question of boner choices giving too much genital weight to epistemological study?
Troll, we know that there are men who don’t care for tattoos. People have individual preferences. That’s not news. We’re aware because we are people with individual preferences, thus not needing you to mansplain human nature to us. That isn’t what makes you a misogynist. What makes you a misogynist is assuming that anyone give two shits about what makes you happy in your pants. Seriously, why would you need to find a post from May to inform strangers about your boner?
http://media.tumblr.com/9b8b37d124246b1c1ad149bdc429db5f/tumblr_inline_n6zdvaODaP1r7fnmm.gif
Meanwhile, the article above is not about a man saying, “You know what? I just don’t care for tattoos. True story.” So don’t pretend it does, you condescending fuckwad.
GrumpyOldNurse, all boners are actually monotheistic because, you see, there is no other god but BONER.
Claiming otherwise is both blasphemy and misandry: double whammy!
Of course! BONERS CAN DO ANYTHING!!!