By David Futrelle
Misogynists really seem to hate women with tattoos. I’ve always assumed that this is because tattooed women don’t exactly fit their fantasy of the demure tradwife hottie who will happily devote her life to making them sandwiches and washing their probably very disgusting underwear. Or maybe, I thought, they’re just intimidated.
But apparently I’m completely wrong about this. Turns out that tattoos on women aren’t a symbol of female agency; they’re a sign that the, er, merchandise has already been sold. To some sort of evil wizard.
That’s the thesis, in any case, of this random dude on the Braincels subreddit, home to Reddit’s increasingly restless “involuntary” celibates.
Well, that makes sense. But wbat about men with tattooes? Sadly, Mr. Concerned-father2 offers no guidance on this subject, so I guess we’ll never know.
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You know they might have taken this ‘ownership by tattoo” thing from the movie Blade – there’s a brief scene were Blade explains to someone (don’t remember who it’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie) that the tattoo on the back of a guy’s neck they are looking at is a vampire tattoo and marks this person as being the property of that vampire and nobody else -a walking blood bank as it where.
It just seems the kind of thing incels would seize on.
So I designed my tattoos… does that mean I’m a slave to myself? That’s awesome!!!
Rhuu – I’m middle-aged and working on my wrinkles and love my tat!
Which was designed and executed by a lovely young lady who is a mobile tattoo artist. I wonder if she knows how many people she now owns?
My tat is a cartoon version of my two catbeasts in a yin/yang circle with their names.
Also getting tattooed didn’t turn me on in the slightest lol. I spent the whole time silently crying while my friend stroked my hair like I was a cat. I wasn’t crying because it hurt to bad, the one on my leg really fucking hurt though, but really the process was emotional for me. Sex was the last thing on my mind. I went home and went to sleep for a solid 10 hours.
@Catalpa
One of my friends got a temporary henna thingy whilst on holiday in Morocco and some combination of the bright sun, the pigment and her very pale skin caused a nasty reaction that left a permanent scar (happily in an easily concealable location).
I’m not sure if that counts as a binding slave contract though.
@ Pie,
Ouch! Some henna, especially the kind used in giving quick-result designs, is adulterated with chemicals. They leave very dark designs quickly but can also cause chemical burns. It sucks, because as far as I know you can’t tell if the henna is ok by looking. ☹ I hope your friend is ok!
I do have a tattoo (though I shouldn’t…), but I use henna for holidays, and I love the fact that it only lasts a few weeks.
@Lainy
Don’t worry about that, I don’t mind knowing it’s in the context of you calling everyone that word.
Interestingly enough, I did find a story of tattoos being used to turn people into slaves in real life history, but all the people it happened to were white men enslaved by native women (the article has spoilers for the game Far Cry 3).
So, if I commission a painting, does that mean that I am a slave to the painter? No? Then I’m not owned by the tattoo artist, either. Also, men get tattoos, too. Are they also slaves? If a man gets a tattoo done by a woman, is he her slave or doesn’t count if the artist is a woman? Can women be tattoo artists in their world? I have so many questions! I wonder how they get these ideas from.
Scanisaurus – interesting article! Thanks for sharing it.
My husband has a beautiful tattoo on his left upper arm. It’s a quartered circle with designs of personal significance in each quarter, done over a period of fifteen years. He is most emphatically not anyone’s property, not even mine.
My father got a tattoo in Honolulu one drunken night early in his WWII Army stint. His best buddy Dave was going to go second, but when he saw the bloody mess the artist had made of my dad’s arm he changed his mind.
@MissEB47
No, it means you don’t actually own the painting, the artist does. Like how everyone calls it “Michelangelo’s Last Judgement,” not “Pope Clement VII’s Last Judgement.”
Of course, by that argument, the only bit of you that’s a slave to the tattoo artist is the skin with the tattoo itself on it, but we know better than to expect logical consistency from these people.
@Lainy,
Your story about the tats reminds me of an article I once read about how sometimes sexual assault victims will get tattoos as a way to reclaim their bodies from (the memory of) their attackers. I don’t know how common that practice is (decent tats aren’t exactly cheap, from what I’ve seen), but it is a thing.
@Redsilkphoenix: Jetpack Vixen, Intergalactic Meanie
You are right, they aren’t cheap. My older brother is covered in tattoos and knew the really good artist to go to. The one on my side and my thigh was a present from him. Meaning he paid for them, not that he did them.
The one on my arm, I paid for that. He didn’t really agree with that one because it’s in a place I can’t covered all the time and because those scars were from my own self mutilation. So yeah that one was a lot of saving up for it.
@MissEB47
You’re fine, unless it is a portrait. Portraits are for stealing souls, not marking slaves, of course.
Not so much the ownership angle, but my father once said that it should be illegal for women to get tattoos. I sort of snort-laughed at first and he was indignant. “What if I’m at a fancy party and she’s wearing a backless dress and I have to look at whatever crap she’s got tattooed on her shoulders or back? It’s disgusting!” I was too stunned to say anything, but a friend said if he mentions it again I should suggested that for a fancy dinner party, a black silk blindfold would be a stylish way for him to avoid the conundrum.
He also once said that the woman with a crewcut pushing her kid’s stroller shouldn’t be allowed out in public looking like that. I said, “Looking like what?” He said, “That hair, and her arms are all ropy and muscle-y but still skinny, and she’s not wearing any makeup.” I said, honestly, “It looks to me like she is or has recently been very ill. She might be on chemo or something. And she doesn’t have to wear makeup if she doesn’t want to.” His response was, “Yeah, she doesn’t have to leave the house either! Nobody wants to see that.” I asked if he thought any women wanted to see his combed-over bald spot either, but we don’t tell him to stay in the house, and he refused to speak to me for like a month, which was a win for me.
(He’s the same guy who told me if I tried to breastfeed my son in his house he’d make me leave because breastfeeding is “disgusting and unnatural.” My mother wasn’t “allowed” to breastfeed. He’s a real piece of work. I used to try to give him credit because his mom died when he was 11 and his dad remarried an abusive horrible person, but he’s a very “give him an inch, he’ll take a mile” kind of person.)
Anyway the tldr is, these guys basically are stuck in the 1950s mindset of what’s acceptable behavior, and they’re furious that the world has moved on and that women don’t feel obligated to meet their personal standards any longer. Back in the day they’d have had no problem getting laid and they can’t figure out why the same mindset that worked 70-100 years ago isn’t getting them any leg today. It would be sad (for them) if they had any redeeming qualities whatsoever. Instead it’s just sad for the rest of us.
@Robert
Glad you enjoyed the article!
@MissEB47:
No, silly! You just tell the artist that they’re doing it “for the exposure”. Artists love that!
I got three tattoos on the same day. A spot on my left side, a spot on the right, spot in the middle.
They were done by a small woman in a white gown at my local hospital. I did ask if she could make it a flight of swallow, but apparently she just does spots. She does a hell of a lot of them, though.
It’s in order to line up the laser for radiotherapy – in my case after I’d had chemo and removal of cancer in breast and lymph glands.
So by now she must “own” a good proportion of the radiotherapy survivors in Norfolk.
I wonder how, on her petite NHS salary, she keeps us all?
@riddlefizz
I’m really sorry you got an asshole l9ke that for a father. My dad hates tattoos as well but he hates them on everyone. He hates them so much that he actually offered to take money out of his retirement fund to pay for plastic surgery to get ride of my scars instead of me covering them with tattoo. I don’t even know if you can do that. But the last thing I wanted was plastic surgery
@Lainy
Your brother “didn’t really agree with” you getting your arm tattooed? Why would it matter to him? How would it affect him in any way if you can cover it up or not?
@Valkyrine
He thinks tattoo should be in places that could be covered up so people won’t judge me on them for work. He also didn’t agree with it as in he wasn’t going to pay for it like he did the other two.
But if he is covered in tattoos (that he presumably paid for himself), doesn’t that make him a bit hypocritical?
I never really felt like getting a tattoo until I learned that angry misogynists don’t like them on women. I already dyed my hair purple for this reason. It turned out bad but it made me feel better. I don’t think that would be true for a tattoo. ?
I see, so even though you have sex you can still be an incel now? As long as someone is MORE incel than you, I guess you have someone to feel better than. This “Inceldom” seems like a pretty ethereal concept.
@valkrine
He is covered in all areas of his torso but his neck and arms past a short sleve link. He just told me he didn’t think it was a good idea to get it on my wrist and if I wanted to do that he wouldn’t pay for that one
So I romanced this dude like 2 or 3 times? Is that too much?
@Lainy
Ok, that makes more sense. Sorry if I came across confrontational, it’s just that I have had my own brother say stuff like tattooing your arms is okay for men but unattractive for women (no matter the design), as if this opinion of his is some sort of universal and objective truth. ?