critink:

[[Skank Flank: The New Tramp Stamp]]

A few days ago, @forestine sent me {this article}. It’s another “tattoos are soo trendy” article from a major news source. Like we haven’t heard a thousand people tell us this before.

But here’s the part that really bothered her, and me:

… a popular placement for women’s tattoos has moved from the lower back to the rib area.

“We call it the ‘skank flank,’” [the tattoo artist we interviewed] said. “Every week or two, I see another girl with another rib piece, and you have to tell them that.”

Excuse me?

Wanting to get a discrete tattoo that you can easily cover up makes you a skank?

Since when are ribs considered a sexual body part?

Really, if nothing else this makes the fact that “tramp stamps” are body shaming that much more clear. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term body shaming, it’s a cultural phenomenon that essentially makes everything you do with your body wrong. You’re fat? Lazy and disgusting. You’re skinny? Eat a cheeseburger you look anorexic. You’re fit? You look like a man. And so on. It’s designed to make women (and increasingly men) feel bad about their body, no matter what they do or how they look.

Here is how the same douchebags would like us to view tattoos:

• Lower back tattoos: you’re a tramp
• Rib tattoos: you’re a skank
• Wrist tattoos: you’re a dumb skank
• Arm tattoos: you’re a whore
• Leg tattoos: you’re a whore
• Feet tattoos: you’re a whore
• Shoulder tattoos: you’re a whore
• Tattoos anywhere: you’re a whore
• No tattoos: you’re still a whore.

There is no bit exaggeration in this. Anyone who would call the girl above a skank for getting a Disney tattoo on her ribs is a fucking idiot.

All of this language is used to control women. To make us judge each other’s bodies, feel self-conscious about our own, or dictate what we can or can’t do (with tattoos, weight gain/loss, or anything else.)

Really, the best way to nip this in the bud is by calling out anyone who uses the language of “tramp stamps.” The logic is the same in both, and by having conversations with people on why this sort of language hurts women, we can start reclaiming our ability to tattoo whatever parts of our body we want.