Yesterday, I got tattoo number 3.  As I was sat, facing the door, waiting for my tattooist to finish the client before me I couldn't believe the number of dirty looks I was getting from other women going by!

I started talking to my tattooist about this - he said he was really pleased with the fact that more and more women are coming to him for larger tattoos - indeed the one I got was pretty big - but he said to me that I'd probably have to accept the fact that other women will probably react negatively to them, particularly women of the older generation.  I can kind of see why older women might have a problem with tattooed women - I mean up until about 10 years ago most of the women who were tattooed were prosititues, butch lesbians, bar maids or the wives of Hell's Angels.  But even so, these women are people too and the fact that they want to express their personalities through their body art should be celebrated, not scorned.

I was recently having a look on dating sites for my single Mum.  I was amazed on there how many men had listed tattoos among their turn offs.  OK so Mum doesn't have any and I have a fantastic partner who loves my tattoos but I do wonder what it is about tatts that men find threatening?  Obviously this doesn't apply to all men - you only have to look at the success of the Suicide Girls to realise that but I'd be interested to find out why men see them as 'unfeminine' or 'common'.  I've seen gorgeous women with full sleeves constructed of butterflies and flowers - how can they be seen as unfeminine?

Maybe the feminist movement needs to look at expression of identity - the bimbo in the lads' mags doesn't need to be what we all aspire to.  I certainly don't think so in any case!  Tattooed women are usually highly intelligent and cultured, interested in art, literature, history and film - not fashion victims!  How come society doesn't classify women who've had cosmetic surgery in this way?  It's much more of an extreme modification of their body!