tattoos: more socially acceptable for women in modern times

a tattooed lady in a circus: demonstrates how tattooed women were once seen as socially abnormal

Braunberger, C. (2000). Revolting Bodies: The Monster Beauty of Tattooed Women. National Women's Studies Association Journal. 

The journal discusses how tattooing become socially accepted based on the recent integration of women and feminization of tattoos. The article emphasizes that throughout history women have been silenced and limited in verbalization, and tattooing has offered women a chance to be recognized socially. The author compares the differences in a tattooed woman and ink-free woman, “When a woman's body is spectacle, a tattooed woman's body is a show.” (Braunberger 2006) The essay provides the history on why tattoos on women were frowned upon in the past, and how they have altered into a representation of beauty in our current culture. 

I agree with the author that to some degree the beautification and feminization of tattoos over time has allowed them to become socially acceptable on women in particular. The most common opposing position is that tattoos on women are not socially acceptable in our society today because of existing preconceptions of full-bodied tattooed women. I think the information is significant because it relates to the gender and social concepts behind tattooing in our society.