This fourth and final instalment of Erotic Ink takes you into the back room of the tattoo studio, clothes off, with the artist’s hands on your body, breath on your skin, the buzz, the pain, and the final afterglow. While it sounds all sexy, the majority of those who took my Tattoos and Sex Survey said that getting off was the last thing on their minds.

But it’s those dirty minds, the many who get aroused while being needled -- and even the few who achieved full orgasm -- who we’re gonna focus our affections on today.

We’ll hear of fantasies played out between client and artist, and rock star tattooist Paul Booth shares some salacious stories, which include a lot of writhing and a pair of vibrating panties.

But first let’s get to Questions 6 & 7 of the survey on whether hotness plays a role in choosing an artist:

Has the sexual attractiveness of a tattoo artist ever played a role in deciding whether to get work from that artist?

• Definitely 4.4%
• Somewhat 12.6%
• Not at all 83.0%

Like I mentioned in Part 1 of Erotic Ink, a lot of responses were of the “what-a-dumb-ass-question” variety, but I’ve been to enough tattoo conventions and overheard enough ladies room conversations about wanting to get work from a certain hot piece of ass that I felt rather justified in asking. And considering that almost 20% said it was a factor, I still feel no shame.

Yes, the art and skill is central to choosing a tattoo artist but, especially for those getting big work, being in close quarters to someone hellafine can be better than Oxycotin in making the time fly by.

Before I go further, in the interest of full disclosure, I should say that I’m fucking my tattoo artist pretty regularly, which is pretty good considering we’ve been married for a while. When I went to the NYC Tattoo Convention over seven years ago, I knew I wanted work from Dan because of his specialty in blackwork and hard-to-tattoo areas likes hands, feet, and faces (I got work on my hand). Yet, I gotta admit, I was on the fence about such a visible tattoo until I got to the booth and actually saw him. It is here I’ll use the horrid pun I’ve been dying to write since Part 1: At that moment, I knew I wanted him to poke me. [I’ll wait for the cringe to fade from your face before continuing. Ready?]

But I got lucky. I’ve never regretted that loin-based decision, but there are others who have, like 27-year-old Richard from England:

"I'm embarrassed to admit this, but when I was once given the choice of two tattoo artists who could tattoo me, I chose the attractive apprentice female over the experienced male. The woman who tattooed me was a very talented artist but she was an inexperienced tattooist and I paid the price: she tattooed too deep on me and I'm currently looking into my cover-up/repair options. I won't make that mistake again. It's one thing to get on a bus and choose to sit next to the hot girl rather than the fat guy, but a tattoo is for life."

Even if it wasn’t a factor in choosing an artist, the intimacy of tattooing can create attraction between artist and client particularly during long sessions. In Question 7, I asked:

If the sexual attractiveness of your tattoo artist was not a factor in your initial decision, have you ever become attracted to your artist during or after getting a tattoo from him or her?

• Definitely 11.2%
• Somewhat 18.6%
• Not at all 70.2%

Here the numbers do change, although probably not that significantly because, as the anecdotes suggest, many straight men are getting tattooed by other men, and many straight women prefer to be tattooed by other women.

But for breeders and gays alike, attraction can spark in the tattoo chair, as emphasized by responses like “I have secretly fantasized about the female artist that tattooed me” and “Oh yes, there's something insanely hot about having a man that close without a sexual climax; it's like a 3 hour long tease!”

Even the fabulous Margaret Cho weighed in for Suicide Girls in her survey responses:

“It’s just a sexy experience, having someone who is drawing on you. They are in your personal space. They are opening up your body and putting something in. That is hot!”

What about the tattoo artists themselves? How do they concentrate on creating art when faced with all that flesh all day?

I talked to the legendary Paul Booth about it. He admitted that he isn’t a priest (really?) and can’t stifle his libido, but before he gave me the good stuff, he prefaced it all with this caveat:

“Professionalism is key. I may be attracted to a client but I’m not the sleaze ball who makes her get undressed for something on her ankle. I’m just not gonna be that guy (although I hear stories all the time how I am that guy, but I know I’m not so I don’t care). The tattooer has to remember that you have a serious obligation. Not just the art, but the relationship, the trust factor... You have to think of the emotional aspect of this job. The client has a need to trust you. The tattooer can’t take advantage of that need.”

And consensual flirting and attraction?

“Every girlfriend I ever had, I tattooed,” Paul said. “It certainly beats meeting a woman in a bar. Here you really get to know them and then you can decide. You can really evaluate the situation whether the person is worth your time. There’s no better place than the tattoo chair to discover these things.”

What Paul’s talking about is the emotional relationship, but let’s not neglect pure, good ol’ arousal; hence, Question 8:

Have you ever become sexually aroused while getting tattooed?

• Definitely 10.4%
• Somewhat 18.2%
• Not at all 71.4%

Alright, I know most of y’all are just concentrating on not moving, never mind getting tingly. There were actually a number of responses that said the tattoo pain is more meditative than sexual, but for those who have gotten excited, the pain itself is part of the pleasure. [Festishists just love my surveys!] Essentially, they said it’s an endorphin rush to arousal.

Beyond the fetish aspect, there are different ways people process the pain that leads to them getting hot, as 54-year-old Soraya explains:

“For me, the pain is arousing too. It is strange. I don't enjoy the pain, but I enjoy withstanding and enduring the pain, and I think that also arouses me. All of that is very powerful for me, and for me is only a small step removed from sex. Yes, I get aroused -- not to the level of orgasm (although very close once!) -- but I get wet, and I am ready for sex when I am finished with the session. My husband and I have our best sex after I have finished a tattoo session.”

For men, that power over the pain factor, and general badassness, played out.

Don, a gay man from Toronto said, “The only time I've felt sexually aroused was when I was getting my knuckles tattooed. They were my first permanently visible ink, and I think the exhibitionist and retired bad boy in me got off on joining the ‘fucked for life’ club.”

A straight 41-year-old male Brit added, “I don't think it's the pain/pleasure thing. It could be that I'm surrounded by half-naked ladies getting tattooed. Who knows? But I think it does make me feel very masculine. I like to have a lot of sex after an inking session.”

Which brings us to the climax of this four-part Erotic Ink tattoo fuck fest:

Question 9: Have you ever been brought to orgasm while getting tattooed?

When I began to collect the data here, only 8 out of the 546 people who answered this question said “Yes.” Since this column began, 619 people have completed the survey and the number of people has gone up to 11, but that still keeps the proportion of people getting off during tattooing under 2%.

Yet, the tales of those people are really good. First, let’s start with another story from Paul Booth:

“I have a client that came in on a long, two-day tattoo weekend. She suffered through the first day and came in the second day wearing vibrating panties and a remote control. The whole time I tattooed her, she sat there with the remote control going up and down, up and down, and I was confused as whether she was in pain or whether she was coming. It was so strange because I’m tattooing this woman and it’s like we’re having sex. She has a ‘movie past’ and is pretty open about these things -- and I’m always up for bizarre new things -- so when she asked me if I minded I said, ‘Why would I mind? Sounds like fun.’ So I’m dealing with my own sadistic tendencies of hurting this girl and listening to her whimper (but that’s my own personal thing) and on top of that, she’s getting herself off the whole time, enjoying herself and using it as a tool to get through the pain. It was really a strange experience because it was like I was such a part of this girl getting off -- but all day long.”

Paul says that he’s considering selling vibrating panties with the Last Rites logo. I have dibs on the first batch once he does.

Granted, crazy shit is always happening at Last Rites, but it’s not limited to the NYC tattoo dungeon.

Soraya (yes, we loooove Soraya), shared her Midwest tattoo tryst:

“Well, not really a total orgasm, but once I had a mini ‘shudder’ that was pretty darn close. I think it was more the result of an orchestrated scene. I had arranged a late night tattoo session with my artist who was agreeable to a special request, and didn't tell my husband. I set up the evening for he and I to go out for an expensive early dinner dressed to the nines, and then go to a smokey jazz club. Then, he thought we were going home, but when we walked past the tattoo studio I just grabbed his hand and went into the door. When we got to the top of the stairs, we went in, and I greeted the artist and just said, 'OK, Let's go.' It had already been a very sexy evening with a lot of teasing talk, and I intended for the tattoo experience to cap it off. I guess the whole thing almost put me over the edge.”

I have to admit that working on the column put me over the edge many a time. While attempting to finish this damn article I took many a cold shower and many a walk around the block .

I’m almost there.

Just let me leave you with a little pillow talk a la the tenth and final question, which asked people to share their tattoo sex experiences beyond the survey. Here are just a few of my faves:

Alex Guest of the UK’s Skin Deep and Tattoo Master magazine summed up the attraction to tattoos perfectly:

“I think tattoos can be construed as something of a peacock display for some people. Mostly there is some back story to most tattoos and they are more meaningful, but those tattoos with significance, beauty, good placement and good execution are far more attractive than the perfect figure.”

Noting how tattoos play a role in the gay community, Don of Toronto says:

“There is a small subculture in the gay community that seems fascinated with heavy tattooing for some reason . . . hyper masculinity and 'butch drag' perhaps, (hardcoretattooedgaymen.com, for example), and an even smaller subculture into the idea of ‘forced’ heavy tattooing as part of a BDSM relationship. I think for myself it is more about general self-expression than sexual self-expression, though there is clearly a component of sexual self-expression in my desire to get tattooed.”

Ms. Zoe, also of England, talks about how she plans on using tattoos to lure men to her bed:

“I am a very highly sexed person so any form of sexual gratification excites me. My next tattoo is going to be a snake wrapping round my leg from my knee up to my anus, with the snake tongue licking my anus. I feel that this will be the ultimate high in terms of sexual gratification, i.e., being tattooed in the nether region. Also I will be able to talk about this tattoo in graphic detail, which I know will turn guys on and I’m sure my artist is just going to love doing it.”

From the tattoo artist perspective on the survey, 32-year-old Patrick of Wisconsin weighs in:

“I'm a tattoo artist with a considerable amount of tattoos. Often times I will meet women and get offers of dates, sex, and so on. My friends like to call it ‘inducing the response.’ The response being ‘Gee, fucking that guy would really piss of my father, who should have hugged me more.’ It doesn't help that I work and live in a college town, so there are all sorts of ‘female rebelling’ going on. So if getting a tattoo isn't rebellion enough, screwing the tattoo artist is even worse. [Just as a note, I don't take advantage of such offers much, and every girlfriends’ father I have ever met liked me.]”

As my own final note, I better stop working and get back to pleasing my tattooist. Hope you had fun reading Erotic Ink. My heartfelt thanks to all who took the time to answer the survey. I kiss you.

Now I’ll return to Needled.com for my regular tattoo blogging.

I have a confession to make; Since gathering all this hot info from my Tattoos and Sex Survey and writing Part I and II of Erotic Ink, I can’t stop thinking about tattooed bodies.

I never discriminated between tattooed and plain skin in lovers. Indeed, I was an equal opportunity fucker. I only required a strong vocabulary and shared distaste for John Grisham novels. That’s it. I’m a card carrying ACLU member (seriously, I have the card) but I’ve fucked Republicans –– if only to help them work out masochistic tendencies by beating them silly to the cries of drill, baby, drill.

But, now I'm married to a big tattooed badass, my appreciation for inked skin has deepened. The physiques turning my head (only lookin, honey) these days are those emblazoned with skulls, dragons, and a Koi fish or two. The unadorned ain’t doin it for me. OK, I wouldn’t kick Adrien Brody outta bed, but in general, I’m finding that the more tattooed I get, the more I like to envision intertwined artwork on arms, legs, and all parts in between. Preferably writhing and sweaty.

And, ya know, I’m not alone.

In this installment of Erotic Ink, we discuss the mutual attraction of those with tattooed bodies (questions 4 & 5 of my Tattoo and Sex survey). We also get dirty with sexuality professor and sex vlogger Audacia Ray (author of Naked on the Internet) and find out why alt porn is becoming the big XXX money shot.

But first, the stats:

Do the tattoos of (potential) sexual partners play a role in whether you are attracted to them?

• Often 36.8%
• Sometimes 52.5%
• Never 10.7%

Here we’re talking about the aesthetic draw of someone with tattoos over someone who doesn’t have any.

Margaret Cho of The Cho Show weighed in on this question. "I am very attracted to tattooed people," says Margaret. "They are the most beautiful. I am always pawing heavily tattooed people, pulling off their clothes, wanting to see more ink, more flesh, wanting to hear the stories that are written on their skin."

Yes, Margaret is one horny bitch. But we love her.

Tracy of Florida answered “sometimes” qualifying that the tattoo had to enhance not detract from the body. She says, “If they're well done, well placed and add to someone's looks, then yes. By the same token, if they're poorly done or don't add to the overall aesthetics of the person, then they're a turn-off.”

For one guy from the Bronx, the tattoos were attractive because they spoke to a woman’s personality: “I find that I prefer girls that are tattooed. It kind of gives me some insight into them. Girls that are moderate to heavily tattooed seem more free spirited, and extremely sexy.”

The “tattooed woman as wild sex goddess” plays a big part in money making alt erotica. Like, um … Suicide Girls. To delve deeper into this, I talked to Audacia Ray, a wild tattooed sex goddess herself, and asked her what the deal was with increasing presence of really heavily tattooed porn stars and their mainstream appeal.

"Though people who challenge societal norms are punished for it in overt and subtle ways, mainstream culture fetishizes and eroticizes the act of being different, because being different is naughty," explains Audacia. "And being naughty is hot. So while there's a definite 'by tattooed people, for tattooed people' piece of the sex industry, I think the bigger picture is all about 'by tattooed people, for gawkers, wankers, and other conforming chicken shits.' Different is sexy, living on the edge is sexy –– and tattoos are definitely symbolic of that."

I love it when a fancy university professor uses the term “conforming chicken shits.” That said, Audacia qualifies that the “alt porn” label will never dominate the industry, despite its popularity.

"I think the meaning of working in the sex industry and having tattoos has changed a lot in the past ten years or so –– not just because of the advent of Suicide Girls and alt porn –– but also because there is a very definite high end part of the industry," says Audacia. "It used to be OK for sex workers to have tattoos because both sex workers and tattoos were considered to be 'trashy.' Now being a tattooed sex worker can mark you as trashy in a bad way. Lots of the high dollar, multiple hour escort agencies want their escorts to not have tattoos and body piercings. At the same time, there are very definite niches for people with body art...There's definitely room for lots of different kinds of expression, but I think that women without significant tattoo coverage will always get the top jobs. Porn consumers want their porn stars to be a little naughty (or a lot) but that girl next-door thing is so prevalent."

While my gut reaction was to lash out at the trash label for the heavily tattooed, I thought about my own “high snobiety” when it came to tattoos. Even my fifth survey question reflects this when I asked, not only about the presence of tattoos on potential lovers, but their design and subject matter:

Does the quality of a sexual partner's tattoo work affect your attraction to that person?

• Often 49.8%
• Sometimes 37.9%
• Never 12.3%

While Jason of Florida reprimanded me by saying, “A person is who they are, not what they wear on their skin,” it seems that the majority of y’all are just as shallow as I am.

But is it really being shallow? Because if one considers tattoos as expression, then what you put on your skin permanently could be a clear indication of your values and ideals. Most obviously, is it shallow to shun someone with racist or sexist tattoos?

On the other hand, what about the dude with the finger mustache tattoo? As Beck from Boston said, “I can't take someone seriously if they can't take the permanence of body art seriously. A horrible tattoo means they don't value their own skin, so why would they value mine?”

Barbi from Maryland added, “Tattoos can show a certain depth that a person may have. A truly creative, one of a kind, well thought out tattoo is going to be crazy sexy, a Yosemite Sam flash tattoo, not so much.”

And Melissa from Ontario related bad art to being a bad lover: “If the only effort a guy can muster in putting artwork on his body forever is a crappy Taz on his bicep, how much effort is he going to put forth in bed?”

Celina from California summed it all up: “Bad tattoos = I'd rather be single.”

On the other hand, good tattoos may help attract a lover as 40-year-old JD of New Jersey hints: “If I meet someone with artistic tattoos, I usually find that they have thoughts and interests similar to mine. We have more of a chance of having something in common.”

Although sometimes, you just never know what’s under someone’s clothes. Rachel from Australia says, "Some partners don't reveal their tattoos until they've got a certain amount of clothing off, and by then it's too late! Having tattoos leaves one more open to the judgment of others, definitely. I've certainly had the experience of taking someone's shirt off, only to find myself holding my tongue because the linework is shoddy. That's when you laugh it off inside thinking, "Christ, I'm a snob."

However, for 12% of respondents, the art doesn’t matter, just the marks on the skin.

One kinky guy from the Netherlands said, "I primarily like the concept of permanency and moving and stretching with the body in a sort of erotic sado-masochistic sense, and also the concept that a person has chosen to have tattoos. For both of these the quality is not that important (self-hand poked would do). However, if a tattoo is well placed (in the sense that it moves nicely with the body) or a very individual peace of artwork, that is certainly a plus!"

And so it seems I’m not alone in my tattoo attraction. Still, I never actually had an orgasm in a tattoo chair. But will get to those who have next Wednesday. For now, let me know what’s on your filthy mind below.

--
Marisa DiMattia is co-founder and editor of the multimedia tattoo site and blog Needled.com. She thinks Belgian tattoo artists are sexy.

For more of Margaret Cho’s beautiful views on tattoos, check back here on September 22 for her SG column. Also check out my Needled.com video interview with her by clicking HERE.

It’s Wednesday, commonly referred to as “hump day,” and thus, perfectly suited to talk about sex in this second installment of Erotic Ink, an intimate look at the relationship between tattoos and sexuality.

In last week's column I revealed the results of a sex survey conducted through my Needled.com blog. The survey covered tattoo taboos and asked for sex secrets. The results were pretty hot. Respondents shared their tattoo erogenous zones and talked about achieving orgasm mid-inking.

Today, we’re digging deeper into the first issue raised by the survey: attractiveness in tattoo decision-making. We’ll be going into detail on the questions that deal with tattoos and self-perception, exploring if and how tattoos (and the act of tattooing) make one feel more or less attractive, and whether the issue of attractiveness frequently plays a part in the decision to get tattooed in the first place.

Before we get into it, however, I want to address a tattoo study that made huge headlines in July: "Motivation for Contemporary Tattoo Removal in the Archives of Dermatology."

The press (see LA Times story) went nuts over a small sound bite that stated that more women get tattoos removed because of the social stigma, and that, ya know, these women felt their tattoos might as well be a bull's eye. Reportedly women felt stigmatized by their tattoos, enduring negative comments over the indelible dolphin they got over spring break. The study was conducted in dermatology clinics in Arizona, Colorado, Texas, and Massachusetts. You can just picture the ladies of Amherst, Mass biting down on their pearls as they laser away their sorority letters and try to forget that they ever entered a sexy banana-eating contest.

But here’s the problem with the media coverage –– most outlets only read the abstract that decried those juicy details. The few that actually read the full survey came away with a far less salacious picture. For example:

Happy people make for less drama. And don’t we all wish our lives were like Gossip Girl.

Considering that result –– that the vast majority of individuals like their tattoos –– let’s now turn to my own survey and see how feelings of attractiveness fit in with the tattoo picture, starting with Question 1:

Did sexual attractiveness play a role in your decision to get tattooed –– that is, did you get tattooed to be more attractive to (potential) sexual partners?

• The majority, 54.5% said “Not at all.”
• Only 10.1% admitted “Definitely.”
• And the rest, 35.4% were in the middle with “Somewhat.”

Of the stories people told, feeling more attractive with tattoos was not a motivation but a by-product of the art.

Kathleen, a 22-year-old from Barcelona encapsulated the feelings of most who answered: “I consider ‘sexiness’ to be something completely reliant on a person's self-confidence and attitude. Being tattooed has made me feel a lot more at home in my body, which I think has a corresponding effect on how confident I feel, both in life and with lovers.”

Body image for women also played a big part as April from Chicago explains: “I decided to get tattooed and pierced as a way to gain more self-acceptance of my body as a woman. Taking something plain and adorning it was a to create celebration of my form and of specific areas of my body that I was sensitive about.”

Even the fabulous Margaret Cho of VH1’s The Cho Show weighed in on her recent and numerous tattoo collection. “I want to be tattooed because I think it looks sexy, " says Margaret. "It is like lingerie that you never take off. It enhances the body and it gives the beholder a view into your rebellious heart. It is hot!”

Indeed, hotness and the desire for a certain sexual response factored in for those who answered “definitely” to whether attractiveness was a motivation for getting tattooed.

Jake, a 37-year-old straight male from Colorado says, “I believe at some point everything we do is somewhat driven by the desire to be more attractive to the opposite sex. I think in my case it was more to attract a certain type of girl.”

Others got a little more explicit: “My ex-partner was heavily tattooed and I very much enjoyed seeing his tattoos in the bedroom. I also loved to finger his tattoos. He has a leopard on his chest and when I used to finger his leopard and his nipple he used to growl at me and pretend to bite me. Ohhh, makes me all excited thinking about it. I guess having fun with my partner through his tattoos helped me along with my decision to get tattooed; it kinda forms a whole package for me.”

(In collecting all the steamy responses, I think I licked my computer screen once. Ok, maybe twice.)

Though most did not primarily get tattooed to be more attractive (though many found it was an added benefit after-the-fact), some experienced the opposite effect, like 29-year-old Justin who said, “It's a video game-related tattoo. If anything, I hurt my chance of getting laid instead of increasing.” I guess it depends on whether you have a portrait of Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft or Nintendo’s Super Mario.

Even if sexiness didn’t play a part in the initial decision to get tattooed, for many, it became a hot bonus post-needling, as seen in the responses to Question 2:

If sexual attractiveness did not play a part in your initial tattoo decision, has it ever become a factor afterward? For example, did you later find that more people were attracted to you or that you felt more attractive being tattooed?

• Now that “Definitely” response jumped from 10% to 39.3%
• The “somewhat” response also increased to 44%.
• And “Not at all” went down to 16.7%

The anecdotes were especially delish. Many noted that tattoos were an instant icebreaker allowing people to make that all-important first approach in a much cooler way. “Who's your artist?” is the new “What’s your sign?” at the local bar. It applies to both men and women.

Kevin, a 26-year-old from Atlanta says, “Once I had my full sleeve, I could tell a noticeable difference in the way women interacted with me, and whom was attracted to me. The visible tattoos give a perfect excuse for anyone (sexual or not,) to walk up and start a conversation.”

Meanwhile, one California woman says it helps with the flirting: “I have my tattoo on my hip, so whenever someone asks about it, I get to sexily tug down my jeans just half an inch so it can peek out. And I definitely feel like a lot of guys find it sexy because it takes a certain amount of confidence about who you are and your body.”

Another important part is the intimacy created by the tattoo reveal. Maxime from Switzerland gets to the essence of it: “People want to look close at tattoos –– closer than they'd usually look at your skin. Tattoos break a certain perception of intimacy and of the natural spatial limits people usually respect between them.”

There’s also the allure and mystique of a hidden secret as explained by one 40-year-old New Yorker: “My tattoos can't be seen when I'm covered up, and people react to the idea of them –– they're enticing, and people want to see, and if someone were to have a limited conception of who I was (in a seemingly straight job, married, with kids) the notion of tattoos means they have to adjust their worldview, which can be intriguing to them.”

Of course, not everyone has purely positive experiences. Soraya, who is 54 years old, speaks of the pros and cons tattoos have played in her sex life: “My tattoo and piercing history stretches back over 30 years. I started with a couple small tattoos over a period of a few years, and then it was maybe 20 years before the next, and I then started getting heavy coverage. Right from the beginning, I found that I enjoyed the act of getting tattooed. It sort of aroused me (I now know that is endorphin-related), and I felt very sexual after getting tattooed. As time went on, I became even more aware of the sexual aspects of tattooing for me. My tattoos became a part of my sexual play with my husband, and I used them to 'entice' him. He finds my tattoos to be very attractive. Going back to my early experience, however it was a mixed bag, and the partners I had generally didn't share my view of tattoos being sexually attractive. Before I met my husband, most of the guys I was with viewed me as something of a freak, or at least a curiosity.”

The freak thing goes both ways. As one person put it: “I attract more weirdos.”

Beyond how others view the tattooed sexually, the most important issue is probably how we view ourselves, as raised by Question 3:

How do you rate your own attractiveness with tattoos?

• A huge 67.7% said “more attractive with tattoos.”
• It made “no difference” to 31.4%.
• And less than 1%, only 5 people, said their tattoos made them feel “less attractive.”

While the Archives of Dermatology tattoo removal survey highlighted the opinion of the minority, my focus is going to be on that of the majority –– those who answered my survey by stating that tattoos made ‘em feel like sexy mothafuckers.

Soraya sums up the sex factor well: “Oh, I’m absolutely more attractive! While I think the untattooed body is beautiful, it is mostly undifferentiated. It is sort of like the Sahara Desert –– beautifully featureless. Tattoos add focus and bring identity to specific areas of the body. If you are heavily tattooed like me, almost every spot has some identifier associated with it, the spot by the peony or the cherry blossom on my arm. I think when you call out or bring attention to a part of your body, you enhance its overall attractiveness. I'm not young anymore, but I look in the mirror and think that I really look hot for a woman my age, and I think the tattoos actually help draw attention away from the inevitable effects of age!”

Here’s another favorite quote, this one from 22-year-old Anna of Santa Cruz: “On my worst day my tattoos are still beautiful. They're beauty is not lessened by my bad mood, bloated tummy, or bad hair day.”

But it’s also the attitude of “owning” your tattoos and the way you look that gives many the freedom to feel beautiful. One 29-year-old New Yorker explains: “Having to stand up to constant judgment by a tattoo-unfriendly society has made me more confident and assertive, which in itself is attractive. They've helped me be more comfortable in my skin. Plus, my ink itself is lovely and accentuates my body. It's flattering; how it flows and fits my body is a major part of designing each of my tattoos.”

At the end of the day though, a good, healthy self-confidence will definitely help get you laid either way. Rachel from Pittsburgh says, “I'm just hot, with or without tattoos.”

Come back next Wednesday when we talk about the mutual attraction of tattoo collectors. Meanwhile, leave your own sexy comments for me below.

--

Marisa DiMattia is co-founder and editor of the multimedia tattoo site and blog Needled.com. She thinks Belgian tattoo artists are sexy.

For more of Margaret Cho’s beautiful views on tattoos, check back here on September 22 for her SG column. Also check out my Needled.com video interview with her by clicking HERE.

From ancient tribal cultures to San Francisco's leather boy scene, tattoos have been inextricably linked with sex for many. Yet, while the art form continues to reach heights of popularity, sex gets left out of tattoo talk, largely in lieu of pop culture ... like, say, Kat Von D's colon cleanse.

So, it's time to kick it old school, Salt-n-Pepa style, and talk about sex in its relation to tattoo art and the act of tattooing.

And this ain't just one conversation.

Sex and tattoos evoke an orgy of issues, and untangling the multiple limbs is surely fun but can get complicated because they range from how tattoos play a part in sexual attractiveness (whether it be the wearer's self-perception or how tattoos factor in choosing a lover) to the intimate relationship between tattoo artist and client (and the development of sexual attraction in the tattoo chair) to even people achieving orgasm during tattooing.

Yes, there are people who climax while getting needled. Not many -- otherwise there would be way more full body suits walking around -- but it does happen.

The cumming client stories, however, get passed around like myths and legends around tattoo shops and online. Nobody at our own
Calypso Tattoo studio was ever doused with sperm during a session, and though the dirty messages I've gotten at Needled.com would make even a Suicide Girl blush, none had ever provided me with empirical evidence of such pain and pleasure proclivities.

Thus, last November, my Tattoos & Sex Survey was born. Ten online questions designed for stats, anecdotes, and even the option of names and emails for confirmation and follow-up.

The result:

• 561 responses from the heavily tattooed to the dude with the one tribal arm band, the majority claiming to be "visibly tattooed."


• Gay, straight, bi, transgendered, and confused.


• From ages 18 to 54 to "old enough."


• Homeboys from Brooklyn, Slovenians and Swedes, Maori in New Zealand, US soldiers in Afghanistan, Singapore sexperts, and British and Belgian bombshells all answered, among others worldwide.


• And oddly enough, the male to female ratio was almost exactly 50/50 for those who stated their gender.

But the stats are the least sexy part of it all. The personal stories behind numbers will get you hot, or just bothered, depending on your taste.

Still, I can't give it all away at once. What kinda girl do you think I am?

SuicideGirls is letting me prolong the action in this four-part Erotic Ink column, starting today with the survey results and a nibble at some of the sexy stories, then going deeper every Wednesday this month for the three big issues:

• (1) sexual motivations behind getting tattooed,
• (2) attraction to other tattoo collectors and tattoo artists,
• (3) arousal and orgasm while getting tattooed.

You'll read the survey stories, commentary from sex experts, and maybe even think about your own experience and any subconscious motivations behind that Koi fish on your shoulder. Time to whip out your Freud, my friends.

Enough foreplay. Check the results.



Most people said that they got tattooed for no one but themselves, but feeling confident and beautiful in their tattoos, have definitely helped them attract lovers. Still, there were a kinky few who got tattooed purely for sex like the 37-year-old siren, Sarah:

"I chose the spot on the back of my neck/upper back because I knew it was an area my husband looked at (and nibbled) frequently. The eroticism of the tattoo can become overwhelming to him sometimes, and all it is is simple flowers and vine. But it's placement was in a very sexy place for him. It helps that I really love it as well."




Here the results are close on tattoos leading to more action, but a number did say that tattoos have even hurt their chances with more conservative types. Not for this 29-year-old Australian hottie Rachel, though, who explains:

"I certainly feel more attractive with my tattoos, only in the sense that they are a part of me becoming more 'myself' and more comfortable and accepting of who I am and what I feel/think. I've also found it interesting (peculiar?) to note that since I have become tattooed, all my sexual partners have also had tattoos. I was in a long-term relationship that had ended shortly before I got tattooed, and my ex-partner and boyfriends before that didn't have any. I've since clocked up experiences with You-Give-Tribal-a-Bad-Name Bartender, I-Can't-Believe-You-Tattooed-An-X-Man-On-Your-Back' Bassplayer, Hey-That-Ankh-Is-Actually-Symmetrical Goth and most disturbingly, You're-So-Gonna-Regret-That-When-You're-Thirty Lad (he was 21 and his homemade tattoo said 'Kill Me'). Bloody hell, there's a moral there somewhere."



The majority clearly feels more attractive with tattoos here, but sometimes, it's just about being badass says 29-year-old Justin:

"Tougher, not more sexual. I mean, it's painful. That's about all the bragging rights I have."



"A bad tattoo is a serious deal breaker" was common language for this question, although many clarified that it really was racist and sexist subject matter rather than shoddy linework and shading that keeps another outta their bed.

Tazmanian Devil flash work, however, is effective birth control.



The ultimate tattoo snob question, many answered honestly that bad tattoos play a role like bad fashion. Madeleine, a 35-year-old from Puerto Rico said it best:

"Unattractive tattoos have the same effect as unattractive style in clothing. It plays a part on how we do the 'blink' analysis of the person in question (the one or two seconds in which we decided Yes or No)."



More than one person called me an idiot for asking this question, but considering almost 30% of respondents clicked tattoo artist hotness as a factor, I ain't that stupid for askin. But I agree that it isn't a good idea to base your next sleeve on how sexy the person wielding the needle is, as 27-year-old Richard of England shares:

"I'm embarrassed to admit this, but when I was once given the choice of two tattoo artists who could tattoo me, I chose the attractive apprentice female over the experienced male. The woman who tattooed me was a very talented artist but she was an inexperienced tattooist and I paid the price: she tattooed too deep on me and I'm currently looking into my cover-up/repair options. I won't make that mistake again. It's one thing to get on a bus and choose to sit next to the hot girl rather than the fat guy, but a tattoo is for life."



The answers started changing once people got into the tattooist's chair and spent time with their artist. Kailei, a 23-year-old from Hawaii says:

"Getting tattooed does create an interesting kind of intimacy with your artist. I think it has more to do with the fact that you tend to spend hours and hours on end with the same person in a state of relative undress while they touch and reposition you. I quickly become comfortable with my artists, but often just spending that much time with someone who's into art and tattooing is enough to kindle an attraction."



A good number feel a tingle beyond the tattooed spot, but the majority remain unaroused. Not as many BDSM respondents as expected. It basically came down to this, as over-40 Susan from Texas puts it:

"Too busy concentrating on not moving."




Ummmm ... some of these are too hot. I'm gonna make ya wait.

Especially for the special extra anecdotes that question 10 asked for.

Want more? Check back here next Wednesday. Meanwhile, leave me dirty messages below on what your experience with tattoos and sex is like.

--
Marisa DiMattia is co-founder and editor of the multimedia tattoo site and blog Needled.com. She thinks Belgian tattoo artists are sexy.

Being the arbiter of tattoo newsiness isn’t easy. I mean, who the hell am I to decide if Christina Ricci’s new tattoo is less significant than the erosion of a marine’s right to expression via body art?

I don’t even tattoo. I’m just a lawyer with, what some would say, an unhealthy obsession with the art form. With two sleeves, a backpiece, my head tattooed, random patchwork and a full body suit planned out, you’d think that would be enough satisfy my body art bent, but I never do anything half-assed. It’s full ass for me. So I married a tattoo artist, spend my weekends at tattoo conventions, and during the week, in between writing arguments to the European Court of Justice, I interview artists, like SG’s own Tim Kern & Nathan Kostechko, post listings to the fine art shows of tattooers, review the myriad of books and films I have piled up in our home on body art, and of course, pontificate over the tattoo news.

Which raises the existential question: Why?

Nothing I do will cure cancer. My views on tattoo news will not save those in Iraq. Global warming will not instantaneously reverse itself because of my musings.

My motives are wholly selfish. I love looking at finely decorated bodies. Art on skin is not only visually exciting to me but stops me from falling into a daily rut. It wakes me from my To Do list and gives me at least a moment’s appreciation of beauty.

When I was 16-years-old, I followed my then 18-year-old boyfriend as he went to get tattooed. Tattooing was still illegal in NYC, and we had to press the button of a basement apartment in the East Village to get in. I initially found it all sexy and rebellious, that is, until I saw Andrea Elston finishing up a sketch of the half-sleeve my boyfriend was getting. She had the design propped up on an easel; it was an incredible rendition of a dream he once had. It was, in essence, a work of art, one that he would wear for the rest of his life. And that realization--one could be a walking work of art--has stayed with me.

You’d think that many people would get it, that tattooing itself is an art, but even with all the tattoo media out there, the idea remains obscured by the notion that every mark that you put on your body must mean something. Art for art’s sake has yet to fully translate to tattooing in mainstream consciousness.

Thus, Needled.com was created. The fabulous Josh Rubin and I were discussing tattooing as fine art over Chinese in May 2005 and Josh said, typically, “Let’s blog it.” Later, I wrote the first post as Josh worked on his laptop, bent over on all fours while my husband tattooed his back. It was a propitious start.

Josh and I created Needled out of a shared passion for tattoos, and following one’s passion must earn one some Karma points because it lead me to my favorite Lingua Diva Helen Jupiter, lead editor of SG, and this column. I’ve had a blast writing every Monday about the tattoo news and reading your comments. I thought I’d be educating the masses on tattoo culture and instead, I’ve learned more than imagined from y’all and become part of this kick-ass community.

Some of my favorite columns with your comments include:

Tattoos in the Workplace: Should you Cover up?

An Ode to the Tramp Stamp

The Tattooed Hipster Evangelist

Russian Prison Tattoos

The Original Suicide Girls: America’s First Tattooed Ladies

And, of course, my Tattoo Copyright Obsession

Now, I’m taking on a new opportunity: bringing tattoo videos to Needled.com as well artist photo galleries, forums and more community features. There’ll even be a marketplace to buy the artwork, t-shirts, and other products from tattooists. I’ll keep blogging but I’ll also be presenting a team of writers whose life’s work has centered on tattoo art.

The new Needled will launch on May 1st.

This project has become my baby, one that needs constant attention and effort to grow. Sadly, I have to focus all my time on it and must take a break from this column. I will still remain part of this community, write in my personal SG blog, and keep up with all you works of art. You make the Internet more beautiful.

Much love,
Marisa


Me and SG at the London Tattoo Convention

As the US sets out to spread democracy and freedom around the world by letting its young people kill and be killed, our own personal freedoms continue to be eroded on the national and state level. This week in tattoo news was all about what people will not be allowed to do with their own bodies under new regulations.

FearTheReaper wrote a great piece last Thursday on the Marine’s new visible body art ban. Then ban was first discussed in military journals around March 21st but then the Associated Press reported the story that Marines were no longer allowed to get tattooed below their elbows and knees, and it became one of the hottest news items of last week.

While, in the past, I’ve sided with private companies on certain dress codes that include covering tattoos, the new Marine dress code doesn’t make much sense to me. First, as I wrote on Needled.com, the policy addresses the need for a “spit and polish” image; however, tattoos are easily covered in full dress uniform. I guess the Marine commanders are concerned with what their men and women will look like while giving 90 one-handed push-ups in PT clothes.

Moreover, the military has a long tattoo tradition, which continues to grow. As the LA Times writes, the new generation of Marines are increasingly getting tattooed to honor their fallen brothers and sisters. It’s part of Marine Corps culture to never forget those who died in combat.

It’s even sadder that these memorials and other designs were rushed to beat the clock when the ban took effect yesterday (existing tattoos before the deadline are exempt).

Marine Commandant Gen. James T. Conway said of the ban, "I believe tattoos of an excessive nature do not represent our traditional values." But even conservative Op-Ed columnists found this argument weak. John Van Doorn of the NC Times said it best:

Perhaps the Pentagon is smarter than we think. All this talk about tattoos seemed to overshadow the news that more GIs died this week in Iraq or that 43 more Iraqis were killed in an explosion in a busy market last Thursday.

Van Doorn is right, when I read those numbers of dead, I don’t think tattoos.

Long Island Body Art Ban

Back home, local governments are imposing similar bans on body art. The most recent (and on that has been debated for some time now) is in Suffolk County, Long Island, NY where county officials are pushing to pass new regulations prohibiting certain forms of body art including facial tattooing, scarification, certain piercings and some mythical mod they call "skin braiding."

What these officials don’t understand is that banning these body modifications will not make them go away – they will drive them underground where the risks are even greater. When you legalize certain procedures, you have greater control over licensing practitioners, enforcing hygiene regulations, age requirements, etc.

Then there’s the argument that tattooing is a form of expression and thus the ban could be unconstitutional. A group of tattoo and piercing studios in Suffolk have gotten together and hired a lawyer to challenge the ban on this ground should it pass. While there's no deadline for a decision on the proposal, the public has until April 12 to comment.

It’s especially important to make ourselves heard on these issues even if it is not in our own backyards because one day it could be. For me, Suffolk is just an hour away from Brooklyn. It is also important to vote in local elections. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: when we don’t vote, then people who ridiculously believe in banning urban legends like “skin braiding” get into office and decide things like we shouldn’t be able to get our faces and necks tattooed or to pierce our nipples.

Next thing, they’ll want to ban alt pin-up sites.


Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.

For today’s Needled News, I’m going to put on my lawyer hat. Just envision me in a kicky beret as I spout my personal opinion on a legal issue surrounding some tattoo news of the past week.

It’s about copyright. Those who read my Needled blog regularly are now letting out a universal groan and group eye rolling. It’s because I talk about it a lot. It’s my thang, as we say in the legal world.

For those not in the know, I first brought up the issue of copyright and tattoos in 2003 in an article for BMEzine. It made people really uncomfortable and made me really unpopular.

Lawyers in the tattoo world. Heaven forfend!

But when I wrote it, I was largely looking at how tattooists can assert their rights against companies and individuals who appropriate their designs for commercial use. A minor example of this is when an “author” used photos of tattoos from the portfolios of my husband and friends in an e-book without permission and in a derogatory way.

Another perfect example came up this past week. One of my favorite blogs, Counterfeit Chic, wrote about new tattooed tees that raise copyright concerns:

[These cotton tees cost $58 at Kitson. Chic, maybe. Cheap, no.]

CC editor, Professor Susan Scafidi, goes on to note that Beck’s and his tattoo artist may have legal claims here. She links an old Needled post of mine entitled David Beckham's Tattoo Copyright Controversy where I wrote about UK tattoo artist Louis Malloy—the man who designed and inked Beckham’s back tattoos—threatening to sue the soccer star and his Posh wife for not crediting nor compensating him in a promotional campaign highlighting their body art. As Susan rightly states, Malloy could have a claim against the tee designer if he hasn’t assigned his rights in the tattoo designs to Beckham. And Beckham himself may also have a claim in rights of publicity under California law, his new home. [For more on celebrities, marketing, and tattoos, see my Celebs Beware the Ink.]

This type of tattoo copyright case is one that many tattooists would get behind. The real controversy is whether tattooers should be suing each other over stolen custom design work. Now, I’ve had my custom tattoos copied. It sucks. It’s not flattery. My sleeves and backpiece are decorative and pretty, but they also mark my own history, family, travels and were designed and needled by someone I love, my husband. The designs took months to create in collaboration. For another “artist” to rip them off identically, making an easy buck, is disturbing to me.

A bunch of Suicide Girls, most notably Amina who registered her chestpiece with the US Copyright Office, have had their custom artwork stolen as well.



When asked about how he felt over the theft, Amina’s tattooer Tim Kern, aka ymonster, said in an email:

I’m specifically using this quote from Tim because often when I mention potentially suing tattooers who have ripped off my husband’s large custom works, someone will say “Paul Booth gets ripped off all the time and he doesn’t sue.” So I asked Paul directly, why not sue? He said that he just doesn’t have the time, although he did note that if he were married to a tattooed lawyer who’d take up the fight, he would consider it.

For now, however, I’ve decided not to take up the fight in court. I’ve had a number of opportunities to create a test case on tattoo copyright but it would have been impractical. Indeed, it would take up a good deal of time and money, and most importantly, there would be some kind of backlash in the tattoo community because many artists are quite divided and have strong opinions on the issue. Believe, I save the emails. One of them goes like this:

That one’s hanging up on my bulletin board.

It’s true. I don’t tattoo, and as the saying goes, those who cannot do, blog. So I do not seek vengeance for copyright violations in the courts. I seek it out on the Internet.

Over the past year and a half, I have posted a number of custom design theft stories on Needled. Here, today, I’m posting a link to a studio whose artist(s) may just be too lazy to tattoo even copied designs, so they've taken photos from other tattoo artists around the world to fill their online galleries. I guess my Greek brothers and sisters at Bar Code Tattoo in Athens didn’t think I’d learn of them taking the photo (in gallery 2) of a large African-inspired backpiece my husband did and putting it on their site as their own work. Let’s play a game and see if we can match the rest of the tattoo photos with other artists.

In tribute to Bar Code Tattoo, I have decided to name all those who violate tattoo copyright, what we call in Greek, malakas.


I’d love to hear your opinion on the issue in the comment forum below. I get A LOT of messages re: tattoo copyright, so please read my articles before you ask any questions; they tend to answer most you may have.


Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture. She is currently co-editing a book on new issues in copyright and p2p file sharing, which will be out next year.

I’m writing today’s column at New York’s JFK airport, taking advantage of the flight delay to gather together some tattoo goodness for your enjoyment. I’m sitting across from the overpriced but extensive bookstore staring at a Wall Street Journal ad in the display with a middle-aged man sporting half-sleeves and hawking business news. WSJ has obviously caught wind of my Inked Inc. brethren.

Yet, tattoos are not just for corporate raiders. They’ve invaded the chic lit set if JFK’s booksellers are to be believed. Neatly lining the slick backlit cases were The Grave Tattoo and Until I Find You, novels where tattoos still adorn bikers and sailors, not lawyers and investment fund managers. It makes for a better drama.

To paraphrase Jack London, show me a man with a tattoo and I’ll show you a man with a good story, and modern authors have taken heed. The results allow for more interesting down time than, say, tattoo TV. So, today, I’m offering a rundown of some good reads where needles and ink figure prominently in recent paperbacks.



Until I Find You

While John Irving’s 800-page tattoo tome met with mixed reviews, I’d still recommend picking it up to meet tattoo artists around the world—some fictional, some very real—although do pick up the paperback version. The hardcover made it difficult to pick the book up, never mind put it down. Voluminous hard covers especially do not make for easy bedtime reading; my body became tattooed with red indentation marks wherever I balanced the book.

I eventually did get through Until I Find You and, overall, glad I did. It is not a flawless novel. I agree with The NY Times that the story is devoid of conflict: Everything Jack [the central character] foresees about his future comes true, only better. Nevertheless, I enjoyed taking the trans-continental trip with Jack and his tattoo artist mother in search of his tattoo-addicted church-organist father, especially when the artists they meet in each port are often the real godfathers of the tattoo world, some still living today. Even a couple of today's younger tattoo rock stars appear in the novel, which was a bit disconcerting for me; I'm reading a work of fiction that relays stories of certain men I drink with and pausing to wonder, Would Tin Tin really do that?



The Electric Michelangelo

The Electric Michelangelo is my favorite of this list for it’s vivid imagery and strength of characters—completely befitting a tattoo tale. The central figure in the book is Cyril Parks, an English boy who begins his life in the early 1900s aiding his mother at her seaside hotel (and night-time abortion clinic), and grows into a man through a sadistic apprenticeship with a local tattoo artist, Eliot Riley.

Author Sarah Hall perfectly sets the scene of Cyril’s first look at tattooing and how it changed his life:

Riley mentors--and torments--Cyril pushing him to excel in custom work, personalized tattoo designs that were less common than the standard flash sheets of pre-designed motifs. Cyril does so and becomes the "Electric Michelangelo."

After suffering the deaths of his mother and mentor, Cyril crosses the ocean to the tattoo Mecca of the time, Brooklyn’s Coney Island. There, he mixes with an international cast of tattooers, sideshow performers, sailors and street punks. It is also there where the reader becomes most connected to Cyril as he reflects on the nature of the craft, his impact on the lives of others, and the meaning of his own existence.



The Tattoo Artist

Jil Ciment’s The Tattoo Artist centers around, you guessed it, a tattooist. No shockers here. Yet, the personal journey of one New York woman in the 70s looking back on her self-imposed exile for thirty years on the remote island of Ta'un'uu makes for an engaging read.

How Sara, our heroine, arrived on the island and the journey back home is relayed as a flashback telling the story of her life. She learned the art of tattoo from the island natives--the Michelangelos of the South Seas--who wear full tattooed body suits. She goes on to describe the tribal culture and even makes parallels with her own Jewish background. Eventually, Sara acquires a full tattoo body suit of her own and by her own hand. Her body is her greatest masterpiece as an artist, the author tells us.

Like Irving, Ciment's work met with mixed reviews. The NY Times joked "scan the horizon and clichés wash in on every tide." For me, it's worth the read. I'm a sucker for a heroine with a Moko.



The Grave Tattoo

The buzz among book reviews these days is the release of The Grave Tattoo in paperback. Set in England’s Lake District, author Val McDermid creates a fast paced thriller, which The NY Times Book Review called “as much a literary puzzle as it is a murder mystery” for the novel’s weaving plot twists. At the center of the plot is the discovery of a tattooed body, in a bog, of what could be an 18th century sailor based on the Pacific Island markings seamen received at the time. That kept my attention.

Tales of pirates and poets, bounty and booty (not the SG kind) move the story as the protagonist Jane Gresham tries to prove her theory that the body is that of Fletcher Christian, a mutineer on the H.M.S. Bounty, who made his way back to England, despite his exile, and confided his secrets of the South Seas to William Wordsworth. She believes the poet wrote down the stories and that these forgotten texts still exist locally; however, she’s not the only one who wants to get her hands on them.

Unlike the other stories, tattoos are more a catalyst than central theme of the novel but the idea that dead men still tell tales via tattoos is vastly compelling.


Have a favorite work of tattoo fiction? Let me know in the comments section below.


Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.

I've been obsessed with celebrity tattoos lately. They're inescapable. I've seen clients walk into tattoo studios brandishing CD covers, wrestling magazines, and Perez Hilton print-outs. Online tattoo forums flame over whether it's cool to get Bam Magera's body art. And the news headlines, well, they taunt me.

All I want to do is sit back and reflect upon the national repercussions of the Scooter Libby trial, but then Robbie Williams busts outta rehab with a new tattoo and I'm forced to take stock of this momentous event.



By getting love tattooed across his knuckles on his right hand, what is Robbie telling us? Did he find God's love in detox? Or was he lonely and relegated to self-love? I'd also like to know what it is about rehab that drives people to the tattoo studio. Not once, but twice, we witnessed America's train wreck begging for the needle after stays in luxury treatment centers.

It's not like these celebs are going Straight Edge. The booze-filled post-tattoo partying does not indicate a non-tox trend, and I don't see tattoos like these catching on in Hollywood.

Instead, many actors and musicians--you know, creative types--search the depths of their platinum souls for body art that speaks for them, illustrating their very essence. Here's what they come up with: the backside bow, the mini wings, the forearm dice, and of course, the scratcher portrait of your TrimSpa suga-mama.

Ok, I'll accept that last one. Being Anna Nicole's bitch was limited in its lucrativeness. However, there's no excuse for multi-platinum artists, even if they are straight outta Compton.

The Game, aka Jayceon Tylor, refuses to pay for his tattoos--and it shows. ContactMusic.com quotes the rapper on his body decoration decisions:

I wouldn't call it sage tattoo advice but, then again, I aint gangsta. I suppose it's a g-thang: Money. Cash. Hoes. Sub-par body art.

In other headlines, Nylon magazine's March issue featured the fabulous Christina Ricci on the cover with the tag "Tattooed Rebel or Girl Next Door?", which I thought was funny as most of Ricci's patchwork tattoos were covered in the photo except some small blur on her ankle. Now Ricci's got a number of tattoos and a kick-ass style but I wouldn't trumpet her as the tattoo rebel darling. This crown clearly goes to Saint Angelina, and who among us here is not on Team Jolie?

Finally, in this needled celeb round-up, I'd like to welcome my fave comedian/activist/rapper Margaret Cho into the loving arms of freakdom. She's just added another beautiful Japanese inspired tattoo to her fabulous collection, which includes an Ed Hardy piece that winds around her belly-dancing waist. Her latest work of art is by Andrew Moore of Shogun Tattoo in Pasadena, CA.


Photo by Ian Harvie.

I'm hoping more celebrities show the same tattoo intelligence and not treat ink as swag. Free does not necessarily equal good. If more beautiful artwork adorned the bodies of tabloid staples, perhaps tattooing as fine art would become a trend, not a post-rehab adventure.


Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.

Yesterday, I was reviewing the tattoo news of the week when this message popped up on my screen from my buddy Dave of Big Kahuna Tattoo in Florida:

Following that message, our online conversation included references from Dave on how watching the show is akin to watching one’s mother in a porno, how clients now come in and tell him how to tattoo based on what they saw on TV, and even how people on the street now frequently ask him the meaning behind the tattoos of his full body suit. He preferred when they just crossed the street in fear.

Of course, Dave will admit that the show has increased business. With some of the mystery gone, the general apprehension of walking into the unknown dissipates and leaves people free to waltz in the studio for their own work of art.

While Dave and many other tattooers I’ve spoken with are clearly on the anti-tattoo TV side, I’m still trying to figure of how I feel about Miami Ink. I’m gonna try and flesh it out here today.

Before I do, let me just say that I am clearly decided on the other tattoo reality show, Inked, a big joke of a show where the focus is on the drama and “hijinks” of the cast than on any art. I was once asked by one of their producers if I knew tattoo artists who would want to be part of the show. I could not find one. Enough said.

On the contrary, Miami Ink does feature really good tattoo artists. Chris Garver’s tattoo portfolio is first rate, especially his Japanese work, and Kat Von D does a mean portrait tattoo when she’s not posing for ubiquitous pictorials. And now I hear that one of my fave tattoo pin-up artists, Joe Capobianco, will be doing a guest spot on the show from April 2 through the 7th. What this all means is that the general public gets to see a high standard of tattoo art and can make better choices when deciding on an artist.

The public does not see the full picture, however, and this type of reality programming is often far from the truth. First, in Miami Ink, clients don’t just walk in and make an appointment. They go through producers, they are booked based on things like a good back story to wanting the tattoo. But not every body tells a story. No one has to die for you to get tattooed. You do not need to be a victim of abuse to reclaim your body via art. Tattooing the name or face of your child on your body does not make you a better parent. Not that these are bad tattoos but they do not represent the full breadth and depth of the tattoo experience.

Many people get tattooed because it just looks pretty. Because they like it, and that should be enough. That’s reality. I guarantee you that most tattooists will not throw you out of the studio for not having some spiritual awakening that compels you to get needled. In fact, many are probably grateful that they don’t have to hear the story.

Which brings me to another tattoo truth: Most tattooers do not work in the resplendent glamour of being flown to the Super Bowl, Hawaii, and A-List parties. They do not regularly tattoo wrestlers, rock stars, and models. In fact, many people they tattoo do not bathe before the session. Tattooers generally work for hours hunched over with a buzzing machine in their hands leading to bad backs and carpal tunnel. They perform tasks like kicking out drunken frat boys and cleaning up vomit from clients with weak stomachs who can’t take the pain. They deal with cries, screams, and large burly men who pass out and pee themselves because they’re too manly to take a break. I’ve seen it. It ain’t pretty. But I think it would make for more interesting television.

What are your thoughts on tattoo reality TV? Leave your comments below.

--
For tattoo headlines of last week, read Needled’s take on guy who’s suing his tattooer for misspelling a stupid tattoo, a story on how one amputee transformed his stump into a dragon head that’s a work of art, and more.
--

Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.

The Antichrist’s tattoo. Bob Barker on skin. Police seeking records of body art. The tattoo news was so sexy this past week, it barely needs blogger banter for bolstering, so let’s get to it.

The Antichrist Gets 666 Tattoo in South Beach

It just seems perfectly logical considering the popularity of Miami Ink and, you know, the world all going to hell that the man claiming to be the Antichrist would get tattooed in South Beach along with his desperate followers.



Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda is a preacher who once claimed to be Jesus Christ, garnering a bit of media attention, as well as a BMW and Rolexes, for his assertion. Now, following the gospel of Saint Anna Nicole, he’s seeking even more fame based on no talent by testifying to be the Antichrist. To back up the blasphemy, he naturally tattooed 666 on his arm as well as SSS, which stands salvo siempre salvo, or "saved always saved," De Jesus’s motto.

Like a good cult, or perhaps media geniuses, 30 members of the Antichrist’s Growing in Grace church (which claims thousands of members in thirty countries) showed up at a South Beach tattoo studio with TV cameras in tow to get tattoo tributes to De Jesus. NBC15 news reported the following:

Watch creepy videos of them getting needled here and here (after ad).

NBC15 also had cult experts claim that Growing in Grace church is “clearly a personality-driven group.” But I’m thinking I could give De Jesus a run for his money. I too have been deemed the Antichrist, largely by the cult of my ex-boyfriends. I also have tattoos. Should you be ridiculous enough to do so, give to the Church of Needled.


NY Times’ Celebrity Tattoo Sideshow

Following on the cult of personality theme, there’s a slideshow of portrait tattoos of celebrities, which the NY Times put together for the Oscars. Most of the tattoos featured are excellent examples of tattoo realism, despite the subjects: portraits of Tony Danza, Conan O’Brian, and Will Ferrell are shown alongside greats like Nicholson, Cash, Vincent Price, and my favorite Bob Barker of the Price is Right. [I can’t believe someone beat me to that!] The downside of the slideshow is not listing the artists’ names with their work. They list a bunch of the artists off to the side but do not attribute each work to them. I don’t see why they are able to caption the celebrity featured but not the tattooer. This would be unheard of if it was another art form or profession.

Tattooer Spider Webb once remarked to me that whenever a tattooed celebrity is on a cover of a magazine, the credits will include the stylists, designers, make-up artists, hair people, etc. but rarely, if ever, the tattoo artists, despite their work being prominently featured.

Why not give the artists credit? I suppose the only times artists would not want their tattoo art to be attributed is when it’s something moronic like the uber-fanatic sports tattoos shown on another slideshow this week by Sports Illustrated (like the one below).




Police Seek Tattoo Records

One group that does like to credit the artists behind the tattoos is law enforcement. In Port Huron, MI, a city council proposal on regulating tattoo and piercing studios included a provision that would allow police access to studio records detailing every customer's name, age, address, which employee worked on them, and what type of work they did.

According to Michigan’s Times Herald, the provision is supposed to be used to track potential outbreaks of infections, help parents identify shops that tattooed their minors, and also find criminals, although the police chief said that this would be used sparingly:

Yeah. Like privacy. While not explicit in the Constitution, the privacy right has been established by the US Supreme Court as a basic human right and can be read in the 4th, 5th and 9th Amendments. The ACLU of Michigan agrees that the provision violates this right:

It also adds an unnecessary burden on tattoo studios. While the goals of tracking (rare) infectious outbreaks, rapists, and shady tattooers of minors are commendable, the means are far reaching and dangerous.

Yet, it gets complicated when the discussion turns to tattoos on people already incarcerated. What about the creation of prison tattoo databases? Like mugshots, tattoos are now being photographed at booking in Cincinnati, largely to track gang activity. One jail administrator says that their tattoo database should prove invaluable to fingering suspects:

Prison officials also use the tattoo database to keep certain gangs separated from each other in lock-up. If they don’t know what a certain tattoo means, they can log on to a secure nationwide network called the Regional Information Sharing Systems National Gang Database.

In the case of the gang tattoo database, I have less of a problem with the privacy right because we give up certain legal protections when we violate the law. Also, here, the responsibility of cataloguing the body art is on the police, not the artist. Still, there’s something that nags me about the government having all this personal information on file.


Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.

Today's column is brought to you through blurry eyes and a pounding hangover. I didn't want to drink that much but "when in Rome" (in this case Milan) I caved to the pressure of Sambuca and vino at the after-party of the 12th Annual Milan Tattoo Convention.

The tattoo artists looked happy. Everybody I spoke to worked all through the weekend, creating interesting tattoos and fattening their wallets -- although a bunch of convention goers did try to bargain down the price. I saw one couple holding two Vuitton overnight bags lobbying for a deal, which I doubt they did at the Louis store. And while I have faith in the longevity of luxury goods, I doubt they'll be around a lifetime and then some. My personal rule of thumb: A custom tattoo should cost more than a handbag.


Crowd at the 12th Annual Milan Tattoo Convention

Beyond bargain shoppers, most attendees seemed to understand that they had an opportunity to get tattooed by the best tattooers in the world, all in one place. I saw Boris of Hungary work a stunning realistic tattoo, while Shige of Japan collected yet another prize for his stellar Horimono. Holland's Yugen Tattoo tattooed non-stop creating beautiful black-and-grey Japanese works, and Chuey from Good Time Charlie's brought LA street style to Italy.

Filip Leu, tattoo messiah, spent less time at his booth and more time walking around and speaking with artists and collectors, spreading good will. His dark counterpart, Paul Booth, was busy back in NY so Liorcifer and Ethan Morgan worked their magik at the Last Rites booth.

I also had the pleasure of watching Suicide Girl's own Jo Harrison, aka Frankie, needle some gorgeous floral pieces. I devoured her whole tattoo portfolio and loved her Japanese and new school work, as well as her realistic portraits. Also representing SG were the beautiful Cherry, who was photographing the dos and don'ts of tattoo convention fashions, and I also bumped into the uber-cool Sheena of Switzerland waiting to get a signature piece by Italy's Amanda Toy.


Calypso Tattoo Booth

As for me, I was busy running around interviewing tattooers, taking bad pictures, and playing with my MacBook--the Booth Cam--of the convention. You can see photos from Day 2 of the convention here and booth cam pix here.


The real attraction was the body art, of course, but the exhibitions were a great complement. As I wrote on Needled, I enjoyed the spectacular performances by Vatea Tahiti: Dances of the South Pacific, and Les Sours Tribales, a tribal bellydance troupe. Beautiful (and sensual) cultural productions, a far cry from the strippers at conventions of old but just as sexy. Then I developed a new love for the ancient martial arts watching sweaty Italian men beat each other for the Ludus Magnum exhibit.


Booth Cam photo

For the fine art component, interesting collaborative charcoals came out of the Art Fusion Experiment, and then Crez of Adrenalink Ink did a live painting performance on the Japanese dragon.

And so with all the diverse art and performances, plus the special Italian wine made for the show, the convention was an ultra-sensory experience throughout the weekend...One that ended abruptly this morning, replaced by that numb, tongue fuzziness associated with the end of successful convention celebrations. Looking forward to next year.


Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.

I’m a tattoo snob. I’ve tried hard to be accepting of all works on skin, but I’ve given up. Resistance is futile.

You know what I’m talking about. You’re at the gym flexing your tattooed sleeves, admiring how they shine, glisten even, with sweat; then he approaches. The guy with no neck and the tattoo armband that doesn’t even go entirely around the arm because the inside just hurts too much. He stops in front of you to eye your work, and then gives you the knowing nod. The nod! As if you have some great common bond. An unspoken communiqué to all tattooed bench pressers that we are one.

But there is no Borg collective of body art. I’ve spent half my life researching history, interviewing experts, studying portfolios, attending conventions, and sexing artists to become tattoo cognoscenti. I will not be assimilated!

Instead, I will learn to embrace my inner snob. I will pass judgment from my computer screen over what needled skin qualifies as fine art and what is a spring-break mistake. Most importantly, I will engage in the all-time passion of self-important critics: I will create Dos and Don’ts Lists.

This week in tattoo news provided plenty of fodder for my first list.

Tattoo Do
Jim Carrey loves tattoo fetishists. The actor said he’ll be getting more tattoos because it makes women hot, especially his girlfriend Jenny McCarthy. While Jim already has a smallish tattoo, it was his heavy coverage of faux tattoos for the film Number 23 that got Jenni all aroused. He said, “It's amazing what a tattoo does for a girl. Girls love tattoos, man." For understanding the sexual appeal of body art, the Dumb & Dumber dude is a Do.


Screen cap of Carrey's faux tattoos from Number 23.


Tattoo Don’t
Fetishes can be taken too far, however. I’m a fan of head tattoos. Hell, I have one of my own. But needling your noggin for cheap press is a definite don’t. UK tattooer, Blane Dickinson, put out a call for a volunteer to get a free tattoo, but with a catch: he wanted to tattoo someone’s head with a full English breakfast. Nineteen-year old Dayne Gilbey stepped up to the plate. It took six hours to complete the bacon, eggs, sausages, beans and cutlery. He’ll have a lifetime to regret it.




Tattoo Do
Pink’s tattoo tribute to her dead dog is a Do. While I’ve criticized the singer in the past for body art blunders, I support her choice this time in marking the passing of a loved one on skin. For the bulldog, who drowned in her pool last month, she tattooed, “A time to weep. A time to mourn. Sleep in peace.” At least it’s better than the ubiquitous star on the wrists and ankles of It-girls.


Tattoo Don’t
Dogs, kids, moms. All Dos if you want to tattoo their names on your bod. But a lover’s name is just bad tattoo juju. In the news this week, the Chicago Courier News warns against sweatheart tattoos rightly proclaiming that most last longer than the relationship. Personally, I’ve seen too many requests for cover-ups of once eternal loves. One guy got his wife’s name for their ten-year anniversary. The same month she filed for divorce. Another tattooed his girlfriend’s name on his back as a birthday gift to her. Just two days later, he was back to cover it up as she freaked out and left him because of the gesture. The lesson here: Don’t fuck with the tattoo gods.


Tattoo Do
Tattoo agencies are wising up to using actual tattooers to design imagery appealing to us “edgy” folk. Scott Campbell explains why tattooers are a Do for the ad biz:

Tattoo Don’t
Outside professions seeking the expertise of tattoo artists is not all fun and profit. Unfortunately, too many are called upon to help the police identify the bodies of murder victims through the tattoos.


Tattoo Do
Tattoos on arty porn stars and boxers: Do, Do, Do!




Tattoo Don’t
Tattoos on fish: Just Don’t.




Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.

The original Suicide Girls roamed the earth before the advent of alt porn, when "pin up" was merely a verb and "cheesecake" a simple tasty treat.

They were traveling, independent, tattooed badasses before the reality shows, the blogs and merchandise. With monikers like Artoria, Serpentina, La Belle Irene, these women would have member pages that wouldn’t read too differently from today’s SGs: affairs with tattoo artists, performing before crowds, world travels, and stripping for the cameras. Of course, they had a harder time wiggling outta bloomers than whipping off a thong.

The tattooed ladies before our time can inspire. And so with little in modern news to report, allow me to get a bit nostalgic and look back at some old school painted pin-ups.

The First Tattooed Ladies

I’ll start at the beginning with the first “tattooed lady” in the US, but like many a title, there’s a cat fight.

Is it Nora Hildebrandt, who in 1882 had 365 tattoos, or Irene Woodward, aka La Belle Irene, who exhibited her heavily tattooed body before European royalty as well as American sideshow fans?


Nora Hildebrandt

The Tattoo Archive, a great source of body art history, says that Nora is the one credited for being the first female attraction in the US in the 1860s, just as her father Martin Hildebrandt, a German immigrant, is deemed the first professional tattooist in the country.

Nora’s dubious claim to fame was that she was not only tattooed but forcibly so by none other than Sitting Bull, who she claims had her tied to a tree and made her father tattoo her after they were captured. Whether audiences believed her, they marvelled at her nonetheless for her artwork.

But sometimes being first doesn’t make you the winner. According to Margo Mifflin’s Bodies of Subversion, a Secret history of Women and Tattoo, Nora may have beat Irene to the stage by a few weeks, but La Belle Irene was the more popular and enjoyed a longer career as the self-proclaimed “original tattooed lady.” Mifflin writes:

Irene had been tattooed by some of the rock stars of that time including Samuel O’Reilly who patented the first electric tattoo machine, and his apprentice Charlie Wagner who later enhanced the machine.

Like modern-day Suicide Girls, both Irene and Nora caused a stir, not just for their body decorations but for showing it off in skimpy outfits. To stop sensitive viewers from getting their bloomers in a bunch, Irene’s autobiographical pamphlet said that “her tattooing is of itself a beautiful dress.” I’ll remember that line next time I want to wear a bikini to the office.

With all that skin showing, tattooed ladies became a huge attraction. Men got to see some tantalizing flesh without being labelled pervs, and the attractions themselves got to travel and make a very good living on their own. They continued to lure men and women to the sideshows for decades.

Betty Broadbent



One of the most famous and the youngest of these decorated divas was Betty Broadbent. Betty devoted 40 years of her life to being a tattoo attraction. She had a full bodysuit from Charlie Wagner and Joe Van Hart, and in the 1939 World’s Fair, she showed it off in the first TV beauty pageant. She knew she wouldn’t win but it was great free press.

Betty’s first gig was with Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus and later she travelled with every major American circus as well as shows in Australia and New Zealand.

Betty also became a tattoo artist, working many of San Francisco’s arcades. She retired in 1967 and died in her sleep—a legend—in 1983.


Mildred Hull
Before Betty tattooed, other women were needling skin behind the stage curtains. Many were wives of tattooers like Edith Burchett. Others were lone rebels taking on their male counterparts on both coasts. In New York, Mildred Hull commanded the Bowery in the 1920s. She epitomized cool. My favorite quote on Millie is also in Bodies of Subversion:

She was the ultimate tough chick. In 1947, she poisoned herself at a local tavern.


Cindy Ray



Australian Cindy Ray reigns supreme with the most photo-sets for a tattooed pin-up girl. Rocking bikinis or nude on bear-skin rugs, Cindy Ray (legal name: Bev Robinson) was deemed “The Classy Lassy with the Tattooed Chassis.” But touring as a tattoo attraction in the sixties was not all fun and adventure. In her book, The Story of a Tattooed Girl, she says that in some of the small country shows she did she “felt like an animal in the zoo.” But, she adds, her life in sideshow led her to learn tattooing and have a trade of her own. She still tattoos near Melbourne and was inducted into the Lyle Tuttle Tattoo Art Museum's Tattoo Hall of Fame in November 2005.

These five women are just a handful of the inspiring and sexy tattooed ladies that came before us. To learn more, pick up a copy of Bodies of Subversion and Electric Tattooing by Women.

I’d like to dedicate this post to the memory of Walter Moskowitz who passed away Saturday evening. Walter was one of the Bowery Boys, the legendary tattoo family, who had many a tattooed lady walk into their Lower East Side parlor in NYC. He will be greatly missed.

Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.

Blogs all over the world were talking tattoos this week, which is a good thing considering my day job dared to take time away from my precious Needled.com.

So today, I'm givin y'all a round-up of the juiciest tattoo goodness found on blogs and zines over the last seven days.

Best Tattoo Culture Photo

Boing Boing posted an amazing photo that is part of photographer Bruce Osborn's portrait series on Japanese parents with their children.


I love the caption that goes with the portrait:

Beyond the tattoo image, the whole series is a unique and engaging look into Japanese culture over generations.


Best Mix of Fashion & Tattoo Art

Ami Kealoha of Cool Hunting is blogging from Sao Paulo's Fashion Week where, she says, tattoo art is ever-present. She points me in the direction of a fellow blogger who writes (in Portugese) on the body art of designers, stylists and other artists with some great photos like this one below on director Cristiano Winter.



You'll also find the artistic influences of old school Americana designs as well as graffiti in some of the Winter 2007 collections.


Best Tattooed Person Link

One of my favorite blogs on learning to tattoo links a Tattooed Psychic. While it is unclear how the fabulous Faye uses her body art to reach the dead, I figure that if I pay for a reading, the money would eventually wind up in the hands of a tattooer rather than a purveyor of crystal balls.



Faye also does ghost hunting, seances, past life regressions, and hosts a show on the subjects called Radio Spiritus.


Best Tattoo Myth Buster

Finally, a link that directly answers one of the most frequent questions I get as editor of Needled: Is it really true that I can't be buried in a Jewish cemetary with tattoos?

Well, now I simply point to Hillel's e-zine and their article last week called Jews & Tattoos: What's a Rabbi to do? The article address the burial question head on:

The article also links to an earlier post entitled Tattoos: Hip. Cool. Artsy. Permanent. Kosher?, which looks at the relationship between body art and Jewish tradition. [Keep in mind that different divisions may take more liberal or more conservative views than those stated in the article.]


Best Screen Caps of Modified Mayans

My buddy Sean at Mybodystory always manages to get the best screen caps of movies featuring body art, and his post on Apocalypto is no exception.



He also posts images of the tattoos on the character Alex in the film Children of Men, including the word crazy needled on his neck.


Best REAL Tattoo Photos

The wonderful and often not-work-safe Modblog continues to post the strange, the extreme and the beautiful of body art. This past Wednesday, he featured an old school chestpiece framed by two gorgeous Japanese sleeves created by Diau-An at Taiwan Tattoo in Kaoshiung. Most definitely worth the click.


Best Shameless Self-Promotion

And naturally, I gotta wrap up with links to Needled, which include a new tattoo magazine called Urban Ink for and about people of color, a new beauty pageant featuring tattooed women, and a book review on tattoo typography, from Ramones lyrics to Shakespeare.

There ya have it. More tattoo links than you can shake a Suicide Girl pasty at. Enjoy!

Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.

How does one sum up a week of body art news that includes an unintentional penis tattoo, a rickshaw driver with a Gandhi fetish, the unexplainable success of loan ads featuring a roving tattoo machine, and oh, the onslaught of Big Brother?

Indeed, no running thread weaves these stories together as fine as Beyonce's coif, but there are important lessons to be learned from each.

The first item teaches us that one should do some research before deciding on a tattoo artist. Not just on their experience and attention to hygiene, but also on their sport team faves. In Argentina, a young football fan went into a tattoo studio to get the logo of his beloved team, Boca Junior, needled on his back. When he went home to show it to his parents, he learned he got something quite different:

In general, I think that those with cheap sports logo tattoos are dicks anyway, but I doubt a judge would see it my way. The young penis-tattoo wearer and his parents are suing the studio.

Lesson No.1: Bring mirror or friend next time you decide to get work on your back.


From Argentina we now travel to India where newspapers this past week featured one man’s obsession on skin. Ashok Pandit, a rickshaw driver in Rajasthan, tattooed his chest at least 125 times with the name of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. While the Italian-born politician does look hot in a sari, Pandit reveres Gandhi “like a goddess” for her “spirit of sacrifice missing in other leaders.” Some may poo-poo Pandit’s body art choices and mock him for spending a considerable amount of money and undergoing a lot of pain in tribute to Gandhi; however, ask yourself how’d you react should you ever discover a charitable and selfless politician. For those of us in the US, our chests are devoid of political tributes ... but our butts belong to Angelina Jolie.

Lesson No. 2: The Ganhdi tattoo is the new black [tribal].


Ok, kids, pop quiz: What does a gyrating tattoo machine simulating a tramp stamp have to do with mortgage rates?

Absolutely nothing. But the peeps at Lowermybills.com laugh at your scorn of their nonsensical campaign, laugh all the way to the bank with $400 million dollars.



According to a VP at media communication firm Starcom MediaVest Group, the goal of online ads is to attract attention so that people click on them, and moving tattoo machines, dancing silhouettes, and dogs in goggles do just that. I thought the ads were trying to bank on Miami Ink cool. Instead, they bank on attention deficit disorder: “I was trying to read a news article and realized the dancing mortgage people were eliminating all rational thought from my brain,” said Rogers Cadenhead, an author and blogger, to the NY Times.

Besides the lesson in marketing, I learned that agencies bearing bad ads share a common trait with people bearing bad tattoos: “They are very comfortable flying in the face of scorn and ridicule." [James Gardner of Adverlicio.us]

Lesson No. 3: Money cannot buy good taste, but bad taste can make money.


Moving on to our final news item of the week, permanent scannable barcode tattoos are now a reality, at least, for cattle and rats. Somark Innovations, a St. Louis-based company, successfully tested an “RFID tattoo.” Needles inject the RFID ink, invisible or colored, which can be scanned, even in hairy beasts, from up to four feet away. The company says that the inks do not contain any metals and are biocompatible. Engadget.com says humans are next:

You don’t have to wait until the military gets its hands on the technology. You can act out your very own Orwelian drama by buying artist Scott Blake’s temporary and scannable barcode tattoos. [See the video of how they work here.]

Lesson No. 4: The apocalypse is near.



Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.

Tattoo news last week was filled with wild, dare I say, wacky headlines, from the search for a full English breakfast head tattoo model to more celeb body art blunders to hypnosis during tattoo sessions, and more. Let’s begin with my favorite quote of the week:

Tattoos don't kill people. People with tattoos kill people.

No truer words have been spoken, at least in relation to Nick Cassavetes’ Alpha Dog. According to the bastion of fine journalism, Access Hollywood, the tattoos are an integral part of Justin Timberlake’s drug dealer character to make him look “rough and buff.” Here’s more:

Perhaps the young dealer had aspirations to be the next Brian Boitano, according to my fave Hanzi Vigilante Blogger, who says that the faux characters on Justin’s arm mean ice skating, and not I did Britney or some other form of bad-assness.



At least it’s not a misinterpreted Kanji for menstrual flow. That, and Justin’s tattoos were washed off after the director’s cut. If only that were the case for tattooed train wreck, Anna Nicole Smith.

This week, celeb blogs were all abuzz over Smith’s horrifying skin tribute to her children—portrait tattoos so bad, they are worthy of inclusion here.

I don’t get it. She reportedly sold photos of her dead son for $600,000, so you’d think she’d have the cash to pay a decent artist when putting one of those images on her back. Behold:



See more photos of her new tattoos here.

Now compare these tattoos with the portrait portfolios of, say, Robert Hernandez, Boris Zalaszam, Joshua Carlton, Chuey, among so many others worldwide that specialize in realistic portraiture.

Money can’t buy taste.

I’m a tattoo snob, I know. Perhaps I should just embrace all tattoos and not judge people by their choice of body art—to equally respect those that commit themselves to a Filip Leu bodysuit as those who get Sponge Bob on their bottoms. Yet, even on Martin Luther King Day, I find it difficult not to discriminate on the basis of how people choose to color their skin.

I need tattoo diversity training. Evidently, I need Scary Guy.

Scary Guy, born Earl Kaufmann, travels to schools, churches, and community organizations talking about prejudice based on appearance, economics or race. His own heavily tattooed appearance intimidates young audiences until he offers feel-good talks about love, acceptance, and avoiding sarcasm, especially in blogging.



I, too, find Earl scary but my fear is routed in his spreading the message that poor facial work should be accepted. I’m probably better off sitting in on one of Bruce Pott’s lectures. Waaay less frightening.

My problem is I’m hooked on this tattoo-as-art thang. A battle to gain fine art acceptance of tattooing. A battle I lose every time the press writes about stories like this one:

Tattooist Searching for Head to Tattoo English Breakfast Motif

This story appeared in three countries in countless newspapers. I should declare defeat.

A UK tattoo artist—and master at self-promotion—has some sort of bacon and eggs fetish. He contacts the press saying he’s searching for a model for his obsession to take around to UK tattoo conventions. He also envisions a knife and fork behind the ears and is willing to accommodate vegetarians with meat-free options. Remarkably, there have been no volunteers so far.

One factor that saves people from themselves in making decisions like tattooing eggs on their heads is the pain of getting needled. According to this next headline, that safeguard may just disappear:

Hypnosis Can Relieve the Pain of Tattooing

Randy Scott, a hypnotherapist, was watching Miami Ink one night when he saw the tattoo clients in pain on the show. He figured that he could fix that problem. So he walked into his local tattoo parlor, Proton Studios, and dropped off his card.

When I read the article, I was skeptical…until I got an email from tattooer Matthew Amey who also sent me the link to the story and told me that he has been working with a hypnotherapist at his studio—also with pain-free results.

Ok, now I’m intrigued. More than wild and wacky, this is some serious news that could change the culture of tattooing. Naturally, I forced Matthew to respond to more questions on hypnosis for publication…his answers are mind blowing.

Wanna read more about it? Watch out for our upcoming Q&A for SuicideGirls Interviews.

Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.

Black Henna Kills!

Actually, I don't know of any casualties per se but it does some serious nastiness so it needs attention, and I'm all about drama.

For many years, especially in the summers, the media has filled pages with sorry tales of massive rashes and even severe scarring due to body art called "black henna." In truth, henna that is black doesn't exist naturally.

Unadulterated henna paste is a beautiful reddish-brownish color used by Mendhi artists to decorate the bodies (and color hair) of Indian brides, Moroccan grandmas, and of course, Madonna. Natural henna is organic, safe, and allergies are rare.


Photo by David Dennis via Wikipedia.

In contrast, black henna is made with Paraphenylenediamine (PPD), either added to the henna paste or alone. You'll find PPD in some black hair dyes, where you'll also find colorists wearing gloves and avoiding the scalp while using it. There's a reason for that—it's one nasty chemical.

So why am I bringing this up on Needled News?

Because people are still putting this shit on their bodies and, even worse, on their kids. I've seen it this past week while on vacation and it's been making headlines yet again. A lawsuit against the company making so-called black henna has even been filed. News of the suit follows this dramatic intro:

A video of the children's scars accompanies the article. Parents of the kids said that they're hoping the lawsuit will lead to removing PPD from temporary tattoos.


Black henna scar photo via Hennapage.com

While New Jersey regulates artists who tattoo permanent designs, it does not legislate temporary tattoos. The US FDA doesn't regulate the dyes in either permanent and temporary tattoo inks, despite receiving numerous reports of allergic reactions to black henna. It should. Canada does, then again, they're an advanced civilization.

I would've been surprised to read the news of the suit if I hadn't seen the ubiquity of black henna stands from Florida to Mexico to the Bahamas. If they're all over the place, they gotta be safe right? Problem is that allergic reactions are not always immediate. As in the case above, it wasn't until after the black paste wore off on the kids that the blisters started appearing.

Children are more likely to experience reactions to these temporary tattoos, but adults aren't spared. When on our cruise last week, my husband and I witnessed aging frat boys and their wives coming back from ports of call with black henna armbands and dolphins on the lower back. I guess no one told them about the dangers—or that the nineties are over.

Body art can be beautiful, temporary or permanently. But in both cases you gotta know what you're putting on and in your skin. You'll find a number of Mendhi artist directories online. To see a gallery of some exceptional work, check out the portfolio of the Ash Kumar, the Guinness World Records "Fastest Henna Artist" who is also profiled in the UK press today.


Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.

As the January 1st feature of the day, I have the opportunity to fill this space with a look back on the top tattoo stories of 2006. This means I can regurgitate text and links as I nurse a hangover in the Caribbean.

Tattoos made major headlines this year, making us laugh, cry and vomit. For this look back, I’ve chosen some stories with the greatest punch and threw in a couple of faves for flavor. Enjoy!


Oklahoma Lifts Tattoo Ban

The last US state banning tattoos changed its tune and new regulations came sweeping down the plains. While the law has a few flaws, at least it protects tattoo artists from being raided and jailed as they were at the start of the year.

The past year also marked the first legal tattoo ever needled in South Carolina.


New Survey: Over A Quarter of Americans Are Tattooed

The media slurped up a new survey by the American Academy of Dermatology revealing that one in four Americans are tattooed, and that total rises to nearly one in three for those between 18-to-29 years of age. Mainstream status is solidified. Tattooed lawyers are inexplicably “messengers of cool”. Children’s books are crafted for decorated moms. And the good ole tramp stamp needs defending.


Tattoos in the Workplace

With the rising popularity of body art, comes the rising debate of whether tattoos and piercings should be forbidden at work. Even though tattooed professionals make headlines, dress codes telling workers to cover up are consistently upheld. The issue even gets debated in the NY Times Ethicist column.

At least, Cisco Burger is hiring.


Disappearing Tattoo Inks

For those looking for tattoo cool but only until graduation, new inks were developed this year that fade or get zapped away with a single laser shot. Commitment-phobes rejoice. Parents of teenagers breathe collective sigh of relief.


Frozen Tattooed Mummy Found

Proving that tattoos were once meant to last a lifetime and even 2,500 years afterward, the mummified corpse of a Scythian warrior was found in Mongolia with inked skin intact. The term "old school" is quickly redefined.


Such record breaking tattoo news begs the question: Will this new year be able to top it?

It just might if the eBay forehead tattoo play is any prediction.


Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.

Ho, ho, ho! I'm feelin the holiday lovin' from my family today as I keep my new demon child tattooed on the back of my head under wraps to avoid Christmas coronaries and ensure my favorite gifts are not sent back to the dollar store.


Tattoo by Lenny Renken on Dave Tedder

I'm pleased to report that the past week's tattoo news is more jolly than my previous posts of flesh-eating bacteria and lip sewing "tattooers". In fact, the news was light and fruit cakey.

The fruitiest story of them all involved Britney Spears, naturally. After finally regaining my sight, which was brutally taken away from me via non-stop flashes of pantyless c-section scar/crotch shots, I was treated to a TMZ video of Brit Brit walking into Devil Doll Tattoo in LA with her 15-year-old sister and walking out with her very own "personal work of art" – a star tattooed on her hand. I swear she's doing all this to torment me. In my efforts to educate the masses on the artistry of tattoo, the most famous female in the world goes all country every time she gets needled.
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Let's recap Britney's numerous tattoo snafus: a butterfly and vine on her right foot, a pair of poorly inked pink dice on her left wrist, an even worse fairy on her lower back and a Japanese symbol on her bikini line. Money cannot buy taste.

Ok, I'm sounding like the tattoo Grinch but what better gift could I possibly give y'all than to feel morally and artfully superior to a so-called A-lister.

[There are also rumors that Brad Pitt just got needled with a Sanskrit blessing tattoo to protect his family but no photo or video evidence has been found. I'm guessing Sanskrit will be the new nonsense Kanji. You heard it here first.]

Beyond vapid celeb tattoo news, there is some light ahead for the upcoming new year -- from the realm of darkness no less. Paul Booth will be releasing a brilliant documentary on the Art Fusion Experiment in 2007, for which I saw a preview and will review for an upcoming Needled News. If you don't get off on mocking Britney and are feeling the holiday blues, a look at this six-minute preview for the film will inspire you. And that kind of inspiration is probably the best gift I could give.



Best wishes to you -- whether and whatever you celebrate.

Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.