stina

people get all defensive if you tell them they are doing something wrong. sheesh.

I read an article the other day by a well known female tattooist whos been in the field for like 20 years. And in her article she states that she doesn't think it was harder for her to be a tattooist in the male dominated industry. It was kinda a bummer. I mean.. I'm not really sure if she just found a totally respectful shop or what..

Some of the things I face and some of the women i know face are:

• When a customer asks you a question, doesn't like the answer, and asks a younger (but male) person the same question. (usually the apprentice or piercer)


• when a customer treats you like a counter person and expects you to do things for them when they aren't your client. (things they wouldn't ask the other male tattooists to do. like can you call them a cab or get them something or put their coat somewhere etc..)


• Asking credentials. Thats really common for me, how long I've been tattooing, if I've ever had any real jobs and can I see some work. (which the y should do for EVERYONE, but didn't for the last tattoo they got from a guy at my shop.)


• phone calls from customers who ask to speak with a tattooist... after I tell them I'm a tattooist. (very confusing..)


• Other tattooists acting very surprised that I tattooed my work.
• other tattooist questioning how i do things, despite the fact that I've been tattooing longer and my work is better. (usually this is from some pretty sketchy dudes to be honest)


• people assuming i had an easy apprenticeship because I'm a girl.


• people assuming that female tattooists are all about getting famous on attention and being rock and roll tattoo stars.


• in the apprenticeship, I had a longer time in some respects because women have the reputation for falling in love and quitting, getting pregnant and quitting, or having a boyfriend/husband that comes in and acts jealous of the other guys.


• Most people see a tattooed woman and assume she's with a tattooist and not one herself. I get the, "oh did you learn to tattoo from your husband?" a lot.. Like we can't love art on our own. We're doing it to impress our men.


• I've been told that women aren't good tattooists because we are too sensitive and too soft. We coddle our customers and by being too kind and letting them have their way, it degrades the quality of the tattoo. (Some people really believe women tattooist are this soft.)

Now these are just a few of the ways that it makes tattooing different for women than men..
And because this is how a lot of people view female tattooists... it's harder to get an apprenticeship sometimes. I've heard of some serious sexual harassment in the job field too...
But there are a lot of good things too..


[LIST]

Women are more comfortable with other women. (usually)

dudes are worried about being gay so they don't want other guys to tattoo their upper legs haha..

And because people are, for some reason, so surprised that women can tattoo as well as men, you can get more attention and a better reputation which brings in clients.

I'm not complaining like my job sucks.. It does suck, all jobs have sucky parts. And when you argue for 30 minutes about cost or tattooing something their cousin drew, or have a customer flail about, barf or poop themselves.. you'll see what I mean. But that the same time, I love making art and when you have a good customer.. i really makes you feel awesome. When you inspire another person to do their best and make art.. that's really awesome. And when you get a stack of christmas cards from clients that you worked with... and you realize you really made an impression on them, it makes the job worth it.

But with all good things.. they change with time. You can't just be happy with what there is now, you have to keep striving for better, picking out the bad parts. If you don't.. the bad things will little by little erode away the good before you realize it..