Tramp Stamp

I was talking to the new cost accountant at work today and mentioned that I have a tattoo (yes, I have a tattoo). She shared that she also has one and that when she mentioned it to Carlos and the quiet one they asked, "Is it a tramp stamp?" She didn't quite understand what they were talking about, but knowing them, I knew exactly what they meant. They were referring to the meaningless tattoos that a lot of women get to draw attention to themselves, kind of like a branding, but without any originality (also mentioned in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley).

I got my tattoo (yes, it's in the small of my back) shortly after I'd been left in Hawaii by the gay guy. I'd wanted one since I was 12, but always remembered what my mother told me about the older women she treated who had gotten tattoos and regretted it. She warned that getting a meaningless tattoo could be something that branded a woman in her youth with a memory she might like to forget later in life (check out the SNL skit about lower back tattoos). I'd also heard from many super Christians that tattoos (as well as piercings) were against God's will. I chose to wait until I had something in mind that was meaningful to me...and I chose something that I feel glorifies God. To me, this is the ultimate tattoo, and if I weren't running out of room and hadn't outgrown the need to do so, I'd get the other 5 lines of the Qur'an tattooed back there as well.

This is hardly a tramp stamp in my opinion.