Bumper sticker. Slag tag. Tramp stamp.
No matter what you call it, the lower back tattoo has earned its place in the halls of fashion history. Since it started spattering the backs of young women in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the style’s popularity has waxed and waned. Arguably, no other tattoo placement is as culturally divisive as a lower back tattoo on a woman. But why? And how did the association between lower back tattoos and sexual activity become so culturally ubiquitous? I had to know, so I did a little digging. Here is what I discovered.
Tattoos on women were taboo in Western culture for most of the 20th century, and, as we all know, social expectations for women take a long time to adjust. As ink on chicks gradually became more acceptable in the 1980s, tattoo placements that could easily be concealed were popular, according to tattoo historian Dr. Anna Felicity Friedman. Thus, the phenomenon of the lower back tattoo was born in Western culture.
Biases against women with tattoos continued to lower throughout the 1900s. Also lowering: waistlines. This was the era of exposed lower backs — prime real estate for a cute flower or butterfly. The purpose of the lower back tattoo was no longer to hide it, but to show it off.
This trend epitomizes early 2000s style: blurred lines between high and low class fashion and over-the-top maximalism. And, I mean, what’s cuter with a pair of Juicy Couture sweatpants and a whale tail than a tiny butterfly decal? Among the list of celebrities who donned the style: Britney Spears, Aaliyah, Lindsey Lohan, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Alba, Christina Ricci…If I go on, we’ll be here all night.
But of course, popular culture wasn’t going to stay quiet and allow women to enjoy themselves.
The exact naissance of the term is unknown, but the earliest iteration of the term “tramp stamp” in mainstream media is traced to a 2004 SNL skit. Another oft-cited early example of sexualizing lower-back tattoos is in the 2005 movie “Wedding Crashers.” Vince Vaughn’s character quips, “Tattoo on the lower back? Might as well be a bullseye.”
A bullseye? Are you kidding? Keep your “darts” to yourself, Vince.
This rhetoric, combined with accelerating conservatism after the 2008 financial crisis, contributed to the tramp stamp’s hard and fast fall from glory. In 2009, Barbie released a “Totally Stylin’ Tattoos” doll, equipped with a pack of “tattoo” stickers, one of which resembled the arched-bow shape of a tramp stamp. Long story short: widespread parental outrage and a hasty recall.
Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton’s counterpart on the television show “The Simple Life,” even had hers removed in 2013. “It just means a certain thing, and I don’t want to be part of that group,” she said to a tattoo-removal physician on her show “#CandidlyNicole.”
Ouch. Sure, tattoo regret isn’t uncommon. But erasing a tattoo you once liked because it somehow became a brand of some leering, ambiguous shame? Talk about the power of the patriarchy.
The stereotype about lower back tattoos being “slu*tty” became so potent as to spark scientific research. That’s not a joke. Some guy actually did a study about whether women with lower back tattoos were more sexually promiscuous.
In 2013, French psychiatrist Nicolas Géguin surveyed women with tattoos and piercings and found that these women tended to lose their virginity at younger ages (I’m not quite sure what this has to do with the sex life of adult women, but ok…).
What Gėguin’s survey did not investigate, however, was how men respond to women with tattoos. To test this, he designed an experiment where a bikini-clad woman would lie face down on a towel at a beach. In half of the trials, the woman had a temporary butterfly tattoo on her lower back. An experimenter would monitor any interactions initiated by men on the beach. The results found that women with the tattoo were approached 23.67% of the time, while those without were only approached 10% of the time. Also, men waited for an average of 11 minutes less to approach the women with tattoos than those without. When interviewed after the encounter, the male beachgoers who saw the tattooed women were more hopeful about their odds of sexual success.
Essentially, he concluded that men see women with tattoos (in this case lower-back, butterfly tattoos) as more sexually promiscuous. Not sure if we really needed a study to figure that out, but I guess I’m glad it’s on paper. As to whether these women actually are more sexually active, I find his virginity-lost-age evidence pretty flimsy.
So basically, the lower back tattoo became the modern scarlet letter. In a society that judges women’s sexuality even more than Tyra Banks on “America’s Next Top Model,” it’s no wonder the tattoo became a mark of shame.
But, there’s good news. Alongside baguette bags and skinny eyebrows, lower back tattoos have been yanked out of the shadowy annals of banished fashion by the early 2000s revival of recent years. Paloma Wool’s 2021 capsule collection saluted the lower-back tattoo. The same year, Collina Strada debuted lower back tattoo-inspired belts for her Spring 2022 collection. Miley Cyrus surprised fans with photos showing her new thong-peeking ink.
The Y2K resurgence in fashion is news to no one (I guess fashion is cyclical or something? Who knew….). But I think there’s a greater message here.
The path of the tramp stamp over the past three-ish decades is an example of shifting perceptions of female sexuality. And, dare I say it, the lower back tattoo returning to mainstream culture indicates that we’ve made some progress. However, there is still lots of un-learning that needs to be done. As we continue to move forward, it’s crucial to understand that no facet of appearance — clothing, hair, piercings, tattoos — signals promiscuity or sexual willingness.
