As with many things in life, women are often held to a different standard than men. For instance: tattoos. On a guy, lots of ink is generally considered sexy. On a woman, the more tattoos she has the more likely it is people will perceive her as a slut. And Jesse James’ alleged mistress Michelle Mcgee isn’t helping the situation. She’s quickly become the poster-girl for the stereotype of the slutty tattooed woman. But what about all the other woman out there with ink on their bodies who aren’t sleeping with Sandra Bullock’s husband? Are they sluts?
It’s unfortunate that tattoos on women denote promiscuity. Because, obviously, not all women who have tattoos are sluts. Yet, in our society, a woman’s reputation is inversely related to the number of tats she has. When the number of tattoos goes up, the girl’s reputation goes down. Which mean “Bombshell” McGee’s reputation is in the gutter. And Tila Tequila is right there with her. But then there are girls like Kat Von D, the heavily tattooed owner of High Voltage tattoos, who makes a living by running a successful business and not by taking off her clothes and chasing headlines. And those are just the extreme examples. Heidi Klum, Charlize Theron and Christina Applegate all have tattoos and are generally not described as sluts.
Have we forgetten that most women get inked as a form of empowerment and self-expression. Not as an invitation for sex. And more and more women these days are deciding to express themselves through body art. They can’t all be sluts. So, while we’ll probably have to endure Michelle Mcgee for the next few months and the bad name she’s given women with tattoos, at least we can take comfort in the fact that her forehead tattoo will eventually turn into a giant black-and-blue smudge.
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