to give my own insight to this topic, I have 14 tattoos. I have had them all since before I decided to live as my preferred gender.
1 - Cross on my chest with a banner that reads Faith and Family
2 - Dragon's head and flames on my left shoulder
3 - Tribal band on my left arm
4 - Dragonfly on my left arm
5 - Mushroom smoking a joint on my right shoulder (my first real tattoo when I turned 18)
6 - Tribal band on right arm
7 - Tribal lizard on right arm
8 - White tiger clawing out of my back
9 - Wolf clawing out of my back
10 - Big tribal piece with designs inside of it (not finished since losing touch with artist after he was busted for DUI)
11 - Tribal designs that spell out USMC on my left rib cage
12 - Capricorn zodiac symbol on my right rib cage
13 - Tribal outline with various designs inside on my left thigh
14 - Lizard crawling up my right calf (hurt worse than anything in my life)
All this ink and what is the reaction i get the most? "You look hot." Very few people ever give me grief over them at all. I am getting #3 redone in the upcoming weeks to be a full armband with some other stuff in it as well. I shall post a photo when it is done.
All of my tattoos are very masculine, although the lizard on my leg does look sort of cute in shorts or a skirt. I always feared that I would be read as a guy in a dress just because of the tattoos. It would turn out that people just see me as a chick with a lot of ink instead. even the big blaring cross right between my boobs isn't a dead giveaway at all. People ask if it hurt and that is all.
I would hope that if anyone has the same conflicted questioning over their ability to be who they are in conjunction with their tattoos that my experiences can prove that it doesn't matter at all.
