Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Someone mentioned tattoos in another thread and it got me to wondering.  Who has what for tattoos and do you have any you now regret now when starting or after transition. 

I have a small rose on my right ankle.  Another rose that with the right pushup bra and v-neck shows on my left breast.  On the upper right side of my back I have two feathers in an inverted v with a leather thong tying them together.  I was originally going to have a dream catcher put over the feathers recently but my sister-in-law talked me into putting it where I could see it.  So I have a dream catcher with beads and two feathers on my left arm at the shoulder.  Sister-in-law has a similar one in the same spot.  I would love to have some vines and flowers and butterflies put on my lower back but there's always a danger the doctor will have to open my back up a fourth time so nothing is going there.  I guess I'll just settle for a butterfly over the flower already on my ankle or else put it on the left ankle.  So basically all of mine could be ones a woman would have. 

To be honest I think I woman could have any tattoos. I personally love tattoos and whether I choose to live my life full time as a woman some day or not I plan to continue getting them until I'm covered. Some are more meaningful than others, some I just get because they're cool, but I dont think I'll regret any of them. I have several skulls, a machete, several animals and a "machine gun camera" all in the old school traditional style, I'm very proud of my tattoos and I don't see that ever changing. Not to mention, whose to say what tattoo a "woman would have". Sure there's a specific style that many women have with tattoos but overall anyone can get anything, and I know plenty of badass chicks with badass tattoos! Moral of the story: get inked! No regrets!


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P.S. Regardless of what the tattoo is, have a good artist do it! The majority of regret stories I hear are of tattoos done by a friend, at a party or in some back alley shop with some dude (or chick) who has no clue what they're doing!


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Nah - I've thought about it from time to time but I'm not really interested in having a permanent marking like that on my body. Some of them look awesome in the first few years but really start to look less awesome if they're not maintained. Used to be getting one made you a bit of a radical, but since every second person started getting them I feel like a fit of a radical being a person who doesn't have one!!

I don't have any tattoos either, but I've considered getting a small one on the back of my neck.

Seems like tattoos can be addictive to get for some. I have never got one because I never saw anything that would fit me enough that I would want on my body. As things change have thought it might be something special to have a nice gurly one.

Quote from: Rp1713 on December 28, 2015, 12:30:23 AM
To be honest I think I woman could have any tattoos.

I wholeheartedly agree with you.  What I was thinking about was resisting temptation at age 20 and not getting an anchor on my forearm with USN in big letters across the anchor when a buddy of mine did. 

I definitely want some tattoos. I've wanted them for a long time but held off for decades deciding which one(s) I really want. But now seems a good time to get some, since I'm toning up. Should hurt less, lulz.

I'll probably get one once my chest is gone... I've always wanted one but never been able to decide what. #designtroubles

Quote from: Ms Grace on December 28, 2015, 12:51:06 AM
Nah - I've thought about it from time to time but I'm not really interested in having a permanent marking like that on my body. Some of them look awesome in the first few years but really start to look less awesome if they're not maintained. Used to be getting one made you a bit of a radical, but since every second person started getting them I feel like a fit of a radical being a person who doesn't have one!!

When cops have full sleeves, it's way more rebellious to have no tattoos at all.

I've always wanted one on my arm of Jesus dying on the cross and maybe one on the other arm of Buddha sitting under the tree of life.

I have 3 now. A specialized butterfly design on my lower back, a high heel on the back of my neck, and a celtic knot on my back shoulder.

The only thing I really regret is the lower back one....I had him add a bunch of filigree to it and I feel like it made it too big and not as 'cute' as just having the butterfly would have been.

I have one tattoo on my lower back, and all future tattoos will be adding on to it.  It's unfinished, and I've had it for years now, back when I very first started transitioning.  In terms of regret, not really.  Having it somewhere non visible can cut down on the regrets, and for tattoos...one thing really rings true:  you get what you pay for.  If you get any work done, it's essential not to just shop for the best price but find a true and tested artist who uses good technique and ink. 

Some people like them, some people don't  :D

No tattoos but I do have a few scars. I never could think of anything I could be sure I would like in 30 or 40 years. The good thing is that was something I didn't have to worry about when I transitioned.

I have a large graffiti style Egyptian tattoo around my neck and a black tribal belt wrapping around my waist and covering up my abdomen. Sometimes I think about removing the one on my neck, but then I know I'd just want something new in it's place hehe. I love tattoos.

Quote from: Dena on December 28, 2015, 02:19:25 PM
No tattoos but I do have a few scars. I never could think of anything I could be sure I would like in 30 or 40 years. The good thing is that was something I didn't have to worry about when I transitioned.

One of my coworkers had open heart surgery so he had the huge scar on his chest.  We tried to get him to get a tattoo so it looked like a flap of skin folded back with a clawed hand coming out of his chest and red monster eyes inside against a black background.  :D His wife said, "Oh heck no!" >:(

Haven't any which surprises a lot of people as I was a badass biker hanging round with punks and metalheads. Maybe when I get my new bike, I'd like an Angel of Grief backpiece in memory of my parents, a Celtic cross (half Scottish with some Irish in me), butterfly.

I've wanted one for a while and have finally settled on a design which has a lot of meaning and have picked out a great artist. Just have to move out and get some money together.
I agree that tattoos are no longer 'radical' or 'unique' anymore because a lot of people have them. Individual tattoos will always be unique and radical though because it depends on the quality of the art; which varies a lot. That's why I love this particular artform. To have a great piece of work on your body which has a special meaning or memory attached to it; which you can look at and remember a particular time in your life as you've become older and changed; is to me an amazing experience and one I want to experience for myself.

I have a quite a few, of varying quality and meaningfulness, and I have to admit there's more than a little regret with some of them.  Rather than ever having a coherent design plan, I had individual pieces done by a bunch of different artists over a 20-year span as the desire and finances permitted.  It's sort of nice to be able to track my life through them, but I'm not really thrilled with the patchwork effect when they're taken as a whole, plus a couple of them are really kind of ugly, and most will be less-than-optimal fits with the female self I expect/plan to express.  If I find the right artist, coverups might be an option for a couple, and I can probably come up with a design that integrates what's already there into something more cohesive and feminine, but truthfully it's not something I feel enormously drawn toward at this point in my life.  Plus, it's expensive, and I'm socking my money away for directly transition-related things.  Maybe someday.

On the plus side, years of experience under the tattoo gun make the electrolysis probe feel (mostly) like a walk in the proverbial park.

I love tattoos on men and women and non-binary people alike. If I had my way, I'd get sleeves and a chest piece at the very least. Unfortunately, visible tattoos are definitely frowned upon in my profession, so I'm slightly limited there. The other limiting factor is my utter lack of visual imagination!  :D I am very verbally oriented, so all my current tattoos are text. I would love a bunch of art, especially post-top, but god help me -- I couldn't come up with anything if you put a gun to my head, haha. Will need help, for sure.

None for me, thanks.  The idea of getting a tattoo kind of creeps me out.

I have a couple this is my fav one http://m.imgur.com/eUlkP2Y

I have 3 large and one medium/small tat. I have a tiger on my left tummy to my side, clouded leopard on my left thigh and spotter panther on my right thigh. I have a medium/small stripper tat of a clouded leopard. I want a red 4 toed dragon on my right tummy matching asymmetrically my tiger. Although the dragon will need to wait 3 years and I may decide not to get it.

In Philly a lot of woman have tats and many are not necessarily girly tats. I like my tats and I am glad I have them. They are not masculine or feminine. I could make them more feminine if I chose to.

I have several tattoos... one in particular i got when i was maybe 20, a naked pregnant fairy surrounded by butterflies, which covers a lot of territory on my bicep, tricep, deltoid area. I couldn't have chosen a more "feminine" tattoo...!
I have felt uncomfortable with it for quite some time and after a year on T, even moreso.

Fortunately i am blessed with a best friend (my straight cis ex hubby!) who is supportive of my transition AND a professional tattoo artist. He is doing a more masculine cover-up free of charge. We've custom designed a skull/rose/snake design which means a lot to me.. and i am keeping a butterfly. He calls me "bro" & says this is one of the most gratifying tattoos he has applied. We are at stage two of a multistage process. I consider it part of my physical transition & i am so very grateful.

My forearms are covered with feminine vines & flowers, which i love.. opens up a whole other can of worms as i consider lower surgery options though! Oh dear! :)

When I was 13 years old a friend had a bottle of India ink. We used that with a needle and some thread to ink my birth name on my upper right arm. Almost 3 years ago when I started to transition, I knew I'd have to get a cover up tatt one day. This year, in the first week of October, I finally got that cover up. Well the new tatt does cover my birth name, for the most part. You have to look really closely to see it. The cover up is a bird cage, over my birth / dead name, the door is open and the bird is on top of the cage about to take flight. And the bird is the colors of the Trans Pride flag. So this cover up actually tells MY story. Then the first part of December I went in for some light touch up on the bird cage. I asked what he'd charge me for a semi colon. He said he'd do it "for a tip". So I have a semi colon on my left hand. When he'd finished the semi colon, he took down a drawing he had done a week or 2 before. This was of an ear of corn riding a unicycle. He really wanted to have a pic of the "unicorn" for his portfolio. He said he was gonna do it for free for the first person that wanted to get it done. I wanted it when I first saw the drawing after he did it a little bit ago. Well he did the unicorn on the back of my left calf. I had my first tatt, unprofessionally done at 13. And that was the only tattoo I had for the next 32 years. Then I get 3 in 2 1/2 months. And I'm already planning the 4th. I'm addicted.

DoYouRealize that's a great story. How wonderful that your ex is supportive and willing to do the coverup tat. 

Mickey, lovely symbolism with the cage door open and the bird ready to fly.  And yes, it can get addictive.  I think my sister-in-law has had three done in about three months.