Sisters inking it for themselves: National survey shows more women than men have tattoos

The proportion of Aussie women with tattoos now exceeds men by more than 10 per cent – and it’s not just younger women embracing the body art trend.

Friends Lauren Williams and Lilah Novljakovic admire their tattoos. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt

One in four Australian adults now sport tattoos with the body art more popular among women than men, and more older people getting inked too.

Newly-released research shows the number of people with tattoos nationally increased by five per cent in just one year.

Social researcher Ashley Fell said the degree of growth was a surprise to the team at McCrindle Research which routinely tracks tattoo trends.

“In the previous two years it had only grown by one per cent, so this was the biggest increase we’ve seen, jumping from 20 to 25 per cent,” she said.

“And the proportion of women with a tattoo now exceeds that of men by more than 10 per cent – 31 per cent women compared to 19 per cent men.

“Interestingly, more older women are getting tattoos, too, indicating that tattoos are moving to a form of self-expression and symbolic meaning … it marks a shift away from linking tattoos to youthful rebellion, low class or crime.

“It seems to be people are commemorating life events through tattoos as other life markers disappear … people still have a yearning to symbolise the important things and chapters in their lives and tattoos are a new way of doing that.

“With social media we have want more visibility of tattoos now than we did 10 years ago, where you have celebrities from Selina Gomez to other pop stars and sports people displaying their tattoos, so they’ve become a more accessible and visible part of what we consume.

“We have this trend with older Australians we call ‘down-ageing’, where 60 is the new 50 … we are living longer, we are working later and we’ve an older generation who are now engaging with technology, engaging with social media and being exposed to similar trends as the younger generations.”

While 31 per cent of people with a tattoo feel the need to cover them when attending a job interview or formal occasion, the majority no longer feel compelled to do so which is another shift, Ms Fell said.

However, one in five (22 per cent) of those surveyed say they regret, to some extent, getting a tattoo with one in four (25 per cent) have commenced or looked into tattoo removal

But not friends Lauren Williams, 21, and Lilah Novljakovic, 22, who are each first-year tattoo apprentices and say most of their female friends have at least one tattoo and are planning for more.

“What I love about my tattoos is that they have helped me build my confidence and self-esteem,” Ms Williams said.

“Getting tattoos on body parts that I am insecure about help me love that area of my body!

“I also just love the look of them and I think it’s super cool that we can have artwork on us forever.

“My first tattoo is three little x’s on my wrist, they represent me, my two Little Brothers and my mum.”

Ms Novljakovic says she loves the art behind tattooing.

“It’s fun knowing you can get something pretty tattooed on and grow with the tattoo … fine line, line work only tattoos are super trendy at the moment.”