‘I viewed my breasts in a positive light’: Why more women are getting tattoos

It was an average day at work for Mel Schwarz, a tattoo artist at Wicked Ink in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith, when an 80-something woman walked in asking for a tattoo of a cabbage white butterfly. “She had always wanted ink but in her husband’s mind it was frowned upon for women to have tattoos,” Schwarz explains. “So as soon as he passed away, she came in to get the image she’d always wanted.”

Older women are increasingly going under the needle, Schwarz notes, and they’re not the only ones. A McCrindle report from 2022 suggests that almost one in five adult Australians (19 per cent) has a tattoo and that the proportion of inked women exceeds that of men, with 24 per cent of women having at least one tattoo.

The numbers are one thing, but the reasons people choose to get inked and the ways those tattoos can impact their lives are another. Here, three women reveal all about the tattoo that changed them.

“I was able to view my breasts in a positive light”

Reclaiming her sense of self after cancer treatment took nine years and several visits to a tattoo studio for 48-year-old business owner and mother of two, Rachell Loy.

Rachell’s tattoo on her breasts after her mastectomy has changed how she sees her body.

“It’s almost ridiculous how I discovered I had breast cancer really. I was watching an ad featuring a woman in a Renaissance painting and the voiceover talked about how looking for changes in the appearance of your breasts is as important as feeling for lumps. It prompted me to have a look and I found a dimple right away under my nipple.

Rachell’s cleverly placed dragon tattoo changed how she felt about her body after battling breast cancer.

Unbelievably, the first ultrasound and mammogram gave me the all-clear, but I wasn’t convinced and sought a second opinion. It was fortunate that I trusted my gut because I was soon diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. My bilateral mastectomy was immediate, followed by months of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. My children were three and five, so it was a harrowing time for all of us.

Although I had a reconstruction the same day as my mastectomy, how I felt about my body changed overnight. Not only did I hone in on their imperfections whenever I looked at my breasts, I also struggled with this negative thought pattern of ‘these breasts tried to kill me’.

It’s a way of thinking that can really get you down, so I had to find a way to disguise the things I didn’t want to see and celebrate the things I did. Eventually, it occurred to me that a cleverly placed tattoo could be the answer I was looking for.

I’m not averse to tattoos; I got my first one – a daisy, on my torso – when I was 18 with my then-partner, and a second – a tiger cub, on my shoulder – some years later. The artist this time, Mel Schwarz, came highly recommended, which was important to me and once we met I set out my desire for a dragon. It seemed like a strong symbol – very warrior-like, which is how I wanted to feel.

It took six hours in Mel’s chair but the experience was so much more transformative than a simple tattoo. When I look at my breasts now, I’m so happy with what I see; there’s been a radical shift in the way I view my body and so much of it is thanks to this artistic celebration of where I’ve been and where I’m going.”

“It was a constant reminder to stay the course and succeed”

Struggling to write her first novel, bestselling author Sue Williams, now 64, got a tattoo that would ultimately change her career.

“Did the tattoo play a role in my success? It encouraged me to stay the course and write the best book I could possibly write, so I would say absolutely!”

“As a lifelong writer of non-fiction [Williams is the author of 29 books], I was looking for a challenge when I set out to write my first novel. I’d always loved historical fiction, but hadn’t stopped to consider that this is one of the hardest genres to write. The level of research involved is significant, but then, in order not to bore readers, you need to inject a decent amount of fiction into the work and weave it into a gripping story.

Sue Williams lotus flower tattoo is a symbol of resilience.

A non-fiction book normally takes me three to six months to write, but the novel was proving to be impossible. I worked on it for one year, then three more, but even when I took the final manuscript to my publisher I knew it was dreadful.

Once I had my worst fears confirmed – my publisher agreed that it was, indeed, awful – I started thinking about getting my first tattoo, a lotus flower on the inside of my arm. I love the way lotus flowers push their way up through mud; to me, it’s a real symbol of resilience. I had it inked soon after.

I was going to give up on the manuscript and go back to non-fiction, but every look at my arm was a reminder of my failure to write the book. The more I looked at it, the angrier I became at my inability to complete the project – an emotion that propelled me to sit down and get to work.

Anytime I faltered, seeing the tattoo reminded me of my failure and that feeling kept me going. I finished my novel, Elizabeth and Elizabeth, just one year later and not only did my publisher love it this time, it became a bestseller. Did the tattoo play a role in my success? It encouraged me to stay the course and write the best book I could possibly write, so I would say absolutely!

My whole world changed after the release of Elizabeth and Elizabeth; right away, my publisher asked me to write another historical fiction novel, That Bligh Girl, and I’m currently working on a third, titled The Governor, His Wife and His Mistress.

The success of these novels has given me a reputation as a historical writer and now I often travel around the country, appearing at writers festivals and giving lectures to historical societies. There’s such a demand for the untold history of Australian women and I’m thrilled to play a part in bringing their stories to life.”

“The day at the tattoo studio led to our first kiss”

A workplace outing to get tattoos provided the perfect opportunity for Isobel Nelson, a 28-year-old student, to kiss the woman she was in love with. The pair married in 2019.

“Whenever I look at that tattoo I can’t help but think of the role it played in getting us down the aisle.”

“I fell in love with Emily the moment I met her. Well, it’s probably safer to say lust at first sight, but the feeling quickly turned into love. Although I knew Emily liked me too, there was one slight problem getting in our way: she was my manager at the supermarket in which we both worked and a stickler for the rules. Me? Not so much.

The small eagle ray tattoo on the side of Emily’s wrist.

Although we worked 60-hour weeks together, I would drive 25 minutes out of my way to pick Emily up from home in the morning and take her home in the evening. I asked her out constantly, but it was always a firm no. I like to joke that I essentially stalked her for 18 months until she relented.

I’ve always been big on tattoos; I got my first one soon after my 18th birthday. I’d love to tell you it was something profound, but it’s the Deathly Hallows symbol from Harry Potter and I got it, I think, because I was tipsy and happened to be reading the series at that time. A few months later, I got another tattoo, then another. I have quite a few, so you could say I’m a fan of skin art.

I was always hatching plans to find new ways to spend time with Emily and one afternoon a group of us decided to get new tattoos, courtesy of a colleague who’d left the supermarket to start her own tattoo business. I invited Emily to join us.

She got hers done first – some Korean proverb across her wrist that I can never remember – before I got a small eagle ray on the side of my wrist. I remember she was holding my hand to look at it when we suddenly locked eyes. It was such an emotionally charged moment that I can’t remember who leaned in first, but we kissed and everything shifted. The boundaries had disappeared.

Things moved quickly after the day we got our tattoos. Drunk with love, I moved into Emily’s place a month later and proposed five months after that. I felt like I’d waited so long to be with her that I didn’t want to waste another minute. Happily, Emily felt the same. We married in October 2019 and commemorated the event by getting matching tattoos of triskelions, which symbolise infinity and connection.

Would we have married had we not gone to the tattoo studio that day? It’s hard to say, but whenever I look at that tattoo I can’t help but think of the role it played in getting us down the aisle.”

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