Someone commented in a thread I was reading this morning that as a woman it is that much harder to become a tattoo artist, let alone get ahead in a male dominated industry.

I call bullshit. As woman, are we limiting ourselves in so called male dominated industries by expecting it to be harder? It’s a chicken/egg question. Is it harder because we’re women, or as women, do we expect it to be harder, therefore it is?

I know so many women who prefer a female doctor (of any kind), a female piercer, a female almost anything over male in any job where being bigger or stronger isn’t a given for better (if I was hiring a mover, I’d go for a large man over an average sized female, but I’d take a muscular female over a small male… so even this isn’t a “given”). Why not a female tattoo artist? Why is it harder for a woman to get footing, or ahead, in this industry? Makes zero sense to me.

I don’t expect to have a hard time. I had a year of suffering (mostly silently) to get where I am, but from what I read, most people looking to apprentice will whine, moan, pester, whine some more, pester some more, be the shop bitch for six or nine months before they even work on themselves, let alone another person… yah, I put in my year, it just happened to not include bitchwork in the shop.

Let’s move beyond that. Being a male doesn’t inherently make a better artist, better tattooist, better… hell, I can’t think of anything that a penis or more upper body strength would make you better at as a tattoo artist. Someone care to enlighten me? I can see being a female artist putting me in a better position with other females, the kind who want a female doctor or who aren’t comfortable with males. Yes, I know that isn’t a huge demographic, but I think it’s great for any shop to be able to offer both a male and female artist and piercer. I think it opens up the clientel.

For all my ranting, I’ve only met two or three female tattoo artists in my life. One I met when I was 16, and one I met just a few  years ago. The rest, all men.

I still don’t see what the big deal is. Maybe because I am not anticipating problems, I wont have any.