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Abstract
This study examined social and physical perceptions of blonde and brunette women with different degrees of tattooing. Eighty-
four female and 76 male undergraduates rated a series of 16 female line drawings that varied in 2 levels of hair colour and 8 levels of
tattooing. Ratings were made for physical attractiveness and sexual promiscuity, as well as estimates of the number of alcohol units
consumed on a typical night out. Results showed that tattooed women were rated as less physically attractive, more sexually
promiscuous and heavier drinkers than untattooed women, with more negative ratings with increasing number of tattoos. There
were also weak interactions between body art and hair colour, with blonde women in general rated more negatively than brunettes.
Results are discussed in terms of stereotypes about women who have tattoos and the effects of such stereotypes on well-being.
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doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2007.06.005
344 V. Swami, A. Furnham / Body Image 4 (2007) 343352
and young adults in the West have a tattoo (Forbes, stigma, particularly from the older men in their lives
2001; Martin, 1997; Roberts & Ryan, 2002). For (e.g., fathers, or fathers of their friends and associates).
instance, in a random sample of 500 American women More recently, Hawkes, Senn, and Thorn (2004)
and men, Laumann and Derick (2006) found that 24% examined attitudes towards women with tattoos of
of respondents had tattoos and that its distribution was different sizes and visibility using written descriptions.
equally common in both sexes. Nor do there appear to They found that both female and male undergraduates
be many differences in the demographics (e.g., socio- in North American held more negative attitudes towards
economic status, education; Armstrong, Roberts, Owen, women with a visible tattoo, whereas the size of the
& Koch, 2004) or personalities (Forbes, 2001) of those tattoo was a predictor of attitudes only for individuals
who have and do not have tattoos. Moreover, studies who did not have tattoos themselves. Hawkes et al.
have shown that a large number of non-tattooed (2004) discussed their results in terms of negative
adolescents would like to have body art (Armstrong evaluations of women who transgress gendered norms,
& Murphy, 1997, 1998; Benjamins et al., 2006). which was further supported by their finding that
Within the academic literature, a key focus has been participants with conservative gender attitudes evalu-
on motivations and reasons for getting a tattoo ated both tattooed and untattooed stimulus women more
(Wohlrab, Stahl, & Kappeler, 2007). Most studies negatively than those with liberal gender attitudes.
highlight aspects associated with self-expression and Such reports of negative evaluations of women with
uniqueness among those who have tattoos (Armstrong tattoos are important because many young women, at
et al., 2004; Greif et al., 1999). Other reasons may least in the West, now wear tattoos, irrespective of class,
include group membership, perceptions of sexiness, ethnicity or religion (Armstrong, 1991; Brown, Perl-
peer pressure and appreciation of artistic design mutter, & McDermott, 2000; Houghton, Durkin, Parry,
(Armstrong et al., 2004; Millner & Eichold, 2001). Turbett, & Odgers, 1996). Given that negative stereo-
More broadly, there appears to be little association with types are almost always harmful (cf. Crocker, Major, &
the current commitment to tattooing and being a rebel or Steele, 1998; Swim & Stangor, 1998), they may have a
social deviant (Millner & Eichold, 2001; Tiggemann & detrimental effect on the self-esteem of individuals with
Golder, 2006). Indeed, Forbes (2001) made the point tattoos, which may mitigate or overturn any positive
that, as tattooing becomes more widely accepted, it is no effects of feeling unique.
longer possible to maintain a view of body art as a sign In the present study, therefore, we sought to examine
of marginalisation. the effects of having a tattoo on perceptions of womens
Recently, Tiggemann and Golder (2006) have physical attractiveness, sexual fidelity and consumption
discussed tattooing as a means for individuals to of alcohol. To do so, we designed a series of line
achieve distinctiveness in the appearance domain, drawings of the female figure that varied along several
resulting in positive psychological outcomes. That is, dimensions of body art, namely the design, location and
individuals with a need for uniqueness and distinctive number of tattoos. The use of such line drawing offers
appearance investment may be more likely to have an advancement on the methodology used by Hawkes
tattoos, and the resulting perception of uniqueness may et al. (2004), and also allowed us to examine the
serve to improve self-esteem. However, any positive association of tattooing and other physical character-
effect on self-esteem may be mitigated if an individual istics. In the present study, the latter was operationalised
experiences stigma or negative interpersonal interac- as differences in hair colour. Specifically, we compared
tions as a result of possessing body art. differences in perceptions of blonde and brunette
Surprisingly, however, there have been few empirical women with tattoos. The available literature suggests
studies of the stigma associated with tattooing (for that, among Western samples, blondes are often equated
sociological histories of tattooing, see DeMello, 2000; with goodness (Juni & Roth, 1985), whereas dark hair
Rubin, 1988; Wroblewski, 1992). Certainly, the tends to be equated with villainy (Clayson & Maughan,
anecdotal and some empirical evidence would seem 1986). At the same time, however, blondes are also
to suggest that tattoos are no longer associated with perceived as being more untrustworthy, risky and
earlier out-groups or social marginalisation, but this is manipulative (Lawson, 1971), and indeed, daily jargon
not to say that body art has no negative connotations in the West associated blondeness with sociosexual
(Gray, 1994; Rubin, 1988), especially for women openness (Rich & Cash, 1993).
(Braunberger, 2000). In one early study, for instance, Because of the dearth of earlier studies of this nature,
Armstrong (1991) showed that career-oriented women no explicit hypotheses were formed. Nevertheless, the
with tattoos experienced a considerable degree of available evidence led us to believe that women with
V. Swami, A. Furnham / Body Image 4 (2007) 343352 345
tattoos would be rated as being less physically this manner, we also created images with two distinct
attractive, more sexually promiscuous and more likely hair colours (blonde and brunette). A pilot test of these
to consume large amounts of alcohol compared with images with six participants (three female, three male)
untattooed women. That is, women with greater unaffiliated with the study ensured that the addition of
numbers of tattoos would be perceived more negatively colour to the images appeared realistic. These images
than women without tattoos. In addition, given the were, therefore, used as baseline stimuli.
association of blondeness with sociosexuality, we Next we incorporated several body art designs into
expected blonde women with tattoos to be perceived the baseline figures. Consultations with a professional
more negatively than brunettes with tattoos. tattoo artist led us to believe that the most popular
location for women to have a tattoo was on the lower
Method back, but this clearly would not have been suitable for
the present stimuli. We, therefore, used three tattoo
Participants locations that were also deemed popular by the
professional tattoo artist, namely the arm, ankle and
The participants of this study were 160 under- hips. However, this also raised a further complication:
graduates (84 women, 76 men) enrolled in various the same tattoo design would not appear realistic at all
courses at two British universities. The mean age of the three locations. In consultation with the tattoo artist, we
sample was 19.06 years (SD = 3.52, range 1846 years). therefore decided upon a tribal band design for the
Of the total sample, 22 (13.8%) reported having tattoos, arm and ankles, and a butterfly for the hips. Finally, we
with the majority having one tattoo (see Results section created figures with combinations of tattoos at two (arm
for greater detail). The majority of the sample was of and hips, arm and ankle, hips and ankle) or all locations.
European Caucasian descent (73.8%), with smaller The final set of stimuli, therefore, consisted of 16
groups of Asian (25.6%) or Afro-Caribbean (.6%) stimuli that varied in 8 levels of body art and 2 levels of
descent. In terms of religion, the vast majority reported hair colour, which were lettered AP (see Fig. 1).
not having any religious beliefs (68.8%), while others
were Christians (14.4%), Muslims (3.1%), Jews (3.1%) Procedure
or of other faiths (10.7%). The majority of participants
were single (70.0%), just over a quarter were in a relation- Participants were recruited opportunistically by the
ship (28.1%) and the remainder were married (1.9%). authors of the study to take part in a study examining
Participants ethnicity, religion and relationship status perceptions of body art. All participants took part on a
did not have a main effect on any of the ratings, nor an voluntary basis and were not compensated for their
interaction effect with the tattoo or hair colour variables. time. Testing was conducted in several group settings
(one setting with roughly 100 participants, and two
Stimuli further groups with roughly 30 participants each). Each
high-resolution image was projected onto a large white-
The stimuli were modified versions of the line screen in a randomised order for 1 min. Participants
drawings originally developed and used by Furnham, were instructed to remain quiet throughout the test
Swami, and Shah (2006). The original stimuli consisted procedure and were asked not to share their answers
of 36 line drawings of the female figure, varying in 6 with each other. Participants were presented with a brief
levels of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), 3 levels of body two-page questionnaire that requested them to provide
weight and 2 levels of breast size. For the present study, ratings for each image according to its label and finally
we initially selected a single figure (.7 WHR, average to provide their demographic details.
body weight, small breast size) from which all Traditionally, studies of physical attractiveness have
subsequent stimuli were created using Microsoft Paint, been concerned with related ratings such as health and
a simple graphics designs programme. Only figures of reproductive status. Given the wealth of data in relation to
women were used because no comparable stimulus set such variables, we asked participants in the present study
for men was available. to provide non-traditional ratings of the stimuli. We
To begin with, we modified the original drawing so initially compiled a list of 11 variables that were relevant
that the figure now wore a two-piece, rather than a full- to this study (physical attractiveness, health, sexual
costume, bathing suit. Using the Brush and Palette promiscuity, socio-economic class, social standing,
options in Microsoft Paint, we then added colour to give masculine behaviours, alcohol consumption, marriage
the image a pale-skinned (Caucasian) complexion. In potential, friendliness, reproductive potential), before
346 V. Swami, A. Furnham / Body Image 4 (2007) 343352
Fig. 1. Diminutive examples of the stimuli used in this study (modified from Furnham et al., 2006).
V. Swami, A. Furnham / Body Image 4 (2007) 343352 347
selecting the three that would most likely be of interest in 30 min to complete, and all participants were debriefed
the present case. following the experiment.
The final questionnaire requested that participants
make their ratings according to two variables, namely Results
physical attractiveness, i.e. how physically attractive
you think the woman is and sexual promiscuity, i.e. Prevalence of tattooing
how likely you think the woman behaves in a
promiscuous manner (e.g., has multiple partners, Of the 160 participants in this study, 22 (13.8%)
engages in casual sex). Participants made these ratings reported having tattoos. Although this sample should
on a 9-point Likert scale (1 = not at all physically not be considered representative of British under-
attractive/sexually promiscuous, 9 = very physically graduates in terms of sampling, it is nevertheless in line
attractive/sexually promiscuous). Participants were with previous prevalence reports (Forbes, 2001;
encouraged to use the entire scale range when making Laumann & Derick, 2006; Martin, 1997; Roberts &
these ratings. In addition, participants were asked to Ryan, 2002). Moreover, there was a fairly equal sex
estimate the number of alcohol units they believed the distribution in terms of these 22 participants (women
woman depicted consumed on a typical night out. The 40.9%, men 59.1%). Of these tattooed participants, the
questionnaire explained that one unit of alcohol majority (72.7%) had one tattoo, 13.6% had two tattoos,
equalled a half pint of regular beer, a small glass of 9.1% had three tattoos and one participant (4.5%) had
wine or a pub measure of spirits. six tattoos. Of the total sample, 71.3% indicated that
Participants also provided their demographic details they would consider having a tattoo in the future, which
(sex, age, ethnicity, religion and relationship status). is again consistent with previous reports (Armstrong &
Finally, participants were asked on a binomial scale Murphy, 1997, 1998; Benjamins et al., 2006). Partici-
(yes/no) whether they had any tattoos (and if so, how pants response on both binomial questions (whether
many) and if they would consider having any tattoos in they had any tattoos and whether they would consider
the future. The entire test procedure took approximately having tattoos done in the future) did not have a main
Table 1
ANOVA results with main effects of Hair colour, Tattoo and their interactions for physical attractiveness, sexual promiscuity and number of alcohol
units consumed
Source Trait df F Effect size (h2p )
effect on any of the ratings, nor an interaction effect terms of hair colour, participants found the brunette
with the tattoo or hair colour variables. figures significantly more attractive than the blonde
figures. For tattoos, it can be seen from Fig. 2(a) that
Ratings analysis ratings of physical attractiveness decreased system-
atically with increasing number of tattoos, and that the
For all ratings, a 2 (Hair colour) 8 (Tattoo) 2 butterfly design was generally preferred over the ankle
(Participant sex) repeated measures analysis of variance and arm bands. Post hoc tests of the interaction between
(ANOVA) with 160 participants was computed, with Hair colour and Tattoo showed that there were
Hair colour and Tattoo treated as within subjects factors significant differences between brunettes and blondes
and Participant sex as a between-subjects factor. The for all tattoo conditions except arm and ankle bands,
GreenhouseGeisser correction was applied to results where brunettes and blondes were not rated signifi-
involving Tattoo and the Hair colour Tattoo interac- cantly different from each other (see Fig. 2(b)).
tion, as the Mauchlys Test of Sphericity was shown to Participant sex only had a significant effect on the
be significant for these variables. A summary of the Hair colour Tattoo interaction, although the effect
ANOVA results and the main effects of Hair colour, size was very small (h2p :02).
Tattoo and their interactions are shown in Table 1. For ratings of sexual promiscuity, there were again
For ratings of physical attractiveness, the ANOVA significant main effects of Hair colour (h2p :17) and
revealed significant main effects of Hair colour Tattoo (h2p :19), as well as a significant Hair
(h2p :32) and Tattoo (h2p :31), as well as a colour Tattoo interaction (h2p :02). For hair colour,
significant interaction between the two, although the blonde figures were rated as significantly more sexually
effect size of the latter was very weak (h2p :03). In promiscuous than brunette figures. In terms of tattoos,
In conclusion, the present findings suggest that there Furnham, A., Swami, V., & Shah, K. (2006). Female body correlates
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