Women With Tattoos Usually Share This Beautiful Personality Trait, Says Science

Tattoos are a form of self-expression and art. It makes sense then that a study found that women with tattoos have higher self-esteem than their peers because they essentially blaze their own path when it comes to beauty standards and how they are perceived.

A few years ago, a friend of mine moved back to California after living in New York for many years. The most shocking thing wasn't her much more assertive personality; it was that she had gone from having one tattoo to someone who had inked almost her entire body.

She had a three-color dragon tattoo that curled down from her left shoulder blade to the center of her back, vintage pin-ups on each arm, and gardens of exotic flowers on her legs. She was a breathing canvas for art, and it took me a while to remember that she was still my friend, the woman with whom I shared my secrets.

I accepted the new version of my friend. And now, I find multiple tattoos striking and spectacular. 

A study found that women with multiple tattoos have higher self-esteem than those with fewer than four, or none.

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Tattoos have become much more fashionable in the last few decades. Even so, societal perceptions about women with tattoos and men with tattoos still seem to vary. That's all the more reason the 2015 study linking women with multiple tattoos with higher self-esteem is so significant.

A 2018 survey found that women are more likely to feel judged by their tattoos than men, and as a result, they are more likely to cover them up. It's the women who don't feel judged or don't care that they are judged for their tattoos that are truly benefiting from them, and they are also the ones who continue to get inked.

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The study also found that women with multiple tattoos were more likely to have a history of suicide attempts.

On its face, that statistic sounds bad, but in the context of the study, it actually explains a lot. The research concluded that women with multiple tattoos did not become more depressed or more suicidal as their portfolio of tattoos grew.

Lead researcher Jerome Koch explained, "I think women, especially, are more aware of their bodies through, among other things, fat shaming, the cosmetics and plastic surgery industry, and hyper-sexualized imagery in media." He added, "What we may be seeing is women translating that awareness into empowerment. We know women sometimes replace a surgically removed breast, for example, with elegant body art. We wonder if more tattoos might be a way of reclaiming a sense of self in the wake of an emotional loss — evidenced by a suicide attempt."

That paints the picture very differently. Getting tattooed becomes an act of self-care for many women, and that is how it connects to self-esteem.

RELATED: Woman Gets Blacked-Out Neck Tattoo & Says She's Having An 'Identity Crisis' After Not Liking How It Turned Out

Turning pain into art through tattoos is an act of empowerment.

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It's empowering to turn something that pains you or that you feel is ugly (like a scar) into art, and even if you're not someone with tattoos, they are indeed an art form. Some people use tattoos as a way of remembering a death, either of a relationship or a loved one, as tattoos can be a map of a person's emotional life. They're a coping mechanism. They're something that gives them strength.

Psychology professor Kirby Farrell, Ph.D., explained, "As a symbol and a behavior, the tattoo has power. The quest to be better than ordinary is an appetite for more life, more good feelings about yourself, and more responses from others."

If having multiple tattoos makes someone (like my friend) feel as if they've got their power back and gives them more self-confidence and self-love, then tattoos are more than art... they're a survival skill.