Kate von D, the tattoo artist and businesswoman, made an appearance on the TLC show LA Ink this week, got a new tattoo and posted a photo of it online. Sounds pretty on brand, right? But the art – which blacks out most of her left arm and covers up previous tattoos – is invoking a vociferous reaction.

The backlash could be summed up with the headline “People Give Unsolicited Advice To Woman Who Changes Her Appearance”. In 2019, there is a special brand of hatred reserved for women who push boundaries with their appearance.

Von D received comments such as: “Why would you do that your skin is so pretty why would you cover it up with black ink like that?” and “When you put art out there, you risk getting negative comments” (this is akin to another kind of advice which I like to call “Why You Are Asking For It Even Though You Never Asked”).

Von D responded to the hate-mail – which included insightful comments such as “it’s ugly” and “you’re stupid” – on Tuesday. She expressed her confusion over why her tattoo inspired such a strong reaction, considering that tattoos are personal and vary widely in their meaning and execution. She further clarified that a lot of the ink she had covered up in black had been badly done at a time when when she was young and drunk – she has now been 12 years sober.

“Even though tattoos are an outward expression, they really aren’t for anyone else other than the person wearing it … Yes, I did decide to black out a large portion of old, crappy tattoos on my arm … Regardless of what people might think about it, I absolutely LOVE how simple and clean it looks now.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Von D before she covered in arm with black ink. Photograph: Theo Wargo/WireImage

I can see why some might have find Von D’s tattoo shocking. At first it scared me – which says a lot more about my pain threshold than her taste in body art. But it would be remiss to forget that body modification has always incited intense reaction – from flesh-tunnels to bad tattoos – perhaps because it makes us think about our own fears of not fitting in.

When I was younger, I used to have this very conversation with my dad all the time. He is socially conservative, religious and was born in Asia. He has a general fear of “westerners” and their “traditions’” – particularly piercings. He called it self-mutilation and used to spend hours berating those who chose to have them. But it confused me: I had my ears pierced when I was a baby, and I had a nose ring by the time I was 12. Both of those things were normal to my Dad, since they were commonly done in his home country. He didn’t put them in the same camp as septum piercings and stretched ears – but weren’t they all the same thing?



Why are we fine with tattoos, unless it’s a blackout one? Is it really different from having a sleeve tattoo?

Because surely the best example of someone feeling completely free and happy in their body is them using it whichever way they want to. Any woman hoping to cut her hair short, wear no makeup, or start lifting weights may as well go all the way and grow a third hand to give the finger to the Men With Opinions while she gets on with her day.