Tramp Stamps Are on the Rise As Women Reclaim the Term (2024)

With the recent resurrection of the fashion trends we adored in the 1990s and early 2000s, such as low-rise jeans and skinny scarves, it's not surprising that tattoos that were once considered provocative have made a resurgence as well, Tramp stamps, or lower-back tattoos as Charli XCX lovingly refers to them in her song "Guess," have become one of the latest upcycled trends to date. Often featuring organic shapes that compliment the body, tramp stamps featured butterflies, stars, and tribal-inspired shapes back in the day.

However, the day many critics feared has dawned: Tramp stamps are back, baby!

While tramp stamps were seemingly brought into the cultural zeitgeist only recently, lower-back tattoos can be traced back to the women of Ancient Egypt. According to a report published by the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology in 2022, researchers found mummies tattooed with symbols associated with Bes, the god of fertility, on their lower backs, which were presumed to protect them during childbirth. Similarly, an essay titled "Tattooing Among the Arabs of Iraq" by Winifred Smeaton highlights the practice of tattooing dots on the small of the back for fertility until about 1937.

By the 1980s, the beginning of the tramp stamp craze as we know it began.

To understand why body art with cultural significance would be reduced to a tramp stamp, we must first consider the cultural and historical context in which these tattoos rose in prominence. In the midst of increasing gender tensions, Anita Hill's Supreme Court testimony, and the rise of the girl-power movement, women began making bids to exercise bodily autonomy, which echoes the increase in popularity of lower-back tattoos amongst women. As a result of this trend in the late 1980s and '90s, critics started slinging the not-so-endearing phrase as a means of shaming the wearer for their presumed promiscuity.

However, it wasn't until a 2004 Saturday Night Live skit for "Turlington's Lower Back Tattoo Remover" and the 2005 movie Wedding Crashers equated a woman's tattoo to a bullseye that these tattoos were widely labeled trampy. By then, celebrities like Drew Barrymore, Angelina Jolie, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera were already toting the latest tattoo trend and inspiring the next generation to come.

The once liberating and feminine tramp stamp began to invite a slew of derogatory comments, even pushing some celebrities like Eva Longoria and Khloé Kardashian to remove their tattoos throughout the 2010s. After years of a decline in requests for tramp stamps, Gen Z's interest in all things Y2K has inspired a new generation to boldly sport a lower back tattoo, regardless of potential criticism; for them, it's a form of personal protest. Following the #MeToo movement and the overturning of Roe v. Wade, permanent displays of autonomy coincidentally rose again, akin to the trends of decades past.

The Comeback

Twenty-four-year-old Lauren Dominguez has spent the past two years cultivating a full-back piece with her tattoo artist and close friend Chris Caliburat Ocho Placas Tattoo Co. In the center, Dominguez wears a fine line, black and gray Cerberus, the mythological guard dog of the Underworld, adorned with two medieval flails, a heart vial, and swords. Eventually, the duo chose to add a tribal frame featuring heavy blackwork and precision that spreads across the top of her back and culminates in a "tramp stamp" at the base of her spine.

"I feel that nostalgia is such an intense emotion we feel, and keeping these things we loved from the early 2000s alive is so important," Dominguez tells New Times. "Tribal is so back. To me, it never left, but I'm glad it's being loved and appreciated by our generation in this day and age. I also feel specifically that the tramp-stamp comeback has a lot to do with our generation of young women who are more independent, more confident, and realize they don't owe anyone shit. We do what we want to our bodies. The tramp stamp used to be known as a sign to know if a woman is promiscuous, but now it's simply ink on skin, and if someone thinks otherwise, they need to get with the program."

Aside from simply repopularizing a previously taboo tattoo trend, women are proudly reclaiming the term tramp stamp as well. In using it as a means of describing their own tattoos, they successfully depreciate the value of the phrase as an insult. And for some, the act of reclamation is feminine in itself.

For 22-year-old Tatiana Valdes Rios, the tattoo allows her to define her femininity in her own words. From the dainty, fine line script for the Latin phrase amas veritas — meaning "true love" in Latin — to the fact that it is a matching tattoo with her best friend, it holds great feminine associations for Valdes Rios.

"It's a matching tattoo with my cousin, and it's the song from Practical Magic. I've always watched that movie and thought of the feminine power that comes from that movie and just how beautiful womanhood is. And I think the placement kind of plays into that," Valdes Rios explains. "For me personally, I've always struggled with where I felt comfortable in my femininity. I feel like a lot of feminine energy that is placed onto girls at a young age is not necessarily the way that they want to show it."

A New Spin

Although Gen Z has provided new context for tramp stamps, much of their designs pay homage to the more traditional stylings of lower-back tattoos from the early aughts: tribal patterns, butterflies, and other distinctly early 2000s iconography often accompany such a placement. With specialties in blackwork, cybersigilism, American traditional, and more, tattoo artist Luka Sanicat Broken Webs Tattoo in Fort Lauderdale receives many requests for tramp stamps — and doesn't see the demand decreasing anytime soon.

"I love seeing the resurgence because it takes a lot of the same styles but applies the new modern techniques and modern equipment, and it gives it a lot cleaner look, but still keeps the authenticity of the 2000s," Sanic shares. "Even with the blackwork, I do a lot of tramp stamps in that style, specifically, and I love doing them. I definitely think those kinds of placements will really work with that because you're able to show it off, it accentuates your body, and it contours it in a cool way."

Much of these traditional but modern tramp stamp stylings feature neo-tribal or more organic gothic shapes over tribal, the use of black and gray over color, and the use of fine lines over bold linework. Those who seek a simpler and softer design tend to opt for script, bows, and other feminine imagery. While 24-year-old Marla Gonzalez hasn't committed quite yet, her plans for a tramp stamp in the near future can be attributed to the strong female influences in her family, of which her aunt proudly wears a traditional tramp stamp.

"I think the seed was planted from her because I'm not a classic 2000s tramp stamp girl, but I really like the idea of it, so I just had to find my own way to express that," Gonzalez says. "The balance of something that would be explicitly sexy, mixed with something a little bit daintier and softer, feels more personal to me."

Despite the lengthy interconnectedness of femininity and autonomy with tramp stamps, anyone, regardless of their identity, can sport one. In fact, some of Sanic's male clients have commissioned a reverse tramp stamp — or a tattoo on the lower abdomen. Using designs evocative of tribal tattoos and other masculine Y2K imagery, the location provides ample space like the lower back would and allows the artist to make a piece unique to the client's body.

"Something I have done a lot more on masculine-like bodies is the reverse tramp stamp," Sanic adds. "That is something that is definitely more like up their alley is having that v-line, or the stomach area, or the lower stomach-hips area and kind of accentuating that in a more masculine way with the black work, the same way that I do it femininely with the tramp stamps."

While this tramp stamp offshoot isn't as popular as the original quite yet, there is still plenty of time. Until then, tramp stamps served as the quintessential tattoo of confidence and femininity aimed to cater to the wearer. Whatever intentions they wish to have for their body art is up to them, and it is their right to decide that. Regardless of whether their popularity ebbs and flows, the wow factor will certainly live on.