excuse my naivety but what is a "tramp stamp"?
Beginning in the late 1990s the lower back tattoo became popular especially among young women. Lower back tattoos are often oblong in shape, following the slope of the back on either side of the woman's spine. The lower back tattoo is body decoration with the intent of emphasizing sexual attractiveness. Generally, a lower back tattoo will be designed to emphasize the shape and curvature of the female figure.
While such tattoos have become increasingly popular and accepted in recent years in many parts of the world especially the west, they remain an object of derision in some quarters. Detractors consider such tattoos in this location as suggestive of promiscuity and an indication of Raunch Culture[1], hence the nickname tramp stamp.
Several attributes of lower back tattoos have made them popular. While the lower back is not the widest area of the human back, it has abundant space for a large design, and horizontal tattoo designs can be worked easily. Another advantage is that the lower back is less likely to stretch and distort due to minor weight fluctuations, thus avoiding the tattoo becoming warped and faded as quickly.
Lower back tattoos are also often displayed in conjunction with halfshirts and bellyshirts (also called crop tops) designed to expose the midriff, and low-rise jeans that are worn low around the hips.
In the past few years, tattoo artists and doctors have questioned the safety of administering epidurals to pregnant women who have lower back tattoos.[2] Such concerns have largely been discredited[3] since there are women with lower back tattoos who have successfully undergone childbirth with epidurals and experienced no side effects.[citation needed]
There is no consensus in the medical community as to the significance of the risk.[4] Most anesthesiologists will give an epidural block to a woman with a lower back tattoo. They will avoid placing the needle through the tattoo in order not to introduce any of the color pigment into the epidural space.
