Axios Finish Line

October 18, 2024
Welcome back! Smart Brevity™ count: 320 words … 1½ mins. Copy edited by Amy Stern.
1 big thing: Tattoo milestone
For American women, tattoos are becoming powerful symbols of resilience, identity and joy.
- Stat du jour: Tattooing was once a male-dominated practice. Today, 38% of U.S. women have at least one tattoo, compared with 27% of men, The Washington Post reports, citing the Pew Research Center.
- The majority of women between the ages of 18 and 29 (56%) and the ages of 30 and 49 (53%) are tattooed.
Why it matters: Tattoos are joining the ranks of other beauty practices — like fashion, hairstyling and makeup — that many women use to express their individuality.
✒️ Zoom in: One study of women who got tattooed after struggling with infertility or dealing with miscarriages found that the art provided catharsis and a sense of control over their bodies.
- One woman chose to get a phoenix feather to mark "rising again" after a painful experience. Another woman honored lost pregnancies with a heart, and symbolized her bond with her adopted child with a jigsaw piece.
- Many who undergo surgery also get tattoos. "Women will tattoo the site of a mastectomy scar, sometimes with flowers and trees — things that represent life and renewal," Cheri Van Hoover, retired adjunct professor of midwifery and women's health at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, told The Washington Post.
Go deeper: Axios CEO Jim VandeHei wrote this year about getting his first tattoo and called it "wearing your heart on your body."
- In response, Finish Line readers across the country told us the stories behind their tattoos. Read them.
📬 If you didn't get a chance to share your tattoo tale, send a couple of sentences, along with your name and hometown, to [email protected]. Feel free to include a photo!
🍁 Parting shot!

A maple tree shows its fall colors in New Gloucester, Maine, on Tuesday.
- Happiest weekend from Finish Line!
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