Lower back tattoo
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Beginning in the early 2000s, this particular type of 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. Worn almost exclusively by women, the lower back tattoo functions as body decoration, while underlining sexual attractiveness. Generally, a lower back design will be shaped to accentuate the shape and curvature of the female figure. The placement of such tattoos on the lower back may be seen by some as more seductive than other common female tattoo locations such as the ankle or shoulderblade. Many others consider tatoos in this location as simply trashy.
There are several attributes of lower back tattoos that 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's shape becoming warped and faded as quickly. In addition, they can easily be concealed under business attire.
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 slung low around the hips.
Slang terms for lower-back tattoos include "ass antlers[1]," "tramp stamp[2]," "slag tag[3]," "California license plate," "Santa Cruz license plate," and "Tijuana License Plate", "Panama City bumper sticker". P-O-T: Pull-Out-Target"
[edit] Medical concerns
Within the past few years, tattoo artists and doctors have questioned the safety of administering epidurals to pregnant women who have lower back tattoos[4]. However, such concerns have largely been discredited[5], since there are countless women with lower back tattoos who have successfully undergone childbirth with epidurals and experienced no side effects. Currently, there is no consensus in the medical community as to the significance of the risk[6]. Most anesthesiologists will give an epidural block to a woman with a lower back tattoo. However, they may try to avoid placing the needle through the tattoo to avoid a small scar that may disfigure the tattoo. If possible, the anesthesiologist will choose nontattooed skin through which to insert the needle.
[edit] Pop culture references
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- In the film Wedding Crashers (2005), the character Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn), upon seeing a lower back tattoo, remarks, "Tattoo on the lower back... might as well be a bullseye."
- Comedian Bill Maher made the following comment about lower back tattoos in his "New Rules" section of the May 13, 2005 episode of his show Real Time with Bill Maher:
- New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to "beef with broccoli." The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.
- Sally Carrera, a character in the 2006 animated film Cars, sports a pin-striped decoration resembling a lower back tattoo, located beneath her tailfin on rear bumper.
- Popular female celebrities such as Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Anna Kournikova, Angelina Jolie, and Anastacia have exposed their lower back tattoos in public. Such tattoos have become the subject of much media attention.
- In Germany, lower back tattoos (especially tribal styles) are known as an "Arschgeweih", meaning ass antlers.
- An episode of Saturday Night Live that first aired May 1, 2004, featured a parody TV commercial for a product called Turlington's Lower Back Tattoo Remover
- During a Late Night with Conan O'Brien episode broadcast on August 29, 2006, O'Brien noted to Donald Trump that seeing a lower back tattoo on a woman drives him "absolutely insane."
- In an episode of How I Met Your Mother, Barney's brother James refers to a woman's tatoo as a 'tramp stamp' in an effort to offend her so that Barney can rush in and 'save her'.
