![]() But I want to make room for myself and other folks that can also be hard, assertive, and powerful. It’s usually associated with words like ‘soft,’ ‘fragile,’ and ‘submissive.’ And that can be true. But they’re sharp, deadly, and powerful.” J went on to recount how her tattoo redefined the terms and boundaries of her particular embodiment of femmeness: “I’m proud to say I’ve become someone that honors the exploration and expansion of what it means to be non-binary and high fem. When I asked my dear friend J Cagandahan, who identifies as a Filipinx non-binary femme, about this particular aspect of tattooing, she elaborated on her beautiful back adornment, a mace with heart-shaped spiked chain links, stating that “it’s cute hearts, soft and sweet at a first glance. ![]() We demand to be seen as vessels of creative energy, and this is no small revolutionary feat. ![]() Symbolically, it counters whatever projections our social systems might want to impose. It is in this way a powerful form of communication, a language with which to make ourselves known in a social context that refuses to see us. In its visual aspect, a tattoo confronts social expectations and scripts by insisting on being seen. This gesture in itself already affirms us, grounding us to our capacity for creative agency, reminding us of our strength and grace even through challenging experiences. We choose deliberately to undergo this threshold of pain and discomfort knowing that we are bringing our vision into fruition. While sitting for a tattoo, we enter a meditative state we must breathe through with strength. Though tattooing is undoubtedly an individual act and decision, it is no less meaningful as a form of reclamation and resignification in a communal way: its ritual aspect reconnects us powerfully to our senses and our skin. It is this very same flesh that serves as the stage, a battleground, even, with which to fight back. Tattoo by Ace Vicenzo SibilaPhoto courtesy of Ace Vicenzo Sibila ![]() Language, law, and expectation crowd into the flesh like insidious intrusions that attempt to convince us that we possess no autonomy. And in day to day life, we are often confronted by others––from friends and family to lovers and strangers we interact with––who impose their projections about our embodied expression on us, what we do not “read” as. In what follows, I showcase the voices of talented practitioners and empowered clients who’ve adorned their bodies in order to give an account of tattooing as a gender-affirming art.Īs queer, trans, and nonbinary individuals, our relationship to bodily agency is complicated: at a concrete level, our skin is at the mercy of legislation and policy surrounding a medical and social system set out to determine what is and isn’t appropriate for an individual to decide. While not commonly considered a form of gender affirmation within the realm of gender-affirming medical care available to trans and nonbinary individuals, tattooing affirms us differently by allowing us material and creative agency over our skin. And while we might have a sense of the historical significance of tattooing within cultural, countercultural, and spiritual contexts, it might not be immediately obvious how this ancient art of bodily adornment overlaps with gender-expansive and affirming practices. The beautiful and endless arrays of gender and embodiment are equally so. Tattooing is a body modification practice as ancient as our first forms of collective social life. ![]() Rolón’s three-headed dog tattoo, by Aurora at Tres Leches (Photo: Pedro J. ![]()
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