I have also been toying with the idea of the star tattoo to celebrate how much I love being a queer woman and to claim our history on my body. I think a femme spiral on my other wrist might be the perfect combination.

Thank you, Essin' Em!

Anyway, that is my femme spiral, wholly inspired by reading Essin' Em's original blog post about it. I had been hankering for a tattoo for a while, since my first and only tattoo up until that point was self-inflicted and not something I wanted to advertise, and that post was the catalyst that I needed to design something truly meaningful.

In case you can't tell, the tattoo is of a hurricane, specifically Hurricane Andrew that hit my home only six weeks after my brother was born. So it's a combination femme spiral, homage to my brother, and commemoration of my ties to Florida.

because to me, my femme identity is liberation. i like the spiral but would rather incorporate it into jewelry rather than a tattoo.

I'm planning my next tattoos, one of which will be the word femme, perhaps on my inner arm below my elbow and a small women's sign on my right wrist. So many possibilities.

Enjoy this partical pic from my artist's portifolio. She was featured on BME.

I am so excited to go visit her in Austin this fall. I have an amazing idea for my next 'queer' tattoo that I might get when I see her! I can't wait.

my friend [who is butch] wants to get "Daddy's Boi" in the old tattoo style block letters in an arc above her belly. i think that's fun.

I don't dislike tats on other people, but I have never been the kind of person who wears signs. I never put a bumper sticker on my car or wore a shirt with a political message either, but that's just who I am.

I'd be happy to tell you what I feel and think about any topic and I'm open about who I am, but only if you ask me. I don't tell my life story to people who don't want to hear it.

My Femme tattoo on my upper back has always been there; just not visible until now. Ever since I became intimate with my first girlfriend when I was 15, 17 + years ago, I knew that my Life had just begun. [Yet, I've always known that I was gay, since I was very little when I peered up at the gorgeous thighs of a drag queen on roller skates in PTown. I knew then, I had somewhere to find my people.]

I have dated all sorts of women and tansmen since I feel in love that first time so long ago. Yet, I always searched and found the most masculine-looking woman in the room. I always found strength in heels, fishnets, corsets, skirts, and dresses. I have been asked to leave gay bars because they thought I was straight, and I have been excluded from straight priviliges once I was found out to be gay.

I have been invisible unless I was with my butch or with my butch friends. I refuse to shave my head and wear masculine-looking clothes to fit in. I now have this tattoo, so that my tribe that appreciates me can find me and know that I am safe.

When asked what it means by straight people, I explain to them what it means to me, despite how uncomfortable it makes them feel. I look them in the eye; I make them see me. I make them acknowledge that women like me exist.

I have been called a wolf in sheep's clothing. Well, consider this my brand. Consider it a warning, and to those of you who have earned it, consider it an invitation.