I love henna - the sweet, eucalyptus smell of the paste, the feel of the paste as it slowly crumbles away, the beautiful, sienna stain left behind on the skin. Since I've yet to actually get a real tattoo (since I've only recently made up my mind on what I want to get, and that was purely by accident) henna is a great alternative - it looks great, it's painless and if I decide I don't like it, it'll fade away over a few weeks.
This time, though, I got something I really really like and would love to have permanently done - a nautical star (yes, yes - the sea again, I know). So, curious as to the meaning of the tattoo (though I had a pretty good inclination as to what it meant), I web surfed this morning to learn more. I did not receive the result I was expecting.
Yes, it was a sailor's tattoo, used as a symbol for safe-passage home and good luck so a sailor would never be lost at sea. Apparently over the last century or so, it's acquired a few different meanings. According to several websites, it's become a symbol for the gay and lesbian community, especially lesbians. In the 1950s, lesbians would get it tattooed on their inner arm or writs (some part of their arm; it changed depending on the site) which they would hide during the day then reveal during night to "express who they truly were" (I do ask the people who say that the tattoo was on the wrist, how exactly did they hide that? I feel like the wrist is the most visible area on the body, unless you're living in the Victorian era or before. But for the 50s? I don't know... Curse web forums and their lack of sources!) Of course then I found a million people flipping out about, "Does having a nautical star mean you're gay?" to which people were like, "No, it doesn't mean that at all, that's not what the symbol really means." Actually, the best answer to the question (meaning the worst) was "The tattoo only means you're gay if it's on your lower back." Um, yeah, who decided that exactly? (ten bucks it was the guy who wrote that response).
Tattoos are like a cultural studies student's dream come true - they combine so much culture into one little patch of inked skin, making something essentially so simple incredibly complex. Some people apparently were worried that the nautical star means you're racist, though when I tried to figure out why, all I got was that the nautical star is an ANTI-racist symbol, a symbol in support of homosexuality and a common tattoo of punk rockers (I don't know why, but I sure like to find out). I feel like Dan Brown's Robert Langdon, trying to decode all of this information and figuring out where it came from - which would take much longer than one short Sunday morning, thus I haven't gotten much. Except for noticing how much straight people worry that they're totally going to be hit on by homosexuals if they get this tattoo. Why is this such a pervasive fear for people of my orientation? I mean, really, people - you embarrass me. If your tattoo is supportive of a homosexual lifestyle, well, then, hey - you just became a really potent ally. Good for you. Of course, I'm optimistic enough to believe that people wouldn't assume a tattoo that has so many meanings would instantly assume that it means something about me without asking or knowing. Unfortunately these people on the internet make me doubt that. But I like the history of the tattoo - if it really was used by lesbians in the 1950s, THAT'S FUCKING AWESOME. It makes me want to get it all the more. But would that be offensive to some in the homosexual community? Am I stealing a symbol of theirs? Am I disinheriting something they have legit claim to? Am I infected by the "liberal bug?" Well, I can answer the last one - Hells yes. Damn it.
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