Tramp Stamp
Cidu Bill on Jul 23rd 2008
Okay, so Snow White has a tattoo above her butt, commonly referred to as a “tramp stamp.” What’s the joke, though, as opposed to a similar tattoo being seen above the butt of, say, Cinderella, Dorothy Gale or Hillary Clinton?
Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, Pop Culture Shock Therapy, Snow White, comic strips, comics, humor, tattoos, tramp stamp | 26 responses so far
David N Jul 23rd 2008 at 01:06 am 1
Oh, the irony … Snow White, O she of such purity, like the Driven Snow perhaps, has of all things, a Tramp Stamp. It’s like discovering that Mother Teresa kept a little black book.
(And I think if anything the other Clinton wears the tramp stamp in the family. It would certainly be funnier that way.)
John DiFool Jul 23rd 2008 at 01:15 am 2
Hmm so a cute tattoo like that is an automatic indication that we are dealing with a “loose woman”? Can’t the female of the species get something like that without people jumping to conclusions? Or is it just “one of those expressions”?
solarrhino Jul 23rd 2008 at 02:11 am 3
Of course not, John. Just because it’s painful, expensive, seedy, and permanent, it doesn’t mean anything more than, say, a pierced tongue or an appearance on a Girls Gone Wild tape.
Rough Jul 23rd 2008 at 02:15 am 4
John DiFool
1. Not necessarily, but that’s what those damn things are basically saying. (Cute?!)
2. Nope. It’s an advertisement for exactly that if it’s seen in public.
3. I hope not. I hate those things and ‘tramp stamp’ seems fitting.
I’m probably just old fashioned, but I think the mind set that seems so prevalent in today’s younger generation to so nonchalantly, permanently mark up their bodies says a lot about their lack of capacity for respect. And if you can’t respect yourself then you can’t respect others.
Dang, listen to me. You’d think I were 80 years old.
solarrhino Jul 23rd 2008 at 02:34 am 5
Bill,
It took me a minute, but I think I can answer your question. Snow White’s um… respectability is more important than the others you list if only because she lived with 7 men. Dorothy does travel with 3 males for a while, but she’s only a kid, the trip only lasts a little while, and two of the males - Tin Man and Scarecrow - are (presumably) male in name only. If Cinderella did have a tramp stamp, I’d probably blame it on her poverty; and who cares what’s on Hillary Clinton’s body? Unless she actually has “666″ tattooed somewhere, I wouldn’t read past the headline.
PG Jul 23rd 2008 at 05:56 am 6
Maybe it is not a tatoo, but just part of the skirt? It certainly looks so, and the motive is very “snow-white-esque”
CMC Jul 23rd 2008 at 07:48 am 7
I agree with PG! That’s how I saw it also, as part of her skirt.
Dale Skinner Jul 23rd 2008 at 07:50 am 8
Evidently, Snow White wasn’t “giving it up” to the dwarfs although living with them. Now one of them notice a tramp stamp and is thinking about nightly orgies and this discussion moves to the Arlo page. Also, isn’t the dwarf noticing the stamp drawn to resemble Grumpy? He’s not grumpy now.
Dale Skinner Jul 23rd 2008 at 07:57 am 9
Looking again, that’s probably Happy. Of course, he’s much happier now.
Carl Jul 23rd 2008 at 08:12 am 10
In the Brothers Grimm version, Snow White is also 7 years old. This seems to be the Disney version, though.
Count Shrimpula Jul 23rd 2008 at 09:05 am 11
Ah, Rough, you’re going to make me quote my friend again, huh? Ok.
“You know, I hear this so often that I wonder if people actually believe this, or it’s just something people say when they’re frustrated. Were there really halcyon days where kids could be trusted to make reasoned decisions, or is it just a variation on ‘kids these days’ that’s been going on since Sumerian youths didn’t appreciate the Epic of Gilgamesh like they used to, the little shits.”
Hunt Jul 23rd 2008 at 09:29 am 12
I just have to note that the Tin Man is an actual man who has a prosthetic body.
John Jul 23rd 2008 at 10:17 am 13
The dwarf on the left is probably Sneezy, who is the most generic of the dwarfs. The one on the right, of course, is Doc.
It isn’t clear to me whether this is an actual tramp stamp, or it’s just a design on the skirt that the dwarfs are jokingly referring to as a tramp stamp. I assume the former, as that would be funnier.
I agree with Rough on the signification of tramp stamps. Tattoos in general strike me as a questionable choice.
Nicole Jul 23rd 2008 at 10:33 am 14
The ‘joke’ is that because she has a tattoo on the small of her back, the dwarf is assuming that is a sign they are all going to get some action. An EWWWWWWW for me.
Rough
“In olden days a glimpse of stocking
Was looked on as something shocking,
But now, Heaven knows, Anything Goes.” — Cole Porter
Fashion morals over time change — that is a fact of life. Just because a woman shows the small of her back with or without a tattoo does not make her a tramp, what it does make her is fashionable … for now.
BTW — My father had two tattoos that he got in WWII as did MANY men at that time. These tattoos were very visible whenever he wore a short sleeve shirt. Did those men commit the same disregard of their bodies that today’s youth are accused of ?
Mark in Boston Jul 23rd 2008 at 11:15 am 15
Some owners of valuable dogs have the dogs tattooed with their pedigree number. Ironically, the Tramp from “Lady and the Tramp” probably has no tattoo because has no pedigree. On the other hand, if he gave Lady a hickey, I’d call that a Tramp Stamp.
Cedar Jul 23rd 2008 at 11:49 am 16
I dislike those lower back tattoos–I find them cliche and, more often that not, poorly done and poorly thought out. But I HATE the phrase “tramp stamp.” How does the presense of a tattoo make someone a whore? Until recently, I only heard frat boy types using the phrase, but suddenly it seems to have entered the mainsteam. Making blanket “she’s a slut” statements about women with decorative/meaningful tattoos is indicates more about the lack of class of the speaker than it does about the slut.
And, yes–I think the joke of this strip is that someone as “pure” as Snow White would do something as slutty and tasteless as get a tattoo on her lower back.
Ray Brady Jul 23rd 2008 at 12:35 pm 17
Nicole, you didn’t specify what kind of tattoos your father got, but the fact that he got them without question indicates that there is something he valued beyond his own body. A man that gets “USMC” tattooed on his arm is showing a desire to be part of something greater than himself. A man that gets a random graphic design is showing a desire to be trendy and fashionable.
Trish Jul 23rd 2008 at 12:42 pm 18
I think a back tattoo like that is less trampy than the current practice of wearing thong underwear with a special design on it so that the underwear rises up and out of the jeans on purpose.
Although, at least the panties thing is not permanent.
Nicole Jul 23rd 2008 at 01:14 pm 19
Ray — my father’s tattoos were of black panthers scratching the skin leaving blood trails.
But you bring up a good point about belonging. Getting a tattoo regardless of gender of the tattoo wearer or what or where the tattoo is, marks you as part of a tribe. Even if that tribe is just “those who get tattoos”.
Cedar Jul 23rd 2008 at 01:35 pm 20
How can you, an observer, tell if a tattoo is meaningful, or just a random symbol?
Judge Mental Jul 23rd 2008 at 02:48 pm 21
IMHO, I think some of you are taking the term “tramp stamp” a little too literally (and too seriously). I don’t infer that a woman with a “tramp stamp” is a woman of loose morals any more than I assume a man wearing a “wife beater” is a spouse abuser, even though I might use the respective colloquial expressions. I have even heard rather conservative women use “tramp stamp” in regards to their own tattoos, even though they would bristle at the notion of actually being called a tramp.
Johnny B. Jul 23rd 2008 at 04:16 pm 22
What’s not to get here?
The hottie Snow White, 7 lonely men, a inviting “tramp stamp”, a belly shirt/low dress, and she’s making (or possibly re-making?) the bed.
The one dwarf finally see’s the green light to pursue…
Johnny B. Jul 23rd 2008 at 04:19 pm 23
Hey Cedar - how about using the term “target” vs. “tramp stamp”?
(ask your boyfriend what that means…)
Cedar Jul 23rd 2008 at 04:35 pm 24
Johnny B–Believe me, I know what “target” refers to; I graduated from college within the past ten years and I watch movies.
An Austrailian friend of mine calls them “Arse Antlers,” which I find much funnier.
Vernie Jul 23rd 2008 at 06:57 pm 25
Doc and the 8th dwarf, Letchey.
Somehow, he didn’t make it into the Disney cut.
Mark in Boston Jul 24th 2008 at 11:31 am 26
Schmuck, Crappy, Sleazy, Slimy, Creepy, A**hole and Horny.