Attitudes to women’s tattoos in Hong Kong see a generational change
In conservative Hong Kong, more young women have embraced tattoos. What do their mums think of that? Some disapprove, others get inked too
Retiree Kong So has quite a strong opinion of her daughter’s tattoos.
“She would always say they’re pretty, but I disagree. I think large tattoos look too masculine and I don’t know why she likes this kind of stuff,” she says, referring to the image of a large snake that crawls up the 26-year-old’s upper left arm.
“I said no when she asked me before getting her first tattoo, but I knew that she was an adult and no matter how much I tried to stop it from happening, she may not listen to me. All I could do was to tell her not to do it and that I didn’t think tattoos look good.”
Daughter Laven Wong Yuk-wan has a different take on the art form. A co-founder of a ceramics studio, which she now runs, her first ink was a small, sensible lettering tattoo on her collarbone that she got before she graduated from university.
She says at the time she “just wanted to try something new”, but now she does not see it as her first “real” tattoo as she often forgets that it is there.
Her first “proper” tattoo, which required much more design skill and tattooing technique, is the serpent that she got at age 23.
