The Tattoo Experience Clients Are Actually Looking For And why so many find it with femme, queer, and female tattoo artists

By the time someone comes into Cherry Bomb, they’ve often already tried another shop that made them feel smaller than they walked in. Although the reasons vary, the result was the same. Their experience wasn’t centered (or even on the map). So they turn to Google to look for female artists, femme and queer owned studios, basically anywhere that feels like it won’t repeat the same story.

What I think they’re looking for is simple and goes beyond gender; they just want a place where their body won’t be treated like an inconvenience, someone else’s project, or a curiosity to be commented on. And the number of people who associate that safety with queer, femme, and female tattoo artists and studios keeps growing.

It’s not because we’re nicer (some are) and not because our tattoos are softer (they aren’t). It’s because so many of us have also lived in bodies people assume they can criticize, leer at, correct, or handle however they want and when you’ve had that experience, you tend to tattoo differently.

Some things that are essential to me at this point in my career are:

• You ask before you touch.

• You listen when people share pronouns.

• Breaks are never a problem.

• You don’t need to act tough to do good work.

• You don’t comment on anyone’s body.

• You make room for nerves.

• You know people carry histories you can’t see.

A surprising number of people come into my store braced for impact and I get it, because too often we share a similar lived experience. I work with women who were flirted with during appointments, queer and trans clients who were misgendered the entire time, trauma survivors who still flinch when someone reaches toward their ribs, and I relate to all of them.

When clients say they’re looking for a queer tattooer, a femme tattooer, or a female tattoo artist, they’re really reaching for someone who understands that history without needing the whole story. They’re choosing the artists who statistically feel safer. This isn’t about stereotypes, it’s about what certain life paths teach you.

“I didn’t have to pretend I wasn’t in pain.”

That doesn’t come from softness, it comes from structure.

It comes from a studio built around the idea that care and craft aren’t mutually exclusive.

People tell me all the time they’ve been trying to find a shop in New York for months. And the ironic part? This isn’t about tattoo aesthetics at all.

Femme artists aren’t only doing micro tattoos or fine line florals and queer tattooers aren’t boxed into a single style either. We’re all doing heavy blackwork, traditional flash, realism, full back pieces, geometric sleeves; every style is represented.

What people are actually searching for is the way the tattoo happens, not the style of the tattoo itself. They’re looking for a place where their body won’t be handled casually, their pronouns won’t be questioned, their pain won’t be joked about.

It’s an entirely safe experience from start to end, not just the tattoo, that people associate with us and frankly, they aren’t wrong. Those of us who’ve had our boundaries tested in other parts of life tend to build spaces where boundaries are honored automatically.

And for the record, more femme tattooers doesn’t mean fewer of anyone else, it just means more people finding a place where they belong.

What that looks like in practice is more women feeling like they can actually relax in a tattoo chair, more queer and trans clients walking into a shop without mentally preparing for harm, and more first timers having a good enough experience that they actually want another tattoo.

And this is good for our industry as a whole.

Its great that more studios of every style and vibe are realizing that care, consent, and communication aren’t special, they’re just some of the basics that make up good tattooing.

People aren’t seeking us because it’s trendy. At the end of the day, they’re seeking us because it feels good to sit in the chair without pretending to be someone tougher, quieter, or smaller than they are.