The tattooing industry has gone from strength to strength thanks to a previously untapped market, with a notable spike in the number of women going under the needle.
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James Cook University senior creativity and innovation lecturer Eduardo de la Fuente said nearly a third of women in their 20s had been tattooed.
Citing a McCrindle Social Forecasting study and National Health and Medical Research Council research, Dr de la Fuente said for the first time, the number of young women getting tattoos outnumbered men.
"The groups that pre-dated tattooing becoming an expression of yourself and also a fashion statement, like bikers, prisoners, people in the military, they all tended to be almost exclusively men," he said.
"Women were very much under-represented in the tattooing department.
"Traditionally it was men, because of the communities and subcultures they belonged to.
"Now it's actually an expression of individuality and a consumer choice and that's freed up women to get tattoos as well."
Tattooist Brooke Seawright, from the Lust for Life studio in Fortitude Valley, said tattoos had quite noticeably become a "trend" among young women.
Ms Seawright said most of her clients were women.
"I think because I'm a female artist they feel more comfortable with me," she said.
"Where they might have decorated themselves with body jewellery, like piercings, now they're going for something that's more permanent.
"It's certainly become a more prominent 'jewellery' in women."
Until relatively recently, Dr de la Fuente said, tattoos were inked to instil a sense of belonging.
"It's no longer about group membership," he said.
"The body has now become an acceptable canvas through which you can make statements about yourself, where before it was only clothing."
But Dr de la Fuente said the use of tattoos as a source of individual expressionism had the potential to backfire.
"There is an argument now that, for example, hipsters want to look different but hipsters are incredibly recognisable," Dr de la Fuente said.
"So there is inevitably some conformity in the attempt not to conform."
While tattoos could be highly personal, Ms Seawright said many designs just followed trends.
"A lot of things I've noticed are more mandala patterns, a lot of dot work design, what we'd call pantheism sort of stuff." she said.
"There's been an increase of pattern works, away from the tribals (that were earlier prevalent)."
