Why Do Women Dig Tattoos?

I'm baffled by the appeal of tattoos, and I think it must be a generational thing.  When I was going to college, a few people were getting tats, but nothing at all like today.  I've seen women on dating sites specifically mention that they'd prefer a guy with tattoos.   Why?  Because it shows they're a rebel bad-boy?  Seeing that pretty much everyone of a certain age now has at least a few tattoos, doesn't this discount the whole rebel thing?   Isn't getting a tattoo these days more a sign of being a conformist than a rebel?  I can totally understand why a man would get a tattoo - if women like it, men will do it.  But why do women dig it?  Scientific American has one theory.

The im­pulse to get inked may be a risk-taking behavior inherited from ancestors who were strong enough to endure injuries and survive—as opposed to those whose ancestors survived by avoiding risk and injury. Therefore, at least in men, body art could serve as an “honest” signal of fitness in the Darwinian sense. So maybe that’s why pierced, tattooed rock stars do so well with the ladies.

On the reverse side (women with tattoos), I have mixed feelings.  I find the female form so beautiful on its own, that putting a tattoo on it almost seems like a desecration, like graffiti on a Michaelangelo painting.   And yet, just last night, I saw a woman sitting at the bar wearing low cut jeans and showing the tattoo on her lower back, and I have to say it was pretty sexy.  So there you go.