moonsofavalon:

skimcasual:

Most Americans are surprised when I tell them tattoo parlors are illegal in Korea, and that tattoos have an unfavorable public opinion on both men and women (though that’s slowly changing with the younger generation because many of our celebrities are Korean Americans who have tattoos). But they also don’t know that tattoos were given out as punishments to Korean slaves during the Imperial Japanese occupation, particularly for women, so… I guess I am trying to understand where they’re coming from and how they think tattoos are a kind of personal expression or a type of feminism… but also I know in my head that there are many women who never got married nor had the kids they wanted; and basically hid for the rest of their lives because they were force-ably tattooed, and this issue is so traumatizing that all that is passed on from my grandmother’s generation to my mom’s generation to my generation is that tattoos are off-limits without the whole history as to why they’re off-limits. Because none of us want to be reminded of this part of Korean Woman history.

the story in that link is very explicit and dark. trigger warnings for rape, brutality, forced cannibalism, and medical abuse

an important read, but consider yourselves warned