Betty began her love affair with tattoos when she was 14 years old. Within a handful of years she had a full bodysuit and a job with the Ringling Brothers Circus. She travelled the world with various sideshows and occasionally tattooed people herself.
This is a woman to whom I am eternally grateful. She was beautiful, talented, and of course way ballsy. In a move of total badassery and an effort to challenge the traditional idea of beauty, Betty entered a beauty contest during a World Fair in the 1930s. In a time when tattoos were reserved almost exclusively for sailors and vagabonds, she was undeniable beautiful. Although she didn't win the pageant, she played a major role in paving the way for future tattooed ladies to be seen for living art pieces they are.
In the 1930s, and still today for the most part, tattooing was a boys' club. Betty was one of very few women to initially enter that world, and it all paid off when she was the first person, not just woman, to be inducted into the Tattoo Hall of Fame in 1981, sixteen years after her retirement and two years before her death.When asked about her countless hours under the needle, Ms. Broadbent is quoted as saying “It hurt something awful, but it was was worth it.”
it sure was (source)
No comments:
Post a Comment