The Feminink all-female tattoo shop at 3o6 Front St. in downtown Belleville. Photo by Julia Lennips, QNet News
By Julia Lennips [1]
BELLEVILLE – A new tattoo shop opened in downtown Belleville this year, and its staff is all women.
Owner Faye, who won’t provide her last name, says Feminink is trying to provide a more comfortable environment and experience for people who come in for a tattoo.
Another Belleville tattoo parlour closed last year after its owner was charged with several counts [2] of sexual assault, committing an indecent act and other charges.
Faye tattooing a client in the shop. Photo by Julia Lennips, QNet News
Faye learned to tattoo from the owner of the now-closed operation, and says she saw customers feeling uncomfortable.
“Nobody wants to … sit there and feel like they’re being treated like a piece of meat … It’s not a comfortable feeling for anybody.”
Faye, 27, says opening the parlour is something she has wanted to do for a while.
“I was pretty content working for other people for a long time. I didn’t really expect to open my own place at this age or stage in my life, but it kind of came out of necessity. I didn’t want my reputation to be attached to other artists.”
She was the only female tattoo artist at her previous job, which had its challenges, she said.
Feminink specializes in various styles of artwork. Photo by Julia Lennips, QNet News
“It’s nice to not have to worry about sexual harassment in the workplace and stuff like that. I had experienced that from previous bosses … they expect things out of a woman. Being the only girl in a shop most of the time I was expected to do all the cleaning and stuff, and … I had one of my old bosses tell me I have to shave my arms because it’s sexier, and that I didn’t dress sexy enough and things like that.”
She thinks women will appreciate a shop where the staff is all-female, she said.
“A mother is going to feel more comfortable bringing her six-year-old daughter to get her ears pierced here, because … a woman’s doing it … There’s no uncomfortable creepy situations going on.”
Camille Monsegue, a second-year child and youth care student at Loyalist College who is a customer of Feminink, says, “They’re able to empower female tattoo artists who may not have a chance” because of owners who won’t hire women and customers who don’t want women doing their tattoos – “people who may say, ‘I don’t know if she’s good enough, because she’s a girl.’ ”
The tattoo that Camille Monsegue giot at Femninink. Photo by Julia Lennips, QNet News
Feminink is “really standing out by saying, ‘I’m just as good,’ ” Monsegue said.
She got her first tattoo there.
“I went there to got the word ‘Valiant,’ which is one of my favourite words in the world. It means ‘to show courage and determination,’ and I hope that people will see that in me one day – and in themselves,” she explained.