“Tattoo the Women, but Not the Men”: Female Tattooing in Tonga

Whether the tattooing of women was practiced in Tonga before the general ban on tattooing in 1839 is debated among both researchers and the contemporary tattooist community. This research note explores oral histories, written sources, and pictorial materials to paint a balanced picture of the history of female tattooing in Tonga and possibly break gender binaries.