Faithful? Not if you are tattooed: study

People with tattoos are more likely to indulge in extramarital affairs.

That's according to a study by Victoria Milan, a dating website for people looking for an affair.

Alper Akyuz, Victoria Milan's marketing director, said the information was taken from the profile information of its 3 million users, 85,000 of whom are South Africans.

"This is information submitted by people on their profile page. We asked them: 'Do you have a tattoo?' and they answered with (1) yes, (2) secret one and (3) no."

Victoria Milan founder and CEO Sigurd Vedal said the results revealed a sexy new side to the world of body art.

"Tattoos are a sign of personality, creativity and rebellion.

"Now we know they are a sign that the person probably has a great sex life," he said.

The study's data was obtained from active Victoria Milan members in countries including South Africa, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Belgium, France, Spain, Greece, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the Netherlands, UK, Germany, Switzerland and Ireland.

The study shows that Scandinavian women were most likely to have tattoos, with Denmark (42%), Finland (41%) and Sweden (40%) the top three countries.

Romy van Tonder, founding organiser of the SA International Tattoo Convention, dismissed the survey.

"Trying to categorise people based on that decision is narrow- minded and insulting to women like myself who have tattoos.

"It does not mean we are adulterous. We are more confident in not going with the norm and that doesn't mean that our morals are messed up.

"People get tattoos for personal reasons or some to decorate themselves.

"The tattoo industry welcomes people from different backgrounds and with different tastes, but to categorise people to sensationalise things is something we don't agree with. A lot of us are very family- oriented," Van Tonder said.