Isobel Varley

Thank you so much for letting us interview you!  Dead Chicks Are Cool promotes women who don’t conform to society’s standards of beauty along with the idea that ALL women are beautiful no matter their size, shape, color, body modifications, or ways of life.  You are an inspiration to us and all of our fans!

I was reading your story on your website and one of my favorite things you said was that you liked being different.  Have you found that you have always been different, even as a child?

As a child I suppose I was to some extent I was different in respect that although I played with girls I was keen to play with the boys as they did some interesting things.

One of the things I love is reading all of the interviews you have done in the past and seeing how open you are to talking about anything and everything.  Women who have found their voice and make themselves heard can inspire other women to do the same.  What one topic is the most fun for you to talk about?

It was many years before I took the initiative and had a tattoo on 14th August 1986 and from this I think it's the one thing that I love to talk about. One thing I  would stress to women in general is that they should do what they want to do in life and their body is their own so don't be limited by what society thinks you should do. 

Your erotic tattoos came as a surprise to me and I absolutely love them!  Do you have a favorite?  What is the story behind the mice and the cocks on the back of your head?

My favorite erotic tattoo is that of two monkeys on the calf of my right leg. Regarding my head tattoos, I must first say that when I had this done I merely asked the tattooist to do something different. So when after about an hour of tattooing the rear of my head I asked him what he was doing and he came straight out and said he was doing a lot of cocks. Well, I didn't believe him, so he showed me with a mirror and I was initially really shocked and I cursed him but within minutes after seeing the large area he had covered I thought this had best  be the theme for the whole head and so I gave him the go ahead to complete the job which took several sessions. However, I must admit I love the resulting tattoos.

  As well  as your tattoos you also have a number of piercings.  How many in total?  

Even before I had tattoos I had several piercings in the lower part of my ears but early on in my tattoo experience I heard that it was possible to get body piercings which I saw as complimentary to tattooing. So in 1989 I began to get more piercings, starting with two nasal piercing, then my nipples and then genital piercings and by end of 1991 I had multiple genital and ear piercings and today I have 40 piercings.

I’m sure you get all kinds of reactions when you are out in public.  Do you have a favorite story about an interaction with a stranger in regards to your appearance?  Have you ever had any negative interactions or are people generally accepting of you?

Of course some people look very hard at my tattoos but that doesn't bother me and in general people compliment me on them and frequently ask questions. One funny incident comes to mind which occurred whilst on holiday in Spain. Each evening I used to meet up with a couple of ladies and discuss what we had been doing during the day and after a week of doing this one of the ladies accidentally brushed against my bare upper arm and she was so surprised that what she thought was a pretty blouse was in fact my tattooed skin. She thought it was lovely and asked all sorts of question about my tattoos. 

Your bald head is beautiful!  I have shaved my head and found it a totally liberating experience.  When did you first shave your head and do you keep it bald now and wear a wig from time to time or do you grow your hair out and then reshave it?

I first had my head shaved by a professional hairdresser in 2006 in the presence of my tattooist and contrary to what I thought it would look like, it actually looked great . Within minutes of it being shaved my tattooist got to work with the tattooing. At first I shaved it regularly but I generally wore a wig. However, in more recent times due to laziness I don't shave it as often as I should.

Do you have any advice for the women and girls on our site that are struggling to fit in?

My advice to women who struggle to fit in is have confidence in the way you prefer to be but be careful not to offend people. 

Interview by Sarah Skeen