If you are going to put some specific marking on your body, every single day, before you go out into the world, how different is that from having the same marking applied permanently? The first is not only fine, it's strongly recommended by those in the Mormon hierarchy (for women, only, of course --- one of their main jobs in the Mormon scheme of things is to be decorative :) )
From the *very* little that I've read, it seems that tattooed make-up has to be redone every several years. So how is that morally different from drawing the marks on every day?
And, given that part of their daily work is to make themselves attractive for Mormon men, if it is okay for Mormon women to have makeup tattooed on, how is a tattoo that is not a makeup replacement somehow qualitatively evil? At what point does a small tattoo become shocking, rather than an enhancement?
Would the difference, by any chance, have to do with how old, mentally rigid, hyper-controlling men see the issue?
It's funny, how shallow Mormon logic seems, every time I stop and think about it....
I don't think you can blame this one on the patriarchy. Mormon women got themselves into the position of needing to be told what they can and cannot do largely by listening to other Mormon women. These are by definition uninformed because an informed woman won't be Mormon for very long.
adornments are frowned upon in the bible and I was taught in YW's that strictly speaking, good mormon women do not wear loads of war paint (cosmetics) nor dye their hair. Funny how things change to suit fashions.