Reconstructions of ancient Egyptian tattoos found on the mummified bodies of women.Original image source unknown.
Originally, these mummies were thought to have been concubines or lower-standing women, slaves or harems to the Pharaohs and royalty they were buried near. However, further study and re-evaluation of what these tattoos meant points towards them acting as talismans to protect mothers during birth. Their discovery during the Victorian era led to the more sexist, puritanical attitudes of the time being projected onto them, with archaeologists dismissing them as dancers, prostitutes or concubines due to the apparent eroticism of the placement of said tattoos around the thighs and vagina.
But attempts to recontextualise the meaning or purpose of these tattoos, combined with our furthered understanding of Egyptian mysticism and symbology (particularly of the god Bes, who was also found tattooed on certain women), what may be a closer picture of what these tattoos meant to the people with them can be drawn; they were not erotic or purely hedonistic, but maternal and reproductive. While still inherently sexual, how you interpret what “sexual” meant in times and cultures since past is best informed by those same people you study. To understand how an ancient culture thought is to think like that ancient culture.
Further reading on Egyptian and other ancient tattoo traditions.