While sifting through some recent photos of Anna Kournikova at a charity event yesterday, I happened upon this photo:

Kournikova over the past decade is one of the most photographed women in the world, but I don’t recall ever seeing that monster tramp stamp. Turns out I was a little late to the party - her body art has been all over the web for some time now.

Remembering that Kournikova posed for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED Swimsuit Issue in 2004, I went back to see if her ink had been Danica’d. (SI infamously airbrushed out Danica Patrick’s tramp stamp in some of her SI Swimsuit Issue photos.)

And thankfully, the 60-somethings running the show at SI didn’t let us down.

Kournikova got the tattoo done in 2003. This photo is from her 2004 appearance in the SI Swimsuit Issue.

So the tattoo was indeed photoshopped out of the shot.

It also appears that SI wasn’t the only outlet that blanched over her body ink. There are numerous post-2004 modeling shots of her from behind that don’t include the tattoo.

(MAXIM axed the body art too?!)

So why edits? The oldsters running various publications still can’t get used to the idea that tattoos are now commonplace, and that it won’t harm readership, or ad revenue.

When those dinosaur media members were growing up, tattoos were taboo. Reserved for counter-culture hippies and military from the underclass. Now, as you and I know, everything has changed. Celebrities like Angelina Jolie have embraced body art, which means that a generation of young women are following her lead like drones.

The great irony in SI photoshopping out the tattoos of Danica and Anna K. is that the same swimsuit issues annually feature body paint - not to mention an entire magazine devoted to the subject sold on newsstands.

Nonsensical you say? Welcome to my world.