Finding the perfect design for your new tattoo can actually be a pretty difficult thing to do; after all, you’re getting a permanent image drawn onto your body to last you a lifetime. And, in the process of finding the perfect design, you come across the ‘spider web’.

Now, at first, this seems to be a harmless tattoo design depicting a spider web, nothing more or less. So, you assume it’s something related to, well, Spiderman. Although in some cases that might be what the tattoo depicts, it is often far from that symbolism. Spider web tattoos generally carry tons of meaning, both positive and negative.

But, truth to be told, the design is generally associated with negative meaning and references. So, what does the spider web tattoo mean? In the following paragraphs, we’ll discuss the meaning of the tattoo, as well as take a look at some tattoo examples. Therefore, let’s get started!

The Meaning Behind the Spider Web Tattoo

Let’s be honest; one of the most frequent tattoo designs people get while in prison is the spider web. That is why the design is not only associated with incarceration, but also with gangs, violence, murder, racism, and other negative things. But, spider web tattoos can also have a positive meaning, which is why we want to tackle both sides and explain both the negative and the positive.

Imprisonment / Incarceration

For decades, the spider web tattoo was one of the main indicators that someone has spent a long time in prison. Even nowadays the tattoo is associated with imprisonment. It is believed that prisoners started getting their spider web tattoos as early as the 1970s, although the symbolism was around prior to the seventies.

Quickly, the design became so popular among criminals that, alongside the ‘teardrop‘ design, it became the most demanded tattoo to get in the prison, or upon one’s release from the prison to ‘commemorate’ the time of being locked behind bars. So, we would say that the spider web tattoo, in this case, simply symbolizes one’s time spent in prison; it doesn’t have to be a direct indication of the severity of one’s crimes.