I haven't gotten my ribcage tats done yet, and I hear that it hurts more than other places, but I have had my underarm, elbow, and wrists tattooed, and it doesn't hurt that much. Stubbing your toe hurts more than a tattoo, the burning sensation of a pulled muscle hurts quite a bit more than a tattoo. I think there are a lot of pains we experience that are worse than the feeling of a tattoo, only the pain in tattooing, since it is voluntary, gets built up as being so bad simply because it would've been avoidable. This is only my opinion, but I think that when pain is more or less unavoidable we accept it and ignore it, while when we have a choice to avoid pain that may, in all actuality, be less painful than many other things, we psychologically make it worse because it could be avoided. Bottom line, to me, is that tattoos hurt a little, but that is part of the experience and it certainly doesn't hurt enough to stop me from going for more.