Got into a discussion with R, and I found it interesting enough to bring up, even though it’ll likely get me into trouble.
I have no tattoos. I don’t disapprove of them; I simply don’t care to get one. I have found nothing that I’d like to permanently decorate myself with.
I have found that most people I know who have tattoos got them on a whim—that is, they wanted one because tattoos are cool (currently) and may have wanted one for a long time; but as far as picking out what they would be decorated with… well, they went to the tattoo parlor, picked the most interesting thing there, and now it’s permanently etched into their skin.
Now, this doesn’t strike me as being very wise. If you’re gonna get a tattoo, it’s a committment, dammit. You’re gonna wear this thing forever; or you’re gonna get it removed with painful laser surgery, which to my mind isn’t a reasonable option. So you’d better be bloody sure you want the thing. And of the people I know with tattoos, roughly a third of the people in their thirties and older are planning to get their tattoos removed. The rest are okay with them… or so they say. I get the feeling most would rather redo that particular youthful decision.
R wants to be rid of her tattoo. She has a lower back tattoo, which she got about two years ago, in her pre-Christian days. She has discovered that, after getting it, it attracted a lot of creepy guys. Lots of guys think a lower back tattoo means you’re “easy.” First I heard of it was in the movie Along Came Polly, but since most of the girls I know are Christians, I’m pretty sure that’s not why they got tattooed there. (I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, anyway.) R got tattooed there because she wanted a tattoo that she could show off. Now that she’s discovered it attracts losers, she doesn’t want it anymore. (Apparently my advice to “stop showing midriff” isn’t an option. Popular women’s fashions make that difficult.)
Again, it strikes me as unwise to get a tattoo without considering its societal impact. Yes, other people’s prejudices and assumptions are immature, but the fact is that other people’s immaturity have an impact on our lives. If it comes down to racism, sexism, ageism, or other such prejudices, I can morally justify fighting it out; if it comes down to tattoos, I really can’t put them in the same category. Like it or not, body art will often get in the way of a job or position, and I don’t expect this to change for at least ten years. If not longer.
Okay, have at it. Tell me how I’m wrong and old-fashioned, how your “tats” are an expression of freedom and prove you’re way cool, and how R shouldn’t be made to feel bad about herself (which I quite agree with).