Monday 4 July 2011

We may have ink, but we're still beautiful

I briefly mentioned this in passing on Sunday about work colleagues having issues with tattoos. Sometimes I think they forget I have ink - we have uniforms and mine are on my back so they are always (sadly in my view) covered up. Although in the right light you can see them through the material. And I'm possibly not the stereotypical girl that looks like she might have tattoos. 

But back to the tale ... One lady had been at a wedding the weekend before, I wasn't playing much attention until I heard her comments of "she had tattoos all over her back, you could see them all with that dress, it was awful". I'm probably over thinking it but being a girl who's inked and has a wedding dress that shows her tattoos I was slightly offended. I've often heard of girls wanting to cover up their tattoos when they get married with creams and so on - its like they regret having them or they are too concerned about what everyone else thinks of their ink.

I know these comments shouldn't bother me, but they do.

Time and time again I always wonder what is so wrong about people having tattoos? I agree they can be offensive if the show or have offence meanings, or the extreme sides of tattooing to the mass could be off putting. But for the rest, the sleeves, the hands, the feet, the backs? They aren't hurting anyone, they are merely self expressions. I stumbled over an article on the Daily Mail website about a lady who was refused a cleaning job in a supermarket because she had a tattoo on her hand (think Cheryl Cole in style). I'm not really sure how a small tattoo like that effects the manor in which she could work.

If I could i'd love to get tattoos on my arms, at least on the inside of my forearms, maybe even at the top but I feel I can't because of how society still judges tattoos. I need to get on the career ladder and do something with my degrees but I have no idea how tattoos and research and careers are all viewed. Maybe its different in America, maybe they are more open minded?

Sometimes having a rant about it gets it all out of the system.
All images from weheartit

15 comments:

  1. I can't even tell you how much I agree!! I'm not saying all tattoos are wonderful but why do some people insist on taking such exception to them? Surely what a person does to their own body is their choice?! I have two tiny tattoos - one on the inside of my forearm and one on the inside of my left wrist, both discreet and mean something to me. When choosing where to place them I was definitely conscious that I wanted the choice of being able to cover them up if I chose and I think part of that is caring too much about what other people think/worrying that it would be getting a job difficult.

    I can't stand people who judge on looks alone be it because of weight, piercings, tattoos, not being fashionable etc. It seems ridiculous to try categorise anybody due to their tattoos

    Ultimately I'd love to be my own boss, at that point I'll probably feel safe to get something bold!!

    Jem xXx

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  2. I would love to get a tattoo in a couple of years time, but from September I will be training to be a beauty consultant and tattoo's aren't allowed. I'm hoping once I get over the training stage they will become less strict! xxx

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  3. I would be wary of tattoos because of interviews and stuff, but I think it only matters to people of a much older generation.

    I highly doubt your tattoo will take away from your wedding dress. What is it of?

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  4. @ Jem - totally well said, sometimes I think guys get a way with it easier if they have tattoos in obvious places yet its still seen as rather unfeminine for a girl to have one at all. Yet alone a visible one! I think i'll have to work from home lol

    @ Megan - it's a shame they feel like they have to be banned, I bet a lot of people are turned off by the traning if they already have some ink.

    @ Sinead - One my my tattoos is a dragonfly with some flowers underneath on my left shoulder and the second is a larger stonework celtic design in the middle top part of my back. I want to get a couple of love birds on my right shoulder. http://twenty-something-sherbet.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-ink.html - that's a link to the ones I have already.

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  5. I think tattoo are gorgeous and I'd love one. When I see tattoos the only judging I do is whether or not I like them, not making judgements about the person!

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  6. People should really mind their own business! Who gives them the right to judge others? Everybody should be able to express themselves the way they want to and not how society tells them to! Be who you are and don't care about others! xxx

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  7. @ binia - which more people were like you, I think through having a tattoo I appreciate and love seeing other peoples ink, they all have stories and meanings and I love hearing about them. I guess when your viewing it from the outside and have no connection to tattoos or people who have them, then perhaps its harder to understand why people have them.

    @ Chrissy - Sadly I still think people still get caught up in that media image of how people should be and look, even though celebrities have the odd little tattoo - its the larger ink that still causes the looks. Sadly.

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  8. I love tattoos, and would love one if it wasn't for my total indecisiveness. Am always jealous of people who have gorgeous ones, but know I would never be happy with one for too long. It's like wearing perfume I would probably get sick of it fast.

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  9. This all comes down to personal choice and you likely should be offended. If the bride's tattoo offended the co-worker, then likely would the hair-do, the shape of her eyes, the cut of the dress...some people spend too much energy talking bad about others instead of looking inward at who they are I think. I am a college professor and have watched the tattoo revolution here in Midwest of America. These young people are discriminated against on many levels. They are good people with art on their bods. What is wrong with that? At the same time, I have to remind myself that I live in the Bible Belt...a place where churches have hundreds and often thousands of members. There is a church on every block matched only by the adult bookstores and strip clubs. It is a strange world we live in and judgement seems to be coming at us from every direction. Sorry - got on my soapbox. Love your blog. ~Kelly

    unDeniably Domestic

    The Heart in Hand Project

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  10. This post was so incredibly thought provoking and so true!! What business is a tattoo to someone else and you were so correct to say that a tattoo doesn't affect the manner in which you work. :)

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  11. I don't have any tatoos and never will, but I can appreciate them on others. :) Som people have problems realizing that other people don't have the same taste as they do. It doesn't have to be tatoos, it can be just about anything. It's a lack of something, I suppose- fantasy perhaps.

    There's a lot of things I don't like and of course I see people that dress in ways that I would never dream of dressing or that I find just plain ugly, but I would never even consider saying that I can't understand why they dress they way they do. Their choice and not my business, really, even if I may not like it.

    But some people really thinks that they have the right to dictate other people's choices. Worst for them, really, that they can't appreciate differences.

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  12. I'm not a tattoo kind of girl, but somethimes it can be really beautiful!

    Don't listen to those people!

    http://sweetharvestmoon.blogspot.com

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  13. It's really interesting and refreshing to read everyone elses thoughts and views on the matter of girls and tattoos. I do think people sometimes try and find faults, when your at weddings you'll always hear someone bitching about the brides dress and so on. So I guess commenting about tattoos is just another add on to that matter.

    I guess I just appreciate and respect peoples wishes to perhaps look and be a little different from the norm. x

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  14. I love tattoos and i think my fellow rockabilly chicks rocking sleeves are beautiful. I have one on my shoulder and was booked in to have a bigger design but the tattoo artist let me down :o(
    On the subject of weddings however my tattoo was covered (not by make-up but by my shawl!) It just happened that my 1940s themed wedding attire covered it. I really wouldnt care if it was on show however.

    I have a lot of heavily tattood friends and they have found that a lot of attitudes have changed since tv progs etc making tattoos more mainstream.

    Great post, Scarlett x

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  15. I agree some of them sleeves can be truely gorgeous pieces of art Scarlett. How i'd love a sleeve myself. I think it's because in my every day to day life I don't have many people that I come across with ink, there's a few of us at work but that's in. And to everyone else they are things people wouldn't consider doing so I guess to them we're a little against the norm!

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