Do you frown upon tattoos?

by confusedandalone 81 Replies latest social physical

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  LivingTheDream

  I don't wear the same style of clothes or hair style now as I did years ago. I don't like the same music either. I don't like the same cars. My tastes change. It's not a "maturity" issue either, it's just change.

  That said, I personally shudder at the thought of marking my body permanently for a whim I have today. It's just too high a chance that I'll change my feelings about it later and won't be able to undo it. So tatoos have always been out of the question for me.

  On other people however... well, it depends on the person and the tatoo. But I don't have to live with it so I don't give it much thought nor care all that much either way.
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  valkyrie

  I often see the reference to "old, wrinkly skin" as a reason against the permanence of tattoos; this is an odd barrier to raise, I think.

  Old, wrinkly skin will always look like old, wrinkly skin... with or without the addition of color (faded or distinct). There is no disguising it. No undoing it.

  Besides, how many older people has anyone seen baring large areas of traditionally intimate body parts (decorated, or otherwise)? A tattoo acquired for personal reasons will likely remain in personal safekeeping - especially once the wrinkly years arrive.
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  adamah

  A recent Pew Research survey found 40% of millenials (18 to 29) have at least one tattoo, and 33% of people aged 30 to 45 have at least one tattoo, so it's becoming normative, even a rite of passage; some think we've reached "peak tattoo", since it used to be counter-culture but has gone mainstream (and hence not so cool):

  http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/08/16/why-this-red-hot-tattoo-boom-is-bound-to-end-with-regret-again/

  Here's an interesting article in NY Times on how tattoos are seen from the human resources managers point of view:

  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/fashion/tattoos-peek-out-at-offices-but-only-at-some.html?_r=0

  I don't have a tattoo (some of my friends do), since maybe I'm not visually-creative enough, but I can't think of any iconic image or symbol that I'm going to want to have on my body forever...
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  ShirleyW

  That guy with all the tats on his face, I wonder how he will feel about all that ink when he "matures", when he reaches his 40's, 50's and so on.

  I worked with a woman in her mid 30's who had tatts on her legs, done when she was a teen, but when you work in the financial area, she realizes that the ink wasn't the best thing to do, she wears white opaque stockings year round, inlcuding summer which every woman knows is exactly hell on earth in the summertime if you wear stockings ask any Uber pioneer sister, but she will probably be in denial about that, like she is regarding the religion she's trying to get all that time in for.
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  budbayview

  To me it falls into the same category of most overt authoritative ideologies. It we were created to all look the same, then we would all look the same, but we do not. Does God really care if we have long hair or a beard or a tat, or if we loved our neighbor and helped our fellow man?

  We have all been socialized into “the norms”, but in actually it is all discriminating. At the end of the day, what we look like, dress like, and how we groom ourselves, has nothing to do with matters of real importance. As a matter of fact the removal of facial hair in America was popularized by aging men whose gray beards gave away their age. So in our vein society, they started shaving to look younger. It has nothing to do with anything else. That said, our survival (in this crazy word) depends on our ability to recognize and adapt to the situation. If you live in a conservative town, then dress and groom and cover the tats. If you live in a less conservative town be yourself then.

  Personally, I have no issue with tats. Additionally, If tatt’s are taboo, just curious about branding then? Because a big branding event occurred in the Old Testament, it was called circumcision….
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  Finkelstein

  Look Grandpa has Tattoos.

  Don't they look good on him ?

  This what a lot people are going to look like in their elderly years.

  Including Rock Stars

  
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  GLTirebiter

  Enjoy how a new tattoo looks, because that's as good as it ever will be. Aging, streching skin will take away the image's sharpness; sun and time will change the colors; fashions will make the artwork passe.

  And never, ever tattoo a girlfriend's or boyfriend's name on yourself--tattoo artists know those are good for repeat business, to undo the branding when that "soul-mate forever" becomes your Ex!
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  LisaRose

  Although I appreciate the artistry in some tattoos, it's not something I would ever do. It is just not attractive to me.

  I met a woman once who got a tattoo at fifty. Her son was horrified, but she told him "Its practical, when I die, They can just roll me over, pull up the flab and identify me"

  My husband wants to get one. He wants it on his chest, right over his heart. He wants is to say "DNR". He says he doesn't like vegetables, so he doesn't want to be one.
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  crmsicl

  I don't care for them. I'm getting more used to them. I try not to be judgemental about the people who have them. Some like the pictures above gross me out though. Bleh.
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  Julia Orwell

  They're so mainstream where I live that most people under about 30 and heaps over 30 have them. I certainly don't frown upon them. I wonder though, if what they thought was cool at 18 will still be cool to them at 40, but laser tattoo removal is a growing industry around here too. We also have a lot of Maoris, Samoans and other Pacific Islanders here, and they have tattoos for cultural reasons. They look very beautiful.

  As for employment, where I currently work no tats are allowed to be visible, but blue-collar industries (and blue collar workers are the majority of tat wearers, along with Islanders) don't care if you have sleeve tats and that. A lot of women get tats on their thighs and backs, which can be easily covered up with work clothes.

  We have a saying here which goes, "Think before you ink," and I think it's appropriate as you are making a lifelong commitment by putting something permanently on your skin. Some people get their kids' names and that tattoed on them, which is never something you would want burned off though. Some tattoos are just stupid, and like I said, what's cool to you at 18 or 20 might not be so cool when you're 40 or 50...