to be judgy pants about people that have tattoos and keep getting more, especially women??

[dontsqueezetheteabag]

I hate tattoos. Whilst I appreciate everyone has a right to their own taste and choices I still cannot get over the fact that people have them in places where they are visible.

A colleague of mine has just returned to work after M leave with a horrific tattoo from her wrist to her elbow. How can she go out and meet clients looking like that?? It can be seen through tops and obviously below short sleeved tops.

What I really don't like is seeing lovely brides on their wedding days, strapless dresses and tattoos on their upper arms and backs..... urgh!!!!!!

Anyone else with me??

I agree with the OP. I really don't like visible tattoos. Husband has loads and has a group of mates all with tattoos. Do you know who judges people with tattoos most? People with tattoos. They do not hesitate to say what looks crap (or much much stronger words to that effect). The people who don't judge are the very polite, wouldn't-get-a-tattoo-but-agree-with-your-right-to-get-one crowd. They peer and try to come up with adjectives that describe how interesting, original or imaginative a very dodgy tattoo is.

So judge away OP, judge away, you're in the tattooed persons mindset!

MrsDeVere, I don't know why I assumed your tattoo would be clearly visible.

Sunshine's post about (visible) tattoos being a means of expression do make me assume they're there to communicate something. She spoke about using your body as a platform. If you were wearing a badge would you be annoyed by someone asking about it? It's not the same as looking different because you have an unusual hair style or piercings and understandably getting fed up of intrusive behaviour from other people - asking for your photo .

(I'd be one of gloucestergirl's "very polite, wouldn't-get-a-tattoo-but-agree-with-your-right-to-get-one-crowd").

The only person with a visible tattoo who I know is my uncle.

aoife this is a great tattoo over a mastectomy. I did link to it at the start of this thread but it's a massive thread and it's a great tattoo so worth another link.

Most common reasons for getting tattoos (based on tattooed friends of mine);

• liking the look of them
• there being a deeper meaning behind them
• accentuating features
• hiding things you don't want seen (in my case, self harm scars)
• to commemorate an event/person

Most unlikely reasons to get them (same as above);

• to look "different"
• to be "trendy"
• to look "hard"

Problems faced by tattooed friends

• how to decide on ink
• people being over familiar (I had a stranger stroke one of my tattoos!)
• how to afford it
• finding a good tattooist
• people making snap judgements based on one aspect of a person rather than paying attention to the myriad of different aspects to each person

Problems not face by tattooed friends

• worrying how to hide them
• worrying about how they'll look when older (we're hardly going to be thinking how much more fresh and youthful we'd look/feel without my tattoos)
• being affected by other people's skin (tattooed or not)

"It's not the same as looking different because you have an unusual hair style or piercings and understandably getting fed up of intrusive behaviour from other people"

Why not?

No doubt some people do want to communicate something with their tattoos, but it's a mistake to assume that the same motivations apply to all tattooed people; there's such a huge range of reasons why people do it and what they want out of it. There's your uncle, there's the 17 year old in Aya Napa getting his mate's name tattooed on his arse for a dare, there's memorial tattoos, friendship tattoos, pet tattoos, people who have full colour sleeves based on a favourite video game, or who travel the world getting full Japanese bodysuits, and then there's people who have the one dainty butterfly on their shoulderblade. You can't characterise them all in the same way. They mean different things to people and sometimes they don't mean anything at all.

Speaking for myself only: I'm not trying to communicate anything, I just love tattoo art.

Emma Explains it well.

I've got 4 tattoos.

1 is religious/spiritual
1 has a deeper meaning
1 of them was got to signify a new beginning
1 is just pretty/amuses me

And my next one will be combination of commemoration, celebration, cover up, deeper meaning, and looking pretty.