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Original poster

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

532 replies

dontsqueezetheteabag · 28/01/2013 09:08

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??

OP posts:
theodorakisses · 28/01/2013 14:28

Can I add that they fucking hurt and some credit for strength of character should be awarded to anyone who has had more than one done sober.

FryOneFatManic · 28/01/2013 14:33

I think the OP would be very surprised at exactly who has tats (and how many). I know a number of people who have hidden tats and they are intelligent people holding down some very responsible jobs. You'd never know they had tats if you saw them in their workclothes.

IfNotNowThenWhen · 28/01/2013 14:33
ditavonteesed · 28/01/2013 14:34

I have just remembered a theory I had when I was younger, I was a goth and everybody I met was either a goth or tattooed or had dreads that type of thing. I was bullied at school and my mum always believed that I dressed the way I did so that people would judge me and would then leave me alone. I think there was some truth in this and did a little survery of all my friends, the same was true for most of them, they had either been bullied or had bad experiences growing up. I think tattoos are an extension of this, a way of finding out who the judgey people are and avoiding them without having to deal with confrontation.

TomArchersSausage · 28/01/2013 14:37

I don't particularly like them. It's the permanance of them I wouldn't like.

Also they go all blurry and smeared looking over time.

EldritchCleavage · 28/01/2013 14:42

May I please qualify my 'I loathe tattoos' statement by saying there are one or two heavily inked and impressively be-muscled actors who could display their tats to me in glorious close-up, anytime?

I just never feel like that about any I see in real life, sadly.

I grew up seeing people with facial tribal scars that would strike most people here as horrific, but have always rather liked them. Overall, even if I don't much like the method chosen, I don't have any problem with the urge people have for bodily adornment. And greater freedom for self-expression is good.

Acandlelitshadow · 28/01/2013 14:44

Can't say I like them but as I don't have to live with them it's no skin off my nose what other people do.

I think they're pretty much over as a mainstream fashion though at least among the yoof. None of my teens are interested. Likewise most of their friends.

threebats · 28/01/2013 14:47

chocoluvva - I am not aggressive in the least, honestly, you'll be quite safe if we bumped into each other in a shopping isle! I like staying under the radar most of the time. I don't have my tattoo's as a stance or a nod to being a rebel or a conflicting personality. I have them simply because I love what they mean to me, I love the art of them, of all good tattooing - it really does take a dedication to your profession to become a good tattoo artist. Its the art of them that I admire, not the person who has them necessarily. A tattoo artist is working on flesh and the flinching pain of the person being tattooed - that takes a steady hand, a good eye and a great talent.

I don't have them so I can flaunt them when the summer comes and the short sleeves come out - I am more inclined to hide my flesh than show it off given I am of a delicate age and have not worked out as much as I ought to have in the last 10 years! I do get carried away when at a Meat concert though but that's not my fault - it really is not, I can't help it - I have to show the person next to me just how much I love the man and his voice and I am dedicated to him for eternity so much so, I tattooed him above my buttocks!
I understand how some people dislike them, I really do but I would personally never judge a person upon looks - tattoos or no tattoos - you can be a right horrible person and be completely tattoo free. You can be pierced to within an inch of what is reasonable but it does not make you a nasty person. You can be coiffed to perfection, look pristine on the outside but be as rotten as an old apple inside - we should not judge others until we have had a chance to know them first.
I think its daft there has been a row over this as its just one person's opinion, that is all, she's entitled to it. I am proud of my tats and I am in no way threatened by another person having a negative opinion on me or my tats. If somebody does not want to talk to me because I am tattooed then its their loss as I would talk to them even though they were not tattooed! :)

Sallystyle · 28/01/2013 14:48

I have four.. two of them I wish I hadn't gone ahead with but it's no big deal really.

I love my ring finger wedding tat and I got a new one last month of a cat on my ear, which is pretty unique and I love it.

I didn't get them done to be different, one was done when I was 18 and that was a poor choice, the others I just liked.

The only place I don't like tattoos is on the face.

TheYamiOfYawn · 28/01/2013 14:49

I don't have any tattoos, but I love the way they look on other people. Plenty of my friends have tattoos, and they include doctors, solicitors, academics, a financial advisor, librarians, teachers, management consultants, software engineers, scientists and probably several other very respectable jobs.

I'm quite curious about what judgement the judgy people ate making. What are your assumptions about them?

KatyTheCleaningLady · 28/01/2013 14:50

"KatyTheCleaningLady do you not think you're contradicting yourself by saying "I think that it's silly to dictate appearance" and saying "Either be totally committed to looking like an alternative person - be inked all over - or not". "

EarnestDullard, No, I don't think there's any contradiction. I have an opinion based on taste, but I wouldn't dictate how someone looks. To have an opinion is not to dictate.

You're right, though: it's OK not to like something! Plenty of people don't like many things I do, from how I dress to how I parent to how I pronounce "herbs." That's life!

noddyholder · 28/01/2013 14:51

I think it is the 'permanence' that attracts people so if you aren't into that they won't be for you.

Narked · 28/01/2013 14:53

I loathe tattoos on anyone. But it's not my decision.

TomArchersSausage · 28/01/2013 14:58

I think they can look good briefly on young people. But being stuck with some smeared old tattoo from my youth wouldn't be something I'd want.

On older people they look a bit desparate to me.

TomArchersSausage · 28/01/2013 14:59

desperate

TalkinPeace2 · 28/01/2013 15:01

In 15 years time there will be a LOT of money to be made in tattoo removal.
Lots of young people do not realise quite how dire a blurred, faded 20 year old tattoo looks (and most of the older generation do not have theirs on display).

There will also be good money to be made rebuilding earlobes after people get bored of those stupid stretch earrings.

KatyTheCleaningLady · 28/01/2013 15:02

TomArchersSausage, I think the right kind of tattoos can age OK. Like, if a tough old geezer has a hula girl on his arm from his days in the Navy, it can still look kinda cool.

TalkinPeace2 · 28/01/2013 15:02

PS most of the big modern tattoos are done under local anaesthetic - so they are no longer a sign of being 'tough'

AKissIsNotAContract · 28/01/2013 15:03

No they aren't! I've never had a local for a tattoo and don't know anyone who has

ditavonteesed · 28/01/2013 15:05

none of my tattoos are faded or blurred, and I have certainly never had one done under local anaesthetic.

WhatsTheBuzz · 28/01/2013 15:10

each to their own but I think tattoos are boring, especially the generic type. The irony is that loads of 'alternative' people have them. Very individual. Like I say though, each to their own.

threebats · 28/01/2013 15:21

Local anesthetic for a tattoo? Where? Tell me please so I can go there for my next one! When I had my one done above my bottom, I had to sit on a stool with my back to the tattoo man, obviously and I fainted into the lap of my partner - when I came around, I was too buggered to actually pick my head up and move so, you can imagine what I looked like with my head stuck in his groin for a good 15 mins - he could not have been more pleased with how the trip to the tattoo studio turned out that day!
Not all tattoos go blurry - I have had four of mine for over 25 years and they are as bright as a button and clear as day. You have got to look after them, keep them out of direct and hot sunlight, so, sunblock them as you would or should be doing anyhow, oil them regularly - this can help keep the colours bright. Don't have them done on, say, your belly if you plan on having children as they will stretch and never go back to looking as good as they once did (I have seen this on a friend). You can re-colour your tats as you get older, should they fade for any reason. If you like tattoos but have one you do not like, a good tattoo artist can re-work it for you, go in, have a chat.
I can't speak for everybody, but I won't be regretting my tattoos when I am in my nursing home and about to have my bed-bath - I love rock music, I love it completely. I love the electric guitar...I love my children completely. I love that I have all the things I love completely proudly displayed upon my body be that body old, sagging and about to go meet its maker... My old, tattooed body is proof that I have lived and loved :)

colleysmill · 28/01/2013 15:23

I always wanted a tattoo but when I asked my dermatologist (I have severe psoriasis) he very kindly pointed out it would never be a good idea. So I am one of the "uninked" through circumstances rather than choice.

I have no problem with tattoos and the argument over whether they are appropriate being on show in "professional" situations reminds me of when I was at uni 15 years ago. I trained in a profession that required a number of work placements in the NHS and there was a huge uproar when it turned out one of my fellow students had a tattoo on his lower arm that would be visible in a short sleeved tunic. This was considered so unprofessional at the time that he was nearly asked to leave the course. In the end they conceded and let him wear a long sleeved shirt but the uni were not happy at all.

I guess times have moved on now as bare below the elbow is standard infection control in hospitals and many more people have tattoos that are visible these days.

noddyholder · 28/01/2013 15:26

Mine hasn't faded at all and have had close to 30 years

LessMissAbs · 28/01/2013 15:28

Can't stand them. I get bored of my nails being a certain colour after a week, can't imagine how awful it would be to be stuck with a permanent design on my skin!

Can't stand them on other people either. It always makes me think that the person is not very individual, in that they have in some way "fallen" for the cliche that tattoos make them more individual and "different" somehow. I'm more impressed if someone can run a good 10k time with their body than get a tattoo.

Weren't tattoos originally used to denote membership of a tribe/tribal allegiance? Can't see how its any different now.

As for the art in them, it doesn't appeal to me - they're too dark and squiggly, I don't like the colours used, and I wouldn't even like them on paper.

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