To wonder why virtually every woman in labour / partner / mum of woman in labour on OBEM has tattoos?

[CruCru]

Do so many people have them? Or just in Leeds (where OBEM is currently set)? It's starting to distract me from the show.

[CommanderShepard]

Don't have/want any myself but I love them on other people, especially really intricate stuff - not so much love and hate on the knuckles or that type of thing

[leniwhite]

Mine are all custom, mostly japanese with lots of birds. I have a peonie on my neck and birds on my hands too. My OH has a deep sea diver, an owl sleeve and a lady with an octopus around her, really intricate and beautiful. We're lucky to have friends who are well respected tattoo artists from NY and here who do it all have to say I haven't seen a single one I like on OBEM!

[CoolaSchmoola]

I haven't really noticed, but have a little fact about OBEM. Each mother is paid the princely sum of £60 and given a copy of her birth video to bare it all on tv.

My cousin had a baby at LGI last year and was asked if they wanted to be on the show repeatedly. Apparently the production team hang about antenatal outpatients, classes and tours and just keep asking every time they see you.

She felt quite pressured in the end but still said no.

It would take a lot more than £60 and a dvd for me to flash my fanjo on tv!

[HollyBerryBush]

I read last week that 20% of adults in the UK have them

Which means 80% don't have them

[CruCru]

Leniwhite - sorry, my point wasn't that I think all tattoos are horrible. I do have friends who have some very beautiful body art. Having said that, the OBEM ones are usually not very nice.

£60 is not very much money.

[Shesparkles]

I don't have one but have no objection to them on others, each to their own. Last year on holiday in Portugal, it was VERY easy to pick out the British, no other nationality seemed to have any, or if they did, they were nothing like the size or numbers on British people

[ConferencePear]

Maybe the sort of women who don't have tattoos are the ones who don't choose to appear on the programme ?

[leniwhite]

Crucru I didn't think you meant that don't worry! I'm quite judgy about crap tattoos for my sins, if I'm going to be honest...

Personally I wouldn't be on OBEM but if it were something a bit more accurate that didn't cut out all the 'real' bits then maybe. Been in a few documentaries (not about birth though) and they've never come out well

[usualsuspect]

WTF is wrong with MN ?

jUDGE JUDGE FUCKING JUDGE.

[MurderOfGoths]

It's always like this, gets tiring doesn't it?

[usualsuspect]

Just stop it. STOP IT.

[Beaverfeaver]

I have a large tattoo on my butt cheek which I think might surprise midwife.
It could seem a bit threatening!

[NishiNoUsagi]

I had noticed that, but probably because I have none, not because I don't like them, just too squeamish. So other peoples always stand out to me. Love "reading" tattoos though, but got stuck with the gas man's the other day - he had something in very elaborate script down his arm, was staring at it(with full on head tilt) for an hour until I cracked and asked "Have you really got "Panda" tattooed on you arm??" Turned out it said "Linda"

[RattyRoland]

I don't like them, can't understand why anyone would want something so permanently altering on them. Each to their own though.

[mrsbunnylove]

yes, everyone wants to look like a sailor or a criminal. bring on the day when this abominable fashion falls out of favour.

[leniwhite]

When i was about 16 I was at a local gig and the security guy had an obviously homemade tattoo of '666' on his arm so I asked why he had it and he said:

'I'm a gypsy and when I was ten I set fire to a caravan and killed a grandma and a kid so my mum said I was the devil and put this on me'....

OK - I'm just going over here now...

[Theicingontop]

Woah, Leni

You don't reckon he was pulling your leg?

Anyway, judgey pants be judgey. Carry on.

[thegreylady]

Do you remember the soloist in the Military Wives Choir? She had some really beautiful tattoos yet some viewers were really nasty about her/them.

[SmilingMakesMyFaceAche]

Who gives a flying fornication about what someone else adorns their body with? This seems to be all over MN at the moment and its peeing me off. Goodness, just let people decorate themselves with whatever they like. As long as they're not holding you down and forcing you to get tattooed against your will then what business is it of anyone's??!!!! Sometimes, I love this place but sometimes stuff like this really bloody irks me. Here OP, have a and find something else to concern yourself with.

[thegreylady]

There is a photo on fb at the moment of a lady who had a double mastectomy and had a wonderful crop top tattoo all over her upper body. What a heroine! I believe fb were going to remove it ( nudity) which would have been so wrong but many people who had had bc asked for it to stay. I wish I could show you but it is beyond my limited technical powers. If I can work it out I'll try later.

[MrsKeithRichards]

I remember that thegreylady the outpouring against her was disgusting.

[EmmelineGoulden]

Mastectomy tattoo (on a blog, not FB).

[MidnightMasquerader]

The best thing, surely, has to simply be people not reacting to all these anti-tattoo threads, and then they'd just die a death.

If you have a tattoo, do you really care that some faceless random on t'internet doesn't like them??

Seriously - just ignore such sneery, small-minded people. They're not worth it.