<p>I got a tattoo last year at age 50. It is in a place where you will only see it if I want you to see it. It is small and a symbol that has special meaning to me. I have no regrets about it now and I guess at my age can’t see myself having any in the future.</p>
<p>My D is an actress and got a beatutiful tattoo that the she designed on her shoulder a couple of years ago. She can cover it with stage make-up if she needs to because of a costume. She absolutely loves it and I think it is quite beautiful, especially as I know the meaning behind the 3 symbols. </p>
<p>I am a long-term nonprofit professional. I do the hiring. I think all of our employees except 1 has at least 1 tattoo - some are visible and some are not. No one cares. We do deal directly with the public and as long as we provide great customer service, which is what I expect of myself and my team, then what’s the issue? Tattoos and piercings are so common here in Austin I don’t even notice them most of the time. Even if I see someone with tattoos or piercings that I personally don’t find appealing, what do I care?</p>
<p>The issue, austinmtmom, was something I addressed pages ago, and many others have too. No one here has said having a tatt hinders the performance quality of an employee. However, many have said here that (rightly or wrongly) a visible tatt can hinder chances of employment. Just knowing some have preference for no tatts, and knowing some feel tatts may not be appealing to clients has to give a prospective tatt wearer pause to carefully think the decision. A person that is “passed on” for employment never has the opportunity to demonstrate he might have flourished there. People might be hesitant to go to a dentist that looks like KatVonD.</p>
<p>younghoss - I am not trying to argue your point. I think it is valid. Just offering my personal perspective. The OP and others can take what they like from my comments.</p>
<p>I am a nurse and cancer patient who was treated in a facility next to her place of employment. On my way to radiation I would frequently see people I knew leaning agianst the building right outside the cancer hospital smoking. As i knew and liked these people I felt sad, then i would say to my husband Really…???
I dont have a problem with someone wanting tattoos and piercings. I dont like them for myself and would prefer my kids to avoid them but they arent diminished in my eyes.</p>
<p>That’s the bottom line. Fair? Maybe not, but undeniably accurate. And anything that people do to convey “LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME” leaves me with the impression that they feel they have nothing else with which to attract others’ attention.</p>
<p>So then what does it mean if one has tattoos that are not seen when fully clothed. They certainly aren’t screaming “look at me” if their tats aren’t visible. Are they a freak for having tattoos or only if the tats are visible to the viewing public?</p>
<p>If you met someone who was the best looking, nicest, smartest, most capable guy you ever met and then he took his shirt off to go for a swim and you saw multiple tats, would your opinion of him change?</p>
<p>I think that is how Islam justifies the burqa. If that is truly the standard, then jewelry falls into that category. In fact, most clothes would fall into that category. If there weren’t an element of “Look at me” and attention grabbing involved in fashion, we would all just wear burlap sacks/burqas. Tattoos are only different in that they are permanent. </p>
<p>Some of the reactions to tattoos are just a little too over the top to make sense. They are so emotional that they seem more akin to bigotry.</p>
<p>I will be bold enough to answer Packmom’s question(para2, post 168). Would seeing the multiple tatts change my opinion?
Yes it would change my mind, some, about a woman that did that. I would no longer consider her the “best looking”. Personally I do not believe tatts improve on the beauty of the female figure. A woman is a beautiful work of art, but adding a moustache to the Mona Lisa, or scripting “Leonardo” on her neck is not an improvement. I would find Meg Fox and Angelina Jolie prettier without the tattoos.
Does that mean I wouldn’t hire them as an atty, or accountant, or actress? That is a very different question.</p>
<p>But Packmom’s question supposes that they have already made a favorable impression about their personality, brains, and capabilities to me. Much of this thread has leaned toward those who are still trying to make an impression, like at a job interview- and there, visible tatts are a part of the first impression.</p>
<p>To be clear here -you’re talking about multiple, fairly large tattoos - not the inch-tall-tattoo-on-the-ankle scenario. If I had been otherwise physically attracted to him – I’d be far, far less so after seeing the tattoos. </p>
<p>I think some of you just aren’t listening to the fact that for some of us, it’s just a really ugly aesthetic choice, no matter how “pretty” some of you may think it is. I think ink on skin can never be attractive. I don’t care if Michelangelo is your tattoo artist.</p>
<p>So the reason people hate tattoos is because they are a permanent ugly aesthetic choice? If they wore a different tattoo on their face everyday, like a different scarf around their neck, it would be fine?</p>
<p>^^^^Why argue with what people find aesthetically pleasing or not? It’s like trying to tell someone they really SHOULD like broccoli, or question why one guy likes tall girls instead of petite ones. You can’t “reason” people out of personal tastes.</p>
<p>I don’t hate tattoos but I do find them ugly…I hate piercings in places other than ears because it often makes me feel physically ill to look at them. I don’t make judgements the people wearing them, it’s just my own personal reaction. As Nrdsb4 says, there’s not necessarily any “reason” to it, it’s just the way I’m wired.</p>
<p>I know that and that’s not my point. My point is that it goes beyond a dislike of what one finds aesthetically unappealing. If it were just that it is not aesthetically pleasing, it would be no different from thinking scarves or sweater vests are ugly. The emotion and hatred behind some of the opinions demonstrate that the judgment goes deeper than aesthetics.</p>
<p>I dislike the tattoos because I think they are unappealing aesthetically (at least to me, of course). If there were temporary tattoos that lasted only a week, or month, or 3 months, or whatever, I wouldn’t think they were any prettier. </p>
<p>The permanence of a tattoo is what makes me question the person’s judgment (if said tattoo is particularly large / prominent - really, I don’t spend my time worrying about the person with the rose on her ankle or whatever).</p>
<p>I think a good example of that is David Beckham. While he’s not the kind of look that I personally generally go for, he’s certainly an attractive, very fit man that I could see being very appealing to a woman when dressed in regular clothing. But then when the shirt comes off? Ew, yuck. Any appeal his body would have had for me would be gone. That level of tattoo-ness would be a deal-breaker in a relationship for me.</p>