<p>I’m closer to 60 than 50 and I’ve always wanted a tattoo. I just can’t decide what and where. It would likely be small. I judge people more harshly who tan than who have tattoos.</p>
<p>Gosh, I just reread my earlier post and it’s filled with so many errors. Oh well–I need a personal editor for my posts. :)</p>
<p>MOWC, my youngest son and I have always had a great relationship. Sharing the tattoo moment with him was very special. When we walked out of the tattoo parlor, I looked at him and said, “Whenever I look down at my tattoo, I’ll think of you.” The smile on his face was priceless.</p>
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<p>Well fortunately, technology is quickly catching up and fixing this problem. I believe another poster already mentioned Infinitink, which is designed to be completely removed with just 1-2 laser treatments. Their preliminary results seem fantastic. If you want it to be permanent, just leave it alone and its like a normal tattoo. But if you change your mind, it can be erased more completely and quickly than traditional tattoos. I’ve contemplated a tattoo, but I would certainly get Infinitink (or whatever like it comes out in the future).</p>
<p>I disagree that tattoos are a passing fad. If anything, they are becoming more popular with the younger generations as the preconceptions and judgments of the older generations fade. All of my siblings have tattoos. A significant percentage of my med school classmates (both male and female) have tattoos - all easily (more or less haha) covered by scrubs and certainly by shirt+tie. Tattoos definitely aren’t just for sailors anymore haha.</p>
<p>My taste has changed sooo much over the years (my fashion choices in some old photos are horrifying; I came to hate the dinnerware we picked out when we got married; the granny glasses I wore in college were terribly unflattering to the shape of my face; we traded a contemporary house for a colonial well into our forties). I just don’t think a teen or twenty something should commit to a piece of permanent body art at an age when the sense of style and aesthetics is still in flux (which it may well be at every age). Fortunately, neither of my kids has indicated the slightest interest in anything beyond pierced ear lobes.</p>
<p>I was thinking the same thing, MommaJ. I am sadly putting away my Laura Ashley long dresses since they are decidedly “out” these days. Yeah, it took me a while to notice. You can change your fashions, hair styles, glasses, but tattoos are not so easy to do, though it looks like technology is getting there with them too. </p>
<p>I don’t like 'em but it’s not that big of a deal to me. A lot of other issues that are so much worse.</p>
<p>I’m not worried about changing my mind with a tattoo. I am putting a lot more deliberation into what and where, than my decision to buy a couple Laura Ashley cord dresses (& frankly I still like them)</p>
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<p>Interestingly, many people were involuntarily subject to body modification by their parents while they were infants. However, such body modifications are not visible in public, since one generally wears clothing that covers the modified part. On the other hand, it still brings up the question of freedom of informed choice for the person whose body is being modified, even though, in some cases, the modification may result in reducing the risk of some diseases in the long term.</p>
<p>Don’t forget the reoccurrence of FGM in western countries -the NYT had an article today about Sharia law in the U.S. courts.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, you asked about attractive tattoos… many of my friends have tattoos… the friends I have from school mostly have tats they got on a drunken impulse or bc everybody else was getting them. The friends I have that are more sincere people have some really beautiful tattoos, though, in my opinion. I have one friend who has the Greek word agape tattooed in Greek, which is fitting since it represents a constant, unchanging love… another of my friends got the first initial of his best friend who died tattooed on his back. It’s not overly conspicuous, but it carries a lot of meaning. Similarly, another of my friends just got ‘free’ on her wrist in honor of her best friend who had died, and she has a story that explains the symbolism behind it. Yet another has a large feather tattooed on the inside of his biceps…
To be fair, meaningful tattoos are beautiful to me. They are a way to mark who you are in a certain moment. It’s ok if they become less relevant because they are a way to remember who you were in the past, and I think that’s important. I appreciate the beauty of a non-tattooed human body, I do. I don’t think one should ever get a tattoo unless it has get real meaning. But I have seen some I thought were breathtaking. It has to be about something that’s just really important to you.
I think, also, you have to understand that part of the point of a tattoo is the pain. The process of going through severe pain and coming out with something profound and beautiful is important and meaningful in itself. I don’t know, I’m a big proponent of tattoos when they’re done for the right reasons. It’s too easy to forget that you are different and unique from everyone else.</p>
<p>“I think, also, you have to understand that part of the point of a tattoo is the pain. The process of going through severe pain and coming out with something profound and beautiful is important and meaningful in itself”</p>
<p>I think what you described is called sadism.</p>
<p>“I think, also, you have to understand that part of the point of a tattoo is the pain.”</p>
<p>Self-mutilation? To me, this sounds like the #1 WRONG reason to get a tattoo. I do not think mature people like MOfWC got theirs because they wanted to experience pain. I think the end result was more important to them.</p>
<p>Also, a 18-yr old sees things quite differently from a 40 yr old, so what is percieved as “real meaning” at 18, could look insignificant, laughable, and regretful at 40. Just sayin’. :)</p>
<p>X-posted with parent. I think the right term is masochism. :)</p>
<p>Correction to my post #93. I think it is masochism, not sadism.</p>
<p>I said earlier, its not necessarily a bad thing if what you got when you were 18 seems less relevant when you’re 40. If by the age of 18 you want a tattoo and have wanted a specific tattoo for a long time, it probably is very significant to you. I understand that it may not mean the same thing when you’re 40. But also, by the age of 18 people can recognize when something significant and worth remembering has happened, worth tattooing for.
Also, I said nothing about enjoying the pain, and especially nothing about sexual pleasure, which is the definition of masochism. So no, I wasn’t talking about masochism. And I’m not sure what you mean by self-mutilation except that you’re using a word with negative connotations. If you’re referring to self-harming, that’s not the same thing either.</p>
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<p>Nah - I’m not buying that, unless you’re speaking strictly for yourself. I’ve talked to lots of people who have tattoos and not one of them considered pain a bonus. It certainly wouldn’t be for me. I’d be fine with getting knocked out and waking up when it’s over.</p>
<p>I don’t have a tattoo. But I think pain should be part of it. I think it’s too cheap if you don’t experience something to get it. Like, cheap emotionally. I understand that the design means something to you, but it’s permanent… it’s not a doodle in a notebook or a drawing in the dirt. It’s a permanent thing, and if you aren’t willing to go through the pain then it doesn’t mean enough to you. That’s not the whole rationale behind my thinking, bruh I guess that’s some of it…
And also, I am talking about myself. I feel that way about other people getting tattoos, but what they do to themselves is not my decision</p>
<p>I sure wasn’t looking for pain! Mine were not painful- just more like scratching. As I said, I’ve now gotten more afraid, though.</p>
<p>Reverseosmosis- how are the tattoo parlors in Kansas? I think you can get a tattoo that says {{{HUGS}}}.</p>
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<p>I agree that much thought should be put into anything you do that’s permanent. When I chose my tattoo, I taped the design to my mirror for a full year (after having the design chosen for over a year). I gave a lot of thought to whether my tastes and preferences would change, which is partially why I chose my tattoo, a word written in the native script of the area of the world my family is from, which is obviously something about me that won’t change. It means “hope” and it has many meanings to me, but I got it principally to commemorate my mother’s struggle with cancer while I was in high school, and her unfailing belief in the power of positive thought, which is what she believes got her through it.</p>
<p>I suppose it’s possible that I could have an identity crisis and hope not to be of my ethnicity anymore. Or that I could have a falling out with my mother and think that a tattoo inspired even in part by her is awful. Or I could become clinically depressed and believe hope was futile and detest that the word is on my body. But I don’t think, even in those cases, I would regret the tattoo.</p>
<p>None of that would change the meaning I affixed to it when I got it. I will never forget why I made that decision, and if one day I stop believing that even in the worst of times, hope is worth keeping present in my mind, I won’t forget that for a long time, that’s how I lived my life. In that case, I suppose the tattoo would just be commemorative of a philosophy I carried with me, rather than a reminder of one to carry forward.</p>
<p>As for the pain, I think elizaruns is right about that for some people, and I think it speaks to the “addiction” of tattoos that IrishDoctor mentions in the first post. I didn’t enjoy the pain (it felt like a cat scratching me very deeply, and was apparently especially painful for me as I chose to get it in an area without a lot of fat covering) but something about the pain is slightly… hmm. I’m not sure how to put it. Most people I know with tattoos want to get another and part of that I think is some weirdly addictive nature of the pain itself. I want to get another in some weird, primal urge, but I’m not going to as I only wanted one tattoo, and I’m satisfied with it.</p>
<p>I know there are whole discussions about whether the pain of a tattoo is akin to the pain of self mutilation (general consensus I’ve heard is no, unless you are already a self-mutilator), but most people I know experience an adrenaline rush while getting tattooed, possibly due to the pain, which can be addictive, just like anything else that gives you an adrenaline rush.</p>
<p>I don’t like tattoos but I can see that they might be meaningful in ways I can’t relate to or understand. Last year, my then-20 y/o d lost a close friend under especially tragic circumstances. My d struggled with the loss for several months (had to leave school early and make up the end of semester work). One day she asked me what I thought about her getting a tattoo that would be a permanent remembrance of her friend. </p>
<p>I was not enthused but could see that it was important to her. At her age, she didn’t need my permission anyway. I was glad she asked my opinion - we had the long, cautionary conversation. Then she went ahead and got a small tattoo of a meaningful 4-word phrase, visible only when she wears a bathing suit. It did seem to be a turning point in her grieving process - not the tattoo itself, but what it means to her. And I imagine that other people’s tattoos are often equally meaningful to them.</p>
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<p>People say the same thing about getting married early in adulthood. I got married at 19 and have been happily-more-often-than-not married for 22 years. It was right for me. I have classmates who are just now settling down and having kids. That’s right for them.</p>
<p>Yes, the odds a marriage will work out get better as we mature. Does that mean everyone should wait? I don’t think so. </p>
<p>And sometimes it doesn’t work out, which is why there are divorce lawyers and laser removal!</p>
<p>As for the pain issue, I have heard people talk about how the pain was part of the process. One friend told me it was like labor, pain with a purpose and pain as part of the journey. I can see that. It’s one thing to drive to the top of a mountain. It’s another to climb it. Suffering does infuse meaning in some things. That can be personal or religious but I don’t understand why it is automatically thought to be sexual or negative.</p>
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<p>I pretty sure there are risks associated with anything we do in life.</p>
<p>My doctor has a full back tattoo… To each their own. </p>
<p>Though someone mentioned it fading in popularity… Tattooing and piercing has been around longer than say every currently practiced religion. It’s not going anywhere any time soon.</p>