<p>Pot users or harder drugs? Occasionally or addicted?</p>
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<p>This didn’t start as a discussion about appearance at a job interview. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you were under the impression that all tattooed, pierced young people are drug using losers. Those were your words, missypie. Several people here have pointed out that that isn’t necessarily true. I think it’s clear that there are variations on peoples’ choices. Of course, someone who is tattooed head to toe, and pierced all over is at one extreme, and isn’t the norm, even within the demographic that has tattoos and piercings. </p>
<p>The point is that there are many who are successful individuals and who are in professional positions, of all types, who have tattoos and piercings, and who are not drug users or losers. I thought that was the reassurance you were looking for, or am I mistaken about you actually wanting to be reassured?</p>
<p>alwaysamom really hit the nail on the head here. All I will add is that if your concern is actually about juvenile acceptance of drug use, it should really be in a different thread - the title, original post, and subsequent conversations have really been on a different topic, that of the acceptability and social implications of body modification.</p>
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<p>Not really. The first line of my post:</p>
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<p>Yes, I have received reassurance on this thread.</p>
<p>“There is still a medical risk (even with reputable places; see the Red Cross blood donation page).”</p>
<p>I don’t really think that counts for much because while getting a tattoo disqualifies you for a year, being a gay male disqualifies you for life.</p>
<p>That being said, there are crappy and unscrupulous tattoo “artists” and piercers who are not sanitary, and I won’t deny that this is a problem. I took pains personally to assure that the places that I got my piercings were reputable, but I can’t speak for the majority of pierced and tatted people in that regard. It’s a real risk but one that can be easily avoided by being smart. The piercer I went to for my conch showed me how all of her tools and needles were either fresh out of a sealed package or had been autoclaved. I would not go to a parlor where this was not the case.</p>
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<p>^^^^^When I insert an IV, the needle insertion takes a second or two at most, including removing the needle while simultaneously exchanging it for the plastic catheter. Then there is some slight discomfort while I hold pressure to remove the catheter and connect the IV tubing. There may be a slight stinging sensation as I flush the IV with saline or the IV solution. All less than a minute. I don’t like getting IVs either, and they DO hurt, and can remain “uncomfortable” while in place, but I still found myself surprised at the intensity of these patients’ reactions to even the prospect of the IV in the context of a massive amount of tatoo ink on their bodies!</p>
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Thanks for the link tsdad - it never really occurred to me that DC would have a flag and I’ve never actually seen it before. Is it just me or does it look like a flag that would be more at home in a communist country? (I’m not saying it politically - I’m just saying it due to the appearance of the red stars on the white background).</p>
<p>Now - back to tats and piercings…</p>
<p>Even I, who said I think most tats and piercings look ‘hideous’ on females (to me - just my own perception of beauty or not) don’t think one can generally leap to a conclusion that everyone with a tat/piercing is a drug user, criminal, slacker, dufus, etc. The reason is because there are different motivations for the different individuals to have themselves marked and adorned using these methods. Some people seem to want a permanent mark on themselves as some remembrance or shrine, some want it to make a public statement, some want to be a canvas for art, some do it to fit in with a particular group (this is probably the category the OP’s concerned with), and some do it for self-preservation (i.e. people in jail who need to present in a certain way in order to not be perceived as weak).</p>
<p>It actually strikes me the opposite way, I think women generally wear tattoos better than men do. Especially full back tattoos and sleeves.</p>
<p>First, my personal opinions on tattoos and piercings are 1) “OW!!!” and 2) “Why?”. I managed to come out of the Army after 5 years, including a year in Korea, without one. I just don’t get it, but that’s just me. To each their own, if Prince Albert and a fire breathing dragon makes you happy and harms nobody, I say live and let live.</p>
<p>On personal observations, my wife’s boss (a director in information systems in a huge hospital system) was previously a paramedic, and is “sleeved” and covered on his back all the way to the waist. He did have a very altruistic vocation, and now has his Master’s and does quite well professionally. That’s fine, he wears a suit and tie every day, so nobody except those he confides in knows he is “covered”.
Eighteen years in Nursing, 14 of that in emergency departments, has shown me a LOT of tattoos, as well as piercings that I have had to remove before surgery because their owners didn’t know how to or “couldn’t reach them very well”. Many have been professionals, presumably well educated, but the dividing line has been the placement of said additions. While tattoos are very commonplace today, there are still many companies that prohibit the display of piercings or tattoos while at work. I don’t believe it means someone is a bad person if they made the decision to have huge gages in their ears and a tattoo up the side of their neck onto their face. I do think an argument could be made that they are immature or, at least short sighted, to pay money for something that could severely limit their choices later in life. Jimmy Buffett refers to it as “a permanent reminder of a temporary feeling”.</p>
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<p>Yes, it’s not appropriate to judge someone’s character based on appearance. That’s a battle that pretty much every younger generation fights with the older one. </p>
<p>Back when I was young the Cosmic Issue of the moment was long hair on men. Most young people were either for it at least tolerant of it, but the older generation was not. At first my parents and many other older folks had a very low opinion of long hair on men and an even lower opinion of the men who wore it. But as is slowly happening with tattoos, the style spread and eventually many of the older men ended up letting their hair grow out a bit themselves.</p>
<p>BUT, here’s the big difference with tattoos: When long hair went back out of style 10 or 20 years later, it was a simple matter for men, young and old, to cut it off and go back to a cleaner look. Nowadays a guy who for some reason is still wearing some of the dreadful long hair styles of the 1970s looks ridiculous, hopelessly out of style, and kind of foolish. Now in middle age I am incredibly grateful I don’t have to still wear every day the hideous hairstyles of my youth. People who jump on the tattoo fashion won’t have that option to shed their mistakes when the style changes, or when they change themselves - such that they no longer want or like tattoos. They’re stuck with it.</p>
<p>Yes, yes and everyone will regret braces when the gap in your teeth is in style. </p>
<p>Tattoos might be a relatively new trend here in America (partially because they’re becoming much, much safer to do), but it almost seems human instinct to decorate our skin. Whether that be in makeup, piercings, or tattoos. It’s fairly universal. So while the “trend” might change, I don’t think you can call tattoos in general a fashion. It’s like calling hairstyles in general a fashion, rather than the bob or a weave or whatever. </p>
<p>Then again, I don’t know anyone, of any generation, who regrets their tattoos (at least that has told me about it). But again, that’s likely because they’re fairly common around here.</p>
<p>ETA: I just looked up the history of tattooing in the Western world. Fascinating things I never knew. It used to be a mark of aristocracy, now it’s more common among “regular” people. Apparently even Churchill had a tattoo lol.</p>
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<p>King George V also had at least one tattoo from his days as a career Naval Officer before his older brother’s untimely death placed him in direct succession to the throne after his father and Queen Victoria.</p>
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<p>The Red Cross still doesn’t allow gay men to donate blood, which is a seriously out of date policy that doesn’t make logical sense. So I don’t use that page as a reputable source for anything.</p>
<p>I agree with everything hyperJulie said about this. Reputable piercers and tattoo artists have autoclaves and are generally a better idea than going to the piercing booth at the mall.</p>
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<p>Where I live, I see lots of billboards for tattoo removal services, so apparently there are plenty of people who do live to regret them.</p>
<p>I never understand people who tattoo a lover’s name on their body. Those are the probably the ones who are most likely to need the services of Dr. Tattoff.</p>
<p>GGD:</p>
<p>On the DC Flag: [DC</a> Mythbusting: DC Flag We Love DC](<a href=“http://www.welovedc.com/2011/01/25/dc-mythbusting-dc-flag/]DC”>DC Mythbusting: DC Flag | We Love DC)</p>
<p>Apparently having a tat of the DC flag is not as unique as I thought: [DC</a> Flag Tattoo Day: Does it Matter If You’re Not Punk? | Local News | Washingtonian](<a href=“DC Flag Tattoo Day: Does it Matter If You’re Not Punk? - Washingtonian”>DC Flag Tattoo Day: Does it Matter If You’re Not Punk? - Washingtonian)</p>
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This raises some interesting points that I think should be addressed.</p>
<p>First of all, no one is questioning that there are greater consequences to getting a tattoo than buying a shirt. That does not mean that it is always or even usually a bad idea. A well conceived tattoo is a personal statement for a lifetime. Piercings are even less of an issue as most piercings will close over time if you let them.</p>
<p>Second, many (hopefully most) people do not get tattoos as an item of fashion, but rather as a statement or reminder of some personal experience or belief. A tattoo reminding you of a time, place, or person is not something that you worry about “going out of style”.</p>
<p>Third, the acceptance of tattoos is not really an issue of going in and out of style. The general acceptibility of tattoos has been rising for the last century or so and shows no real sign of going down anytime soon. And the styles of the tattoos themselves do not really go in and out of fashion either, the emphasis has always been more on the quality of the work and its meaningfulness to the individual. Walk into any parlor today and you will find artists duplicating styles from the whole span of tattoo history, from traditional Samoan through WWII military up to very avant garde work.</p>
<p>Finally, it is often possible to touch up an old tattoo and even change it if desired. There are even TV shows about the process, generally demonstrated on people who have a bunch of tattoos but got one that just was not right, usually because of a bad artist. There are remedies.</p>
<p>Now you are 100% correct that once you have tattoos it is expensive and painful to once again become tattoo-free. I could easily say the same thing about marriage, and would give the same advice - make really sure that you want it forever before you say yes.</p>
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<p>Darn! I guess my fiance and I are even more hopeless than I thought. Though, having not been alive in the 70s, does the hair have to be worn down to count, or is a ponytail a different matter? Then he might be okay. Personally, I think his worst life decision is not his ponytail, but rather his choice to major in sociology and history. 
That has held him back more than anything else.</p>
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<p>And a bad marriage is not sufficiently dealt with by simply wearing long sleeves! With a bit less than 50 percent of the population deciding they don’t like their marriages, maybe those are pretty ill-advised too.</p>
<p>It seems to me that OP has gotten the clear message that not all heavily tattood men are drug using losers. OP seems to now be asking for comment on her Ds defense of the use of pot. There also seems to be an overlay of a teen crush on people the D doesnt know but seem to represent to D a cool image (tats and supposed pot use).</p>
<p>My observation starts with the fact that the D was willing to discuss pot and instead of toe-ing OPs line was willing to express her opinion on pot. It may make OP nervous, but at least it appears that she and her D have trust enough to talk about the issue.</p>
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<p>Oh come on now. If “no one regrets tattoos,” why are tattoo-removal businesses so popular?</p>
<p>As I said, I think tattoos are an aesthetic choice, not a moral one. However, I do think that it sends certain socioeconomic class markers, and not particularly high ones. I think it’s a fashion statement that tends to be favored on the lower end, much like mullets and leopard-print leggings were in their day.</p>
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<p>Editorial: The divorce rate is NOT 50% or anywhere close. That trope has been repeated, but it’s not true.</p>