When you see someone covered in tattoos, what do you think? Do you instantly admire the beautiful artwork on their body, or do you look at them in a negative way just because of the ink in their skin?
This is a question that's really sparked my curiosity. Personally, I have one tattoo, but I’d love to be covered in meaningful or other desired ones as well. I look at my body, and anyone else’s, as a canvas. However, that is not the same outlook everyone has. While it is becoming more and more common for people of my generation and those around it to go “get ink’d,” it is still frowned upon by the generations before us. To some, a tattoo is still “ridiculous” and “unnecessary."
Years ago people with tattoos struggled to find decent employment. A person without a visible tattoo, or any at all, could easily walk into an interview and only worry about if they have the right qualifications. However, a person with very visible tattoos had to either find some means of covering them all up; whether that be by wearing a turtleneck in summer, buying expensive makeup to dab over the tattoos, among other things. It was almost as if a tattoo truly defined what kind of person they would be hiring, people had to hide something that quite possibly had such a deeper meaning behind it.
Moving forward a little, it is less likely that people go to such extremities for an interview. In some ways, that is a positive thing. Today companies are a little less strict about these “markings” on your body, and simply hire based on capability. While hiring for that reason is what should be done, many people that did have to deal with previous outlooks acquired an attitude with those opposed to their tattoos. I have even heard people state that they will blatantly show off their tattoos in hopes of getting a raise from the employer. Understanding that having a meaningful tattoo that you are proud to show off, and having respect for those wishing to give you a job, is something that people should take into consideration. That does not mean to cover your body in head to toe in order for them to be visible, it simply means not going out of your way to show off ink that is in a more “private” part of the body. Remembering to be professional, and dressing modestly should go along with showing the artwork you have.
As many know, it’s not just job interviews or the workplace where you’re judged for having any tattoos. You can simply walk down the street, sleeves full of tattoos, and receive a menacing look from a stranger. My question is: why is that? Why must any amount of ink determine just what kind of person you are? This world is evolving in many ways, we’re all changing with those things and the trends and the standards of what was once socially acceptable. Maybe one day the tattoo controversy will come to a complete end, or maybe the desire to get them will decrease. No one can determine which will happen, but the thing to keep in mind is that tattoos are a thing now; a common thing. Instead of making a poor assumption of someone with one tattoo, or someone covered with them, try asking what some of them mean or why the decision was made in the first place.You may be surprised with the answers that get from someone that you originally thought was “ignorant” for what you may look at as ruining their body.
