h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have a daughter who has piercings and she is training to do them herself.She also has tattoos and is hopeing to do that as well in the future.She has a wolf howling at the moon on one arm and she has a 3d spider tattooed on her back.My other daughter has a pegasus on one arm and a horse on the other and a piglet on her belly.I myself have tattoos.I have Odin on one shoulder and a female warrior on the other. We regard them as further exprecions of who we are,they are a part of us.I have had my tattoos for a good few years and I am proud to wear them.I have known many people with tattoos from rich to poor.Some good and some bad.You cannot judge a person by what they look like.The same as you cannot judge a book by the cover.I have met some very nice people over the years and having a tattoo has started up quite a few conversations with people.

I agree you can't judge a book by the cover, but, human nature being what it is, I have no sympathy for the idiot in Bedford who has had his whole face tattooed with a spider's web and moans in the local paper from time to time that he can't get a job!

I agree ,He should have looked at the impact such a bold statement would have on his life and maybe put the tattoo elsewhere. The one thing I have always taught my children is that when you have a tattoo consider what the tattoo is and where you put it as they can become barriers to employment.I understand that not everyone sees it as an expresion or art and some see it as a hideous deformity that we inflict upon ourselves and they are entitled to their opinion. Half my family feel this way but as I have told them,I wouldn't wear the clothes you do but it doesn't give me the right to raid your wardrobe and chuck most of the stuff in it and refresh it with stuff more my style.They accept that and accept us for who we are.
So to all I say ,Pull up a chair and have and Life is to short to sit and complain about all the silly niggly bits that get us all down and lets face it we have all been there and done that at some point. To all those who think I am a freak I say hello you are just a friend i don't know yet.I don't bite,I have no teeth for that.So say hello we may both learn something new.

Thanks for that Anevyn - what on earth does that name mean? - and I'm glad to have you as a friend, but I still don't like tattoos -personally

Thats ok If we were all the same this world would be a boring place. The name anevyn comes from a nevyn,ie a nobody or no one.Seemed a good idea when everyone goes by other names and no one actually knows who anyone is.
Its nice to have made a friend on here to,glad to meet you

Thanks for the info, Anevyn, but 'nevyn' comes up with 'no dictionary results' in Dictionary.com. Is it Welsh by any chance? It looks a bit Welsh

I think it might be as an aunt of mine uses the word nevyn and she used to live on Barry and other family live in the Rhonda Valley.

Why should somebody have difficulty finding work because of a tattoo? I'd probably be put off by it too but that's my failing, not the tattoo bearer's.

"I understand that not everyone sees it as an expresion or art and some see it as a hideous deformity that we inflict upon ourselves and they are entitled to their opinion."

I see it as both. Tattood people are no different than others but how they choose to look. I personally find tattoos distracting from ones natural looks. Therefore I don't mind them as much on guys, but on girls I find them to be quite a tragedy. But its only visual, nothing to do with character.

As a girl I'm not much to look at.Nature didn't bless me that way and before anyone says it I am not getting down on myself I am just being honest.I am a very plain jane to look at.Most of the time I go through life and no one ever notices I am there.My tattoos have brightened up a very dull existance.

And I am sure there are people that prefer manmade art covering up their woman, but its not me. I personally prefer any plain jane to someone who I can't even see through the tatts.

I admit, they can look pretty cool, and even attractive at times, but in general, if one can't take em off, they can't be quite as attractive as they were once.

Often the attractiveness of the work is not for the eye of the beholder as for the mind of the wearer. Especially in th elong term. it's a living, interactive life story for plenty of people. a record of their life's trials and triumphs.

I have no tattoos on my face just on my arms

Huzah! you have hit the nail on the head my friend

Unfortunately, as I understand it, the Bedford man with a tattoed spiders web covering his face, was intent on seeking retail jobs - checkouts insupermarkets, cafe's, etc. The proprietors of such establishments, understandably perhaps, thought his image would be off putting to some of their customers and therefore declined his application. Perhaps if he had approached trendy fashion shops or music shops he would have fared better. I do see him from time to time on market stalls.

I cannot help but think that he would have fared better had he not had his face tattoed. Some may feel it is a sad reflection on society that such things happen, but I fear it is only human nature. Perhaps, with the continuing escalation of tattoos, we will all come to think nothing of them and accept them. However, personally, I do not find them attractive, in the same way as I do not find the teenage fashion of wearing jeans halfway round your knees attractive.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and this beholder finds no beauty in tattoos.
That's the way it is.

I do think it's a shame that society is too conservative to allow people to literally live and let live. I would get hassle if I dyed my hair red like I used to because I'm in a 'customer-facing' role now... I think it's wrong BUT I am capable of seeing that just because I think it's wrong doesn't mean I can change people's minds by stamping my feet. Society works through remaining somewhat cohesive and things that threaten that are more challenging for some people to deal with than others.

I've never had a problem with people having a personal opinion on other people's chosen way to represent theselves. I do have a problem when that opinion start to cross the line into a preference for how the other person should conduct their life (i.e. nowhere near me!) We're all human and we're all here to get through to the inevitable end as best we can. I cant stand it when people wear fashions because their mates do without checking in a mirror to see if it suits them... But to go so far as to say they are wrong for doing so? That's not up to me.

Times change, though. About 37 years ago I had to ask one of our cashiers to remove the stud in her nose. We were a prestigious NatWest branch (is there such an animal nowadays??) and they were not a usual sight, except on some Indian girls.
The girl; in question, who was white British, was Ok about it, fortunately - it could have had to be escalated to the Personnel for their view.

I dare say a bank manager wouldn't dare do that now, and perhaps the attitude to tattoos will change similarly

I'm not sure, it would depend on the type of jewelry sported in said nose. A lot of places still have guidelines for presentation in front of customers, I accept that as a fact of life, different companies want a different image, generally a clean-cut 'you can trust us' professional look is a part of that.

How many people have you seen on, say, The Apprentice, who even have an alternatively placed earring? (i.e. top of ear, tragus etc).

If you want to be corporate/front of house it's generally expected that you will make yourself appear within the suggested mould otherwise you 'obviously dont want it enough'.

things will change a bit and slowly, but I doubt we'll ever entirely accept the underground and alternative fully into the mainstream.

My next door neighbour has a shaved head and has had a brain pattern tattooed all over it,i am not sure if this is to prove he has a brain,or,maybe he has had the tattoo to replace the one he has lost somewhere along the line;anyway it looks very scary He is a very nice bloke,although,i have not yet plucked up the courage to ask him why he made such a mess of his head. He works as a doorman in the town,so, i suppose that would scare the hell out of anyone.
My daughter once threatened to have a tattoo,and i was a bit miffed about that,what cured her,was,i showed her my arms,i am a fairly fit 64yr. old. The thing is,cellulite and wrinkles! The rose or butterfly you have tattooed when you are young will look awful as time catches up with you