Tattoo, Fashion & Piercing, Am I just getting old?

[Cameraman Jenn]

Back in 1986, when I got my first tattoo it was controversial for women, and rebellious still. In later years I got some body piercings. Controversial but not visible so nobody knows unless i show or tell them. Today on my commute I saw a girl who was gorgeous, mostly Halle Berry with a touch of Jessica Alba and a full lower lip with about ten rings in it. She was on her cell phone with those rings clicking and clacking against the speaker part. I thought to myself, "Really? Do guys wanna smooch a lip full of metal? Am I missing something? Why would she do that to herself?" Then I stopped being so distracted by the lip rings and noticed that the back of her neck was totally tattooed with a leopard pattern and then she had stars on both the webs of her thumbs and letters on her fingers I pulled my attention away and noticed that the guy sitting opposite her was a white guy with natty dreads and earlobe piercing the size of my padlock. As I dragged my attention away from his earlobes I noticed the guy standing across from me had a short cut 49er's jersey with belly hanging out and bright green boxers with his pants hanging below his entire butt and about a foot of wrinkled slack resting on his expensive sneakers. Seriously, am I missing something or just old?

Discuss....

[StevieG]

A bit of both perhaps Jenn... I've seen kids with their pants around their scrotums - it seems to be the fashion - it looks horrible. I'd like to think that we were just as bad in the 80s and 90s, but it's hard to believe. I think I might be getting old...

[Cagliostro]

Geez...you used to get beat up for just having torn knees in jeans. But hey, if you don't want to be employable by anybody but tattoo shops, I suppose that is certainly one way.

I'll openly admit that I'm getting old.

[aliantha]

Cag: Tattoo shops or Hot Topic.

Magickmaker has two relatively discreet tattoos. Batty talks about it but hasn't done it yet, I don't think. I keep asking my kids why they insist on drawing on themselves....

Oh, I'm *definitely* getting old.

[Shuram Gudatetris]

You know, I have one of the best jobs in St. Joseph, MO, and easily the best job for a person without a college degree, and I am very surprised at how many people I work with are heavily tattooed and/or endowed with dramatic facial piercings. So don't be too quick to judge....that freak next to you might be quite successful!

[StevieG]

Tattoos and piercings don't really worry me. It's the clothing that shows off their genitals that doesn't seem that professional... to me...

No worries at a night club (not that I've been to one recently ), but at work - well, I wouldn't employ them!

[lorin]

I have thought about this quite a bit (yeah, I know, I need a life). I really think it there are a combination of reasons

These days this whole society suffers from a complete lack of impulse control. People need immediate gratification. I need that house right now, I need that car right now, I need that phone right now, I need that tattoo right now. We (and I include me) do not look into the future. How will I pay for that car, that house, that phone, what will I look like in 20 years when that tattoo is loose and sagging? Its all about the here and now. I also think that getting a tattoo represents our need for permanence in a very transient and unstable world where there is a lack of commitment to ourselves and others. By having a tattoo you are saying to the world that you commitment to that person, that gang, that principal forever.

That all being said I have been designing a tattoo for my ankle that I am going to get when I retire.

[Shuram Gudatetris]

I have an idea for a great big ol' tattoo for my back that I want to get when I have the money. I can't really say much about it, because everyone and anyone would probably think it is a terrible idea. But I like it, and I think it is a good tattoo for me, and it is the only thing I can think of that fits me.

Go ahead and tease me and abuse me, you won't change my mind, or hurt my feelings. I've been in enough pain for the last 9 days that nothing will ever hurt me again once I get over this.

But here it is:

It would be a tattoo of me, my whole person, fighting with a giant crab, possibly a green crab. The crab would have me by the throat with a pincer, and I would be slashing at it with a utility knife, probably slicing off the tip of an antannae or something. Both of us would be banged and cut and torn up pretty bad. Behind us would be an hourglass tipped over on its side. I would want an incredibly wicked amount of detail in the crabs exoskeleton.

Basically, it would represent my eternal struggle with my inner demon(s). It never ends, and it will never end, but I will never let that demon win. I picked a crab because I think a crab kind of represents me: shy with a tough shell locking me away from the rest of the world, and yeah, that's cliche Cancer the Crab stuff, I know, but I think it fits. Green because my inner monster is green, I just know it is. That is the color of my pain. The tipped-on-its-side hourglass of course represents that the battle never ends, but also represents infinity, the two parabolas of the hourglass. And the utility knife is because I used to cut myself up pretty bad with those things, so it would be fitting, the crab is me, and I am me, and I am cutting myself the crab in the tat.

Actually, the only place I can get a tattoo is my back, because my arms and chest are all scarred up from cutting.

Stupid tattoo? Don't think so. It's gonna f-ing happen someday.

[CovenantJr]

I'm still in my 20s so hopefully I'm not 'old' yet, but I don't understand excessive piercing. There are few piercings that don't detract from someone's features, in my opinion, and very very few that are actually an improvement.

[Holsety]

I have an idea for a great big ol' tattoo for my back that I want to get when I have the money. I can't really say much about it, because everyone and anyone would probably think it is a terrible idea. But I like it, and I think it is a good tattoo for me, and it is the only thing I can think of that fits me.

Go ahead and tease me and abuse me, you won't change my mind, or hurt my feelings. I've been in enough pain for the last 9 days that nothing will ever hurt me again once I get over this.

But here it is:

It would be a tattoo of me, my whole person, fighting with a giant crab, possibly a green crab. The crab would have me by the throat with a pincer, and I would be slashing at it with a utility knife, probably slicing off the tip of an antannae or something. Both of us would be banged and cut and torn up pretty bad. Behind us would be an hourglass tipped over on its side. I would want an incredibly wicked amount of detail in the crabs exoskeleton.

Basically, it would represent my eternal struggle with my inner demon(s). It never ends, and it will never end, but I will never let that demon win. I picked a crab because I think a crab kind of represents me: shy with a tough shell locking me away from the rest of the world, and yeah, that's cliche Cancer the Crab stuff, I know, but I think it fits. Green because my inner monster is green, I just know it is. That is the color of my pain. The tipped-on-its-side hourglass of course represents that the battle never ends, but also represents infinity, the two parabolas of the hourglass. And the utility knife is because I used to cut myself up pretty bad with those things, so it would be fitting, the crab is me, and I am me, and I am cutting myself the crab in the tat.

Actually, the only place I can get a tattoo is my back, because my arms and chest are all scarred up from cutting.

Stupid tattoo? Don't think so. It's gonna f-ing happen someday.

You're cool. If only because it's a crab, and because you actually shared that.

I don't mean that sarcastically.

I agree about the piercings coveanant, and go a little further. I would say I'm not even a fan of earrings much of the time... However, I have a "if people want it they should get it" philosophy a lot of the time.

[Avatar]

*shrug* Times are definitely changing. It's becoming steadily more acceptable to be tattooed and/or pierced. Which on the whole is a good thing I think.

About time people realised that ink or steel doesn't fundamentally alter a person's personality or abilities.

(Oh, I've got a tattoo btw. And I wear 3 silver rings in one of my ears, if that counts as piercing...I forget about them myself...don't think I've even taken them out in 10 years or more.)

--A

[Harbinger]

What about boob jobs, lip implants, nips, tucks, designer vaginas , etc. etc? Lotsof women look goofy after lip jobs especially. Goldie Hawn for instance. She used to be very attractive for an old broad. Now she looks comical.

I've always wanted to yank someone's eyebrow peircing out in a fight. But I'm older and more mature now and I don't think I'll ever get a chance.

[Cameraman Jenn]

Again, I just don't understand some piercing or tattoos. I have a tattoo and some piercing myself. I guess what I was getting at was that in my opinion, you could be the nicest most attractive man I've ever met, but if you had a full run of rings, ten across hanging through your lower lip I would not be lining up to smooch you. I would want to feel lip not metal for the smooching. I guess it seems like overkill to me. I don't know.

[Avatar]

Hmmm, interesting question Harbinger...is there any difference between cosmetic surgery, and body modification?

--A

[sgt.null]

designer vaginas , etc. etc?

what?????

[balon!]

I've always wanted to get a luck shrine (a balanced pile of rocks) tattoo. Building them is one of my only artistic avenue, and something I've done to express myself for a long time. Seems like the best candidate for art on my body,

[JazFusion]

designer vaginas , etc. etc?

what?????

There's a new movement going on in the body modification business where women are getting their vaginas "sculpted" to be more "beautiful" for men.

It's disgusting.

Here's my soapbox:

As far as tattoos and piercings go, I'm glad to see the world embracing more people with them. If someone wants to have 10 piercings in their lips, let them. I personally would not, but I'm not going to judge others for the choices they make. Some of my very good friends have tons of tattoos and piercings. Some of them have rainbow colored hair. Some of them have absolutely none and look "normal". But all of them are wonderful souls, and I love them, tattoos and piercings or not.

I think it fairly ridiculous that the professional world's basis for "professionalism" is strict on these kinds of things. It seems silly to me. I've had "normal" looking people do and say horrible things in places I've worked, but yet they're the ones that will get the job because of the way they look. I equate it with looking at an obese person and immediately saying to yourself, "Look, they're so fat! They need to lose weight ASAP", without bothering to realize there is a living, breathing person with feelings underneath that judgment.

This reminds me of a paper I wrote in Developmental Psychology about the "halo effect": which is the positive effect a particularly beautiful person has on other people. People will be drawn to them because they are beautiful, and immediately think of them as nice, kind and intelligent. This is, as we all know, not always the case.

I'm not targeting this at anyone here. I know I'm in the minority for tattoo and piercing acceptance, especially in the workplace. I just wish for once society would realize that not everything can be based upon looks solely.

Ok, soapbox done.

[Cagliostro]

As someone who was into the whole punk scene in the 80s, I know that looking "weird" is nothing to judge a person on. In fact, more often than not, the "weird" people were some of the nicest people you could meet. However, there were certainly some that hated the world, and some that just really needed attention (despite how much they often bitched about people always staring at them).
With that said, it is well known that as unfair as it is, the "professional world" is run this way. They so damned concerned with frightening the clients away that this is the case. So, as much as a rebel as a person is, they have to know that getting a demonic face tattoo will seriously hinder their chances of climbing up the corporate ladder. I'm not saying it is right - it is just the way it is.

[Fist and Faith]

designer vaginas , etc. etc?

what?????

There's a new movement going on in the body modification business where women are getting their vaginas "sculpted" to be more "beautiful" for men.

It's disgusting.

It's also impossible.

However! (OK, someone has to do this, so I may as well get it over with...) I'd like it to get a job where I try to help women gain self-confidence by talking them out of such procedures. The poor, self-doubting women could come to me. We'd examine their vaginas closely, so I could point out all of their points of interest, and natural beauty. I don't really want to be a therapist, but what can I do? How can I refuse to help those in need?!? No, I'm not so cruel as to turn them away.

[lorin]

It's also impossible.

However! (OK, someone has to do this, so I may as well get it over with...) I'd like it to get a job where I try to help women gain self-confidence by talking them out of such procedures. The poor, self-doubting women could come to me. We'd examine their vaginas closely, so I could point out all of their points of interest, and natural beauty. I don't really want to be a therapist, but what can I do? How can I refuse to help those in need?!? No, I'm not so cruel as to turn them away.

this is THE resume I would love to read. And don't forget the personal references.