To Tattoo, Or Not To Tattoo?

It’s only his outside; a man can be honest in any sort of skin. ~Herman Melville, “Moby-Dick”

Tattoos can be cool....

 

Occasionally I’ll sit back and actually take notice what people and spambots are Googling to get to P&Q. One of the most common search terms, as it turns out, is something I’ve never previously written about. Tattoos. Which is odd, since I have no body art of any kind and don’t own the Howling Mad Tattoo Shop in Bangkok (though I wish I did.) So, today’s post is for you, all you body art junkies, sailors, bikers, pirates, Maori warriors, and ex-cons.

 

Tattooing is clearly one of those issues that refuses to go away. Just this week I came across the Georgia mom who allowed her 10-year-old to get inked and a fluff piece about the trend of “mommy tattoos.” Rare is the person who doesn’t have a friend, family member, or co-worker with ink somewhere. Surveys such as this one suggest that over a third of Americans in the coveted 18-34 demographic have at least one tattoo. Off the top of my head I think I’m the minority in my circle of friends in that I am un-inked. So what does all this mean? And how do I really feel about tattoos?

 

Pleased to meet you, "Amsome"

 

Lemme start by saying tattoos are no different, in my opinion, than any other form of art. They can range from the sublime (Van Gogh, Vermeer) to the common and trashy (the velvet Elvis paintings at flea markets.) If you don’t believe me on the latter, pay a little visit to WTFTattoos. Personally I think the decision should be left up to the individual. If he/she is the slightest bit intelligent, they will put some serious thought into what is, after all, pretty darn permanent. They will also stop to consider what other people might think of the Playboy logo, Justin Bieber’s face, or the cast of Twilight as a skin shrine. It’s a decision only the individual can make.

 

I don’t necessarily distrust people with tattoos…after all, several of my best friends have them…but in some ways I concur with the late playwright Larry Shue, who wrote, “Psychologists tell us to beware of a man with two tattoos. One One, he may have gotten on a drunk or a dare. But two means he went back.” Really ,it boils down to the artistry of the tat(s). I can really appreciate a cool tribute to a friend or family member or pet, a military or police brotherhood tattoo, a tribal design from one’s ethnic heritage. I don’t dig the tacky stuff. Cartoon characters are generally a dealbreaker for me, as are pin-up girls/mermaids, corporate logos of any kind, and “celebrity-inspired” crap. The whole point of tattoos, in my humble opinion, is to express one’s individuality and soul. It’s not a cheap billboard for other people’s idea of “individuality.”

 

I'll be honest...I think they both look silly

Tattooing, it seems, are one of those industries that is recession-proof. Everybody from teenage girls to middle-aged moms and old guys are getting them these days, it seems. And that’s fine with me. People can do whatever the hell what they want with their bodies, whether silly or sublime. It doesn’t affect me. The one exception I’d make for this would be minors, as in the case of the kid in Atlanta. It’s a decision adults need to make, considering the permanence (not to mention the elasticity of the human skin, and what the thing is likely to look like in 50+ years.)

 

As for judging people with ink, I generally don’t. I know what I personally consider cool and what I consider wince-worthy (hint: all you people with neck tats) and I’ll stick to that. Like all things it’s pretty much on a case-by-case basis. If you’re a smart, articulate, cool person who just happens to have Kat Von D-style ink all over, that’s all right by me. I will treat you as smart, articulate and awesome. If, however, you’re a saggy-trousered knuckle-dragger whose articulation consists of grunted single syllables, well, I think you know where I stand on that.

 

And I’m sure my readers are wondering whether I personally would ever get inked. If I could ever get over my near-paralyzing fear of needles, I might go for something like this (it’s my animal totem, and I’m a huge Poe fangirl). Where? That’s between me and the tattoo artist, but thanks for asking and reading P&Q.

 

 

 

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~ by Howlin' Mad Heather on January 22, 2012.