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[quote=JetJockey;15649834]Like I said, I got my tattoos because I like them. I was the first of my group of friends to get a tattoo, only 2 of my coworkers have them and still to this day most of my friends don't have any tattoos. My 3 best friends don't have any and neither did my boyfriend (we recently split after nearly 7 years together). The tattooed people I *do* know didn't get them to show off or to gain societal recognition. In fact, my tattoos are covered up most of the time.
Humans have been marking themselves with tattoos for thousands of years for a multitude of different reasons...it's part of our culture.[/quote]
Lol. How so? For one, there is no universal human culture. I am British. A German has a different culture than I do. Also, by using the term culture you've basically proven my point of it being a social thing and nothing less. It's just an extension of art and expression, but there is no supreme reason to get one or to have one.
My buddy is out there looking for someone & has a preference for someone with no tattoos & he's finding that to be quite a rarity. He asked me if I knew of any females that didn't have any & I really couldn't think of any. It seems that not having tattoos nowadays is very edgy since it's such a rarity. I wonder where he can find a girl who doesn't deface herself besides maybe a very radically religious church/temple or whatever.
Ha! I knew I'd be back in style one day.
However, I don't consider a tattoo to be "defacing" one's body. It's a personal choice, and what someone else does to his or her own body is none of my business. If someone has tattoos that turn me off, then I just wouldn't date him because I wouldn't be attracted. Morals don't enter into it.
My guy has a tattoo, and he is thinking of getting a second one. He has also had piercings, although he let them close. If he wanted to get re-pierced, more power to him. Again, his body, his choice.
I don't know, I'm a 24 year old female free of tattoos. I'd say there's a decent number of women where I work in the same age group that do not have tattoos (or at least visible ones).
I'm betting your friend is looking in the wrong group. Look for middle class (or up) girls with decent jobs and there will probably be a good proportion of them that do not have tattoos.
Honestly though, I judge someone much more on what they got a tattoo of rather than whether they got a tattoo. I have to say I dislike meaningless, cookie-cutter, or multiple/large tattoos. But I can appreciate a high-quality tattoo that has a lot of meaning for someone. That is the only sort of tattoo I would consider getting.
I don't think "class" has anything to do with tattoos. I work for an accounting firm and still have 6 and some piercings left. I just don't have anything "visible" for tattoos. I choose not to get anything gigantic that is visible because I'm still young and don't want to "hate" my tattoos in the future. As for the ones I already have...those all have to do with my heritage or things that I love.
Like I said, I got my tattoos because I like them. I was the first of my group of friends to get a tattoo, only 2 of my coworkers have them and still to this day most of my friends don't have any tattoos. My 3 best friends don't have any and neither did my boyfriend (we recently split after nearly 7 years together). The tattooed people I *do* know didn't get them to show off or to gain societal recognition. In fact, my tattoos are covered up most of the time.
Humans have been marking themselves with tattoos for thousands of years for a multitude of different reasons...it's part of our culture.[/quote]
Lol. How so? For one, there is no universal human culture. I am British. A German has a different culture than I do. Also, by using the term culture you've basically proven my point of it being a social thing and nothing less. It's just an extension of art and expression, but there is no supreme reason to get one or to have one.
I don't really know where you're trying to go with this 'social' thing... everything we do as humans we do because of societal reasons. Why would tattoos be any different? I think what you're trying to say is that it's 'herd mentality' and getting tattoos is just another way to be a 'sheep' of sorts. In a way, that's absolutely true. There are many people out there that only get tattoos to fit into a certain group, I won't deny that. But, there are many more out there that don't do it for that sole reason.
And tattoos were a part of multiple cultures over thousands of years, so I'd say it was one of the very few things that is fairly universal when it comes to culture. Germans have tattoos, Brits have tattoos, Americans have tattoos, Mexicans have tattoos, ancient Egyptians had tattoos, ancient Greeks had tattoos and even far flung tribes that had limited contact with other societies STILL had tattoos.
I'm betting your friend is looking in the wrong group. Look for middle class (or up) girls with decent jobs and there will probably be a good proportion of them that do not have tattoos.
At least where I live, tattoos do seem to tied to where you work and what you do. People without tattoos do seem, in general, to be in the higher-paying or more prestigious professions. It's practically unheard of, for example, to find anyone in the legal or legislative world, medicine, or in Big Oil and Gas who had them. When you can't check your "individuality" at the door, you may have a problem.
There are some companies that are more liberal on the tattoo front, however, most are not. I read an article somewhere that indicated that 80 percent of employers don't allow visible tattoos. And since it's really warm here a lot of the time, that means that if someone has one on an arm or leg, long sleeves and long pants in summer. When I worked in HR, we turned away a lot of experienced people because of tattoos. Just didn't fly in a professional setting anymore than hair that's dyed blue, nose piercings, lip plates and low-cut shirts and tight, short skirts.
I disagree about straightening and whitening teeth. Those are permanent changes to one's body. And I don't care what you call plucking my eyebrows--these babies will never be allowed to grow back to my pre-plucking days. And most American men appreciate a shaved leg to the point that they prefer them smooth all the time and would have no problem with electrolysis. That's a permanent change.
My point to the OP was that calling one thing "defacing" while almost definitely approving other changes to one's body is silly. Very, very few women are completely au naturel. Men who think they want that rarely do. They want women who shave and pluck and wear deodorant and have soft hair and all that stuff. The difference between defacement and beautification is a simple matter of taste.
I think most men have a hard time telling the difference between completely natural and subtly applied make-up and color.
At any rate, society will take my razors, trips to the salon, and Opalescence away from me over my dead body.
Shaved legs and underarms are just a gimme in Western society. I love my rocker girl blonde-and-black hair. And I firmly believe in my heart of hearts that your smile is your best accessory. I love, love, LOVE having a good set of chomps to beam at people. Genetics made them straight, so I was never self-conscious of them (thank you, Mom and Dad!), but once I whitened them, I found myself smiling a lot more, just because. Also, my mother and older sisters are right about something: After 40, lipstick makes a huge difference to your face, so might as well go all the way: red lips, white teeth, big smile.
I don't really know where you're trying to go with this 'social' thing... everything we do as humans we do because of societal reasons. Why would tattoos be any different? I think what you're trying to say is that it's 'herd mentality' and getting tattoos is just another way to be a 'sheep' of sorts. In a way, that's absolutely true. There are many people out there that only get tattoos to fit into a certain group, I won't deny that. But, there are many more out there that don't do it for that sole reason.
And tattoos were a part of multiple cultures over thousands of years, so I'd say it was one of the very few things that is fairly universal when it comes to culture. Germans have tattoos, Brits have tattoos, Americans have tattoos, Mexicans have tattoos, ancient Egyptians had tattoos, ancient Greeks had tattoos and even far flung tribes that had limited contact with other societies STILL had tattoos.
I'd say it's as universal as one is going to get.
No. There are things we do that are inherent to our nature, and things we do that are just socially constructed. Tattooing is not truly inherent to our nature, and hence is just an arbitrary construct of society. Nothing different from Facebook or getting a Blackberry.
At least where I live, tattoos do seem to tied to where you work and what you do. People without tattoos do seem, in general, to be in the higher-paying or more prestigious professions. It's practically unheard of, for example, to find anyone in the legal or legislative world, medicine, or in Big Oil and Gas who had them. When you can't check your "individuality" at the door, you may have a problem.
There are some companies that are more liberal on the tattoo front, however, most are not. I read an article somewhere that indicated that 80 percent of employers don't allow visible tattoos. And since it's really warm here a lot of the time, that means that if someone has one on an arm or leg, long sleeves and long pants in summer. When I worked in HR, we turned away a lot of experienced people because of tattoos. Just didn't fly in a professional setting anymore than hair that's dyed blue, nose piercings, lip plates and low-cut shirts and tight, short skirts.
I thank the FSM every day that my company is both prestigious, high-paying AND accepts tattoos It definitely is a rarity, but they can be found.
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It definitely is a rarity, but they can be found.