The following was written by a good friend of ours:
"i received a text the other night from a friend telling me how Taylor Ryan, the tattoo artist working on my left sleeve, will be coming back to Iowa so i could make an appointment to get worked on. Over the past couple months i've sat down with company reps and discussed body modification with my boss and decided i wanted to turn my 3/4's sleeve into a full sleeve and continue it onto my arm, seeing as body modification is pretty accepted in my career, that is by most companies, but maybe not so many clients.
Two years ago i stepped foot into a tattoo shop not realizing that the minute i decided to tattoo my skin i would be losing complete freedom of my body. I cannot count the number of times i have had random strangers grab and twist my arms into positions they do not bend. I also do not enjoy the quiz questions i get that go along with my piercings and tattoos...."do they hurt"...i mean it is a needle so yes..."how long did it take"...i don't know i didn't time them..."how much did it cost"....quality not quantity...."do your parents know"...yes...."do they approve"...it's my body i don't quite care...etc, etc. I really love the question "does your mother accept the way you look", not realizing that i can't even tell you what my mother looks like, but as awkward of a question that is, i will purposely make my response just as awkward in hopes of making that person feel just as little as they tried to make me.
I really, REALLY, do not like when someone asks me to show them my tattoos. I do not ask to see you naked, or to take your pants off, or to lift up your shirt. my tattoos are apart of me, they are permanent. I cannot take my arm off of my body, and i cannot remove the ink that lays upon my skin, therefore i have the right to not show off my tattoos. my body is my body and i am not a public display for anyone to look at, twist in odd positions, and gawk over. favorite example of personal space, i bent over one day to pick something up, i had a lady say "are those hands?"...yes, i have a pair of butchered hands that are on my lower back and bleed onto my ass. after i told her that she proceeded to pull my pants down and lift up my shirt, HELLO PERSONAL SPACE. my ass is my ass, and i do not have any intentions of showing it off, especially not to some random asshole lady who cannot keep her hands off me in public. Of course, if i were to yell or swing i'd be a terrible person because those covered in tattoos are either thugs, drug dealers, drug addicts, sluts, demon possessed, or criminals. I'd love to tell someone who calls me a terrible person for my appearance that i am happily sober and drug free and i did not get my tattoos in hopes of finding men and i do not steal or so i sacrifice animals of any kind, thank you.
It is 2009, i feel as though it is quite sad that my appearance and the appearance of others with body modification can be "offensive". It is also sad that racism, sexism, homophobia, and all forms of prejudice still exist in 2009, but that's a whole different rant and story.
end of rant."
I can relate to the rant. I, too, have lost count of how many people have grabbed and twisted my arm just to see all of my tattoos. At one point, I even had an elderly woman grab my shirt and pull it down just to see more of my chest piece. AWKWARD. I felt so uncomfortable I don't even remember what she said to me...I just wanted to get away from her.
It's funny - most of the time I forget I have tattoos. As mentioned in the rant, the tattoos I have are on my skin, and they have truly become apart of me and who I am. When people point them out, I'm like, oh yeah...that.
Why have I chosen to be tattooed? A few different reasons I suppose...
1) I personally find them attractive or as Marshall would say aesthetically pleasing.
2) I value the opportunity to "wear" my faith. But don't be confused - this is more for me than for those who observe my art...but then, doesn't that benefit those around me?
3) To hold fast to my choices, decisions, and commitments. I am a wife. I am a mother. I am a daughter. I am an Iowan. I am a child of God. I am drug free.
4) I enjoy art. And I'm honored to have met such great artists (well, minus one...but that's another story for another blog).
Anyways. You don't have to like tattoos or agree with my decisions, but please...just respect me and my body.
Please and thank you.
4 comments:
If you had asked me, I would have said don't; for two reasons, one of them being I foresaw in part the reason for your vent. Now you are coming to an age, a level of maturity, where it matters. But you didn't ask me and I love you because I love you. You are not your tatoos. I choose you and if you come with tatoos, I guess they're along for the ride. Thank you for loving me. I have a whole gallery that must come along for the ride.
But that's just it...it doesn't really matter.
Anyways. Love you, Pops.
I agree 100% with your post. No; retraction. I agree 150% with your post. I agree beyond the technical limitation for agreement. I agree more than is actually possible.
I can't stand it when people decide to use tattoos as a conversation opener; like "oooooh, tell me about your tattoos! What do they MEAN?"
Hmm, well, I just met you. You don't know me, but let me go ahead and tell you about the most deeply impactful moments of my life that affected me so much that they acted as a catalyst for the modification of my own skin. Yep; let's go ahead and do that. Also, no I won't.
Aw shucks, now I'm all riled up. I'm gonna go have some judicial conversations with students. That always makes me feel better. :-)
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