Guest Ink

A long time ago, I asked my readers their thoughts and experience in regards to tattoos. A few people were kind enough to take the time to share some great stories. With Nori's recent visit, I was reminded of my feelings and desire for a bit of ink myself. Nori brings it to mind for me because she was pretty important in me crossing a major threshold in my life, and it is this crossing I want the tattoo to honor. I was also reminded that I had never followed up with the feedback I had gotten. So, let me share a great piece that Shepherd sent me.

For many people, all it takes is a few beers and a dare to go out and get a tattoo. Usually it's an act of rebellion, rather than body modification, which is odd because of the overwhelming prevalence of tattooed people, even in the professional world. So, likkered up on Jack Daniels, they hop in the chair and get a butterfly/flower/bird (for women), skull/mom/girl's name (for men), or sun/moon/earth/peace sign (for hippies).

Then, if you ask them a few years down the road why they got it, the response is always "eh, I dunno." There was no meaning woven into the ink, and so the ink remains far longer than the thrill of rebellion or the sense of self-decoration.

For myself, body mod has always been about demanding the right to own my body. Sure, we can legally do pretty much what we want to ourselves, but we are socially penalized in a number of ways, the most powerful being restrictions by employers upon employee appearance. But while the jewelry envelope is slowly but surely pushed (wal-mart employees are now allowed to wear eyebrow and nose piercings, for example), visible tattoos remain stigmatized despite the fact that they have always been present in most cultures and have been part of us for tens of thousands of years. Why? Is it because they're been worn by rougish sections of society, or are those sections stigmatized because of their tattoos? Of course, I can only speak for American culture- in some cultures (such as tribal Polynesian or even modern Japanese) tattoos can bring great respect.

At any rate, I'll offer some advice to anyone considering getting some ink stabbed into their dermis by an electric needle. While no impressive percentage of my body is covered by tattoos, I feel I'm qualified to give this advice because I'm neither a dopey, "rock-out!" hippy ("Get a tat of Jerry holdin' a bong, maaaan! That'd be awesome!") nor a snobby, angsty body-modification arteest ("You are not nearly cool enough to wear ink, you don't have enough ennui").

First and foremost, above all, think about it. This is permanent. Some tattoo-removal professionals estimate that 50% of people who get tattooed regret it. Piercings are semi-permanent- usually, they leave a small scar. With tattoos, don't even think that you can get it lasered off. That'll just replace your tat with an ugly scar. Basically your only option, should you regret your decision, is to get a bigger tattoo done on top of it. What I do, and what I would recommend, is to decide on a design, and then sit on it for a year. If you still like it after a year as much as you did when you thought it up, then that's a good sign.

The design- For me, the thought of having a piece of flash on my body that hundreds of other folks around the world might wear is a bit disappointing. That's not to say that flash can't have meaning- someone could pick a design based on an idea they wanted to express, and have the artist modify it a bit to make it theirs. But I personally prefer to have them designed by people I know, with my body in mind.

That's another consideration- your skin is not like a flat canvas. Think about where it will lie on your body, and how it will go with your flows and curves. For small designs, this is less of a consideration than for large ones. But bear in mind that certain places, like the inside of the upper arm or the "knee-pit", as well as any bony area, are going to be very very painful to tattoo. So find a meaty area, one that won't sag as you age.

Needless to say, the shop you choose should be clean. Also, if they give you any cooler-than-thou attitude, walk the hell out. You deserve to be tattooed in an environment where you feel comfortable.

Here's some tattoos that I think are not cool:

Any pop fad. All those people with "Taz" tattoos are regretting it, to be sure. I knew a guy who had huge tribal tattoos all over, and when I asked him why he had them, he said, "Cuz I was sick of having Mickey and Goofy all over me".

Skulls, scorpions, nekkid ladies- what's the deal? Nobody thinks you're a bad-ass but you.

Frat letters. I guess I just don't understand the frat thing in the first place. You paid these guys to be your friends, they abuse you mercilessly for it, and you wanna broadcast this for the rest of your life?

Chinese characters. Unless you're chinese, what possible connection can you have to these glyphs? The meaning of chinese characters arguably cannot be understood fully by someone from outside of the culture. How would you describe to a Chinese person the intricacies of the word "fuckface"? Taken literally, the word might be interpreted as "oral sex". Why not take the words you were going to use the characters for, and have some beautiful calligraphy done? Then you would be sure that your tattoo doesn't say "Stupid Honky"

Tattoos that I think are cool:

Old guys with ink from all the places they went in WWII.

People who get tattoos of their friends and family members who have passed away.

Tattoos worn by parents of drawings done by their children.

Any tattoo on a woman over 65.

Happy self-mutilation!


Shepherd
posted 11:33 AM | link |