Tattooed people

It amazes me just how small some peoples' capacity for rational thought can be. My friend Lauren posted a message today, asking for advice. Turns out she'd wanted one of her cousins to be a bridesmaid for her. While Lauren isn't against tattoos, her cousin wanted to get a full-sleeve one. They talked about it, and agreed that she would go ahead and get one tattoo and wait for the rest. After that, her cousin went out and got four more and got her nose pierced. Lauren then told her cousin that she didn't want her to be in the wedding.

Well, predictably, the cousin is now all pissed off. So I told Lauren, simply: yeah, she had every right to get a tattoo. You have every right to kick her ass out of the wedding.

I've seen this problem in some of my own friends. Everyone likes to play at the same little logical fallacy when it comes to tattoos: "it's my body, it's my choice!" Yes, that's true. But the problem is, just because it's a personal choice doesn't mean that suddenly everyone else somehow loses their own ability to make choices, such as what to think of you.

Choices have consequences. I had someone tell me the other day tell me, about getting a big and very visible tattoo "hey, it's my choice whether or not to get a tattoo. And it's not like it will hold me back! Nobody can discriminate against me in a job interview or anything like that because of it!" Oh really? Hate to tell you, but that's bullshit. They absolutely can, and absolutely will. True, they can't admit that's the reason they don't choose you for a job, or a promotion, or a relationship, friendship, trust you around their kids, whatever. But then again, whoever they are, professional or personal, they don't really need to give any reason, either.

Personally, I'm not against one or two tattoos that are in a fairly 'normal' location, and that can be hidden. Not my gig, but whatever. I've even been known to try to set aside my own judgements about some people who had slightly more noticeable ones. But big tattoos, full sleeves, all up and down your legs, your back, your neck, your face, your chest, your feet... well. You can choose to get tattoos, you can choose to get piercings, how ever many you want. But don't pretend in doing so that nobody else can choose how to perceive you, and very often judge you summarily, based on that.