This and Tats

I got into my car yesterday just in time to hear a caller on Jeff McArthur’s talk show (am 980) explain to Jeff how distrusting a person with tattoos “on sight” wasn’t discriminatory. 

Jeff asked, “Don’t you think you’re discriminating against the person just based on looks?”  The caller, who sounded very mature, replied, “No, no I don’t.  It’s just the way I was raised.”  That’s the kind of defence that allows bigotry and sexism to flourish in our society.  Smart people move beyond the past and think for themselves.  Otherwise we’d never move ahead as a people.

I know that this kind of ignorance extends to tattoos because I used to have a related bias.  All body ink looked the same to me and I couldn’t, and I suppose I wouldn’t distinguish between an angry, racist symbol or a bit of art.  There’s a huge difference between a thug with a single tear tattooed under one eye, symbolizing that he has killed someone, and a guy with a Chinese language character on his upper arm.  Mike Tyson’s face tattoo is a world away from a butterfly on an ankle.

My husband has what is called a “sleeve”.  He is tattooed from shoulder to wrist.  There is absolutely nothing angry or aggressive about the work itself and in fact it’s quite intricate and beautiful.  But I have seen the looks of disapproval from prim people who are disgusted by the very fact that there is so much ink.   I have a tattoo on my left shoulder that extends part way down my back.  When I got the stars put on, I insisted that they were put over far enough to always be covered, even in a tank top.  Well, they aren’t.  At least one star pokes out whenever I wear a sleeveless top.  At first I was a little uncomfortable about it but I quickly realized that a) there is absolutely nothing I can do about it except stop wearing sleevelees garments and that’s not going to happen so b) I’d better accept it!  And I do.  Frankly, I don’t care what anyone thinks when they see it.  Just like I don’t care if someone else doesn’t approve of my husband’s ink.

Tattoos go back for centuries.  It’s not a form of disfigurement or an act of rebellion.  I can’t explain it and fortunately I don’t feel I need to.  I can totally understand not wanting to warm up to a guy with tattoos if he’s approaching you on a darkened street, with a hoodie pulled up over his face.  I can’t get behind a concern about the well dressed guy at the next table in a restaurant if he has his arms inked. Especially if the only reason you can come up with to defend it is, “it’s the way I was raised.”