I always want to ask - "Why the tattoos?"

[yallerdawg]

You know what? I just 'discovered' it's really none of my business!


I Don’t Want To Talk About My Tattoos With Strange Men by Emily McCombs HuffPo

Even if a man isn’t touching or leering, commenting on tattoos can feel like a perpetuation of the entitlement to our bodies that women experience constantly. Never mind that we’re only riding the train home, or standing in line at the grocery store ― we are still on display, our bodies still up for discussion and commentary. It can feel mentally jarring to be minding your own business, perhaps daydreaming or reading a book, and have your attention drawn again and again to the reality of your thighs or your bare shoulders. The question or compliment itself often feels like a ruse, a thin excuse for men to gleefully exert that access to our bodies, to get away with something in public

Things I will be keeping to myself from now on:

[FakeNoose]

1. "Got any ragrets?"

[comradebillyboy]

10. A classic!

[lame54]

14. Is she lying?...

I don't have any either
Whatever they are

[hlthe2b]

2. No one's business but the "wearer"--absolutely

That said, I truly personally detest them but I'd never criticize anyone for having them. Everyone gets to make their own decisions. No doubt a lot of people dislike the way I dress, the shoes I chose, the car I drive. None of their business, either.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. I feel the same way. I don't like them, so I don't have any. What someone else decides to do

with their body is none of my business. One of my own children and all three of my adult grandchildren have tattoos. Their body, their choice and Granny keeps her opinion to herself.

[yallerdawg]

4. I thought some things we do were an 'invitation' to conversation.

I had never thought that was an unfounded presumption on my part.

Self-awareness can at times be startling.

[hlthe2b]

6. Depends on the person, the issue, and the question...

No doubt a lot of people chose their tattoos as an "attention-getter" and are happy to talk about them. Probably a good thing to get to know them first...

On that score, there is a big difference between commenting "I like your tattoo or I like your hat, or I like your shoes, earrings, etc" versus engaging in a head to toe "critique". I think the latter is what we are referring to. And to critique someone on a personal level is really a "none of your business if not asked" kind of phenom.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Count me as another who simply does not get tattoos,

especially ones on the face or neck.

But I do understand they are none of my business.

[Aristus]

7. I have a lot of patients with tattoos.

If the artwork is especially good, I'll say 'nice ink!' and be done with it.

They thank me, and that's all.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. I think most tattoos are hideous but I would never comment on someone's

because what other people do to adorn their bodies is their choice and none of my business. If someone asked my opinion of their tattoos I'd probably say something to the effect that it was nicely done, but I'd keep my opinion about tattoos in general to myself.

[NightWatcher]

9. I'm going to decorate myself in an extreme way, but don't you comment about it.

I don't care what you do to your body, but you cannot avoid comments from people.

[mr_lebowski]

11. Man, this is a pretty damn wide range in the scale of 'offensive behavior' ...

I mean ... isn't blurting out "So are you f***ing a tattoo artist?" like 1,000X more offensive than "using your tattoo's as a conversation starter as a means to ask you out"?

Seems a bit cynical and disingenuous IMHO to lump these two actions together ... but then again, I'm neither a woman, nor am I afflicted by the recent outbreak, this scourge that's causing 'publicly visible tattoos' to pop up on so many people's epidermis, so ... I may be too privileged to really understand.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

12. My daughter is heavily inked, and I pity the fool that would say or do some of those things to her!

[eppur_se_muova]

13. So you're wearing a f*ing ***SIGN*** and you resent that it invites attention ???

Not. Thinking. It. Through.

No sympathy for the offended. NONE.

Don't want people to notice it, DON'T GET IT.

[mythology]

15. I can sympathize on some of them

Nobody should be cat-called for example.

[MicaelS]

20. Agree 100 percent.

I think tats and facial piercing are disguisting. I have no sympathy for people that get them.

[tonekat]

16. I have a friend with colorful 'sleeves'

She goes to stores and people think she's wearing a tight shirt.

[MissMillie]

17. My tattoos mean something to me

One is on my ankle, where it can be seen by all.

The other is high up on my thigh, where it can't be seen unless I choose to show it.

I'd be happy to talk to anyone who asked about them. If someone asked, they might want to know something about me.

[yallerdawg]

18. Do you disagree?

But I’m still being approached by a stranger who wants to take up my time and emotional energy to have a discussion about a piece of art that, at the end of the day, lives on my body. This makes for a pretty intimate conversation that often involves said stranger staring at my body parts, commenting on them, sometimes even trying to touch them.

When you’re experiencing it, that kind of attention doesn’t feel like earnest interest. It feels objectifying.

What I'm talking about is my personal presumption that because you have a tattoo, you have 'invited' me to make personal, intimate conversation with you about why you have tattoos, what is their meaning, what is their significance - a damn intimate conversation to have with any person, let alone a total stranger.

That was my presumption. I believe I was wrong to presume that.

[Major Nikon]

19. Sometimes I ride the bus home in a speedo

Without fail, every day multiple people feel entitled enough to talk about it. Mostly it's things like, good god man, have some decency or I wish I was as brave as you. People don't realize how old this gets.

[Ron Obvious]

21. I've NEVER seen anyone who looked better with a tattoo that without it.

But hey, people have a right to disfigure themselves I suppose.

[oberliner]

22. This has got to be a parody