BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Body Art Tattooed Women

I am relitivly heavily tattooed......and I love it all of my artwork most of which is done by my husband.....but you know what I hate I cant even go into walmart without someone asking about them....not quietly but like yelling down the aisle "Hey!!!! Did that hurt?" Argggg! Does anyone else have this problem how do you deal

In the end, this is best dealt with by changing how you feel about people who are going to state the obvious and unobvious, as you sure can't stop them.

I know and I would rather have a person enquire about my art work then just making assumptions, but It like I cant even have a simple trip to the grocery store without having to wear long sleeved shirts! But I guess its a price to pay to be able to express yourself...........

Part of it will depend a lot on where you live and how local opinion runs. Here in San Francisco, people with full sleeves, colored hair or facial piercings isn't considered that out there, and you can pretty much go about your daily business without hassle. Now, travel just a few hours to the Central Valley of CA and it's back to pointing and stares....

I'm sure it must get frustrating after a while. Humans are curious. There are a lot of people who don't have experience or exposure to people who are heavily tattooed. I would think it would just be another option for sharing the art. Since it's the skin you wear it's kind of like an outfit. "ooh I love your sweater. Where did you get?" type of thing. Of course if someone is being rude on purpose it doesn't hurt to tell them so. People want to make connections with other people and sometimes the go with the first thing that pops into their heads. Since your tatoos are prominent it actually makes since people would comment and ask questions. The frequency of you being asked probably has more to do with the lack of opportunity to learn about body tattooing. They probably really don't have a clue. Try to think of it as an opportunity to educate the public. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> As for the loudness, maybe they're all hard of hearing. Or just excited. You could always just ignore them. Smile. Turn and walk away. I don't know. We all have our own little things that annoy us. I obviously am not heavily tattooed but I'd want to see what ya got, I'd also like to think I'd not be rude about it. Ok. I'm rambling now. Sorry for the long post.

I'm all for the educational interaction part. However, that may not be what the other human is after.

Part of the debate comes from the perception that tattooing is or isn't part of the body. To some folks, hey, it's their body and they consider it rude for a stranger to just walk up and start asking questions. A good basic rule of thumb is never to walk up to someone and ask a question that you yourself would feel insulted if you were asked or would seriously prefer not to answer in public. Just because a tattoo can be viewed in public does not mean the person wearing it wants to explain the reasons to the public.

My own discomfort level comes into play in that many people out there who are curious feel that it is ok to just walk up and touch a tattooed person with no permission and no warning. I notice that I am automatically put into a defense position, as a stranger has just come up to me and touched me. Those educational instances usually start with the phrase "I don't recall giving you permission to touch me...." Sadly, men are the worse culprits when it comes to this behavior and it really shows a distinct lack of social skills and mindfulness.

Well, yeah, that's more than a bit rude. Have you smacked anyone? That'd be my first response. I agree you and whoever else who has tats should be able to walk down the street without having to explain yourself OR threat of being fondled.

It was certainly not my intent to offend anyone by my statements I was just basing them on what I read and my own thoughts if I was in that situation. I have one tat so I have no way of knowing how it is for you. I can only imagine (the touching thing really bugs me). Since it is something that can't be changed over night I was hoping to offer a different perspective.

I just wanted to share my own experiences of being a more-than-average tattooed woman. Not much happens to me here in SF that's bad, in fact, I'm more likely to get a yelled out "nice ink!" than anything else. The summer I had the pieces done on the back of my calves, women stopped me all over town and asked who the artist was who did the work.

However, when I travel outside the Bay Area, everything changes. My younger sister and I spent a day together once, when I was visiting back East home from college one summer. There was a point out at lunch where she looked at me and said "they really have to put a vibe out to you or be rude for you to notice, huh?" I had pink hair along with my tattooed upper arms at the time and she was very conscious of how much people stared at me or whispered amongst themselves as we did our shopping. I thought about it and said she was right, over the years I'd learned to just filter out and ignore most of the public reaction.

The reverse happened at the memorial for my maternal grandmother. Many of the women there were in there 70s and 80s. I wanted to present myself there as how my grandmother knew me, so I wore a lovely sleeveless top that day. A lot of the women thought the short sleeves of my shirt were lace or embroidery until they came right up to talk with me. They all wanted to touch my arms, and I let them. They were just fascinated by the tattooing and nearly everyone said that I was to my time how my grandmother was to her own. That really honored me.

I think that disregarding the fact that I am tattooed, as a women, do people have a right to just come up and tug and comment....If I had a rrabbit crawling up my butt then I could understand. I didnt always mind the attention though when I was single in fact I waited tables and It was always a conversation peace that lead the customers to ask questio ns, those conversations were always interesting....But when I started to settle down, when I met and then married my husband,I found myself not wanting any attention at all at least that kind of attention, I have a little sister who has just turned 9 she is my baby I mean I was 13 when she was born so I always helped take care of her, a few months ago we were having a sisters day at the mall and decided to get a charicatur done and the lady the artist I mean asked my sister if all her sisters tattoos scared her at all, my little princess looks up at her with her big brown eyes and says no.... do they scare you? So innocent I am sure that she wouldnt have gotten the iorny of the situation but it still makes me laugh whenever I think about it

These are great stories ladies! Both touched my sentimental bone. You should write more about these events (maybe you already have?).
Thanks for sharing them.