From an early age, I always wanted to be inked, and I always heard the usual warnings

Transcription

1 Medina 1 Eolo Medina Professor Darrel Elmore English December 2015 Don t Judge a Book by its Cover From an early age, I always wanted to be inked, and I always heard the usual warnings about tattoos: People will look down on you, you won t get a job, you'll regret it later in life, and my mom s favorite over my dead body. Growing up in a Roman Catholic conservative family, personal choices and individuality were hard things to attain, and people with tattoos were almost shunned from society. I am far more liberal than anyone in my family and growing up in Peru, I believed, it was just them. However, coming here and being here already ten years, I see that the stigma on tattoos still apply. The main problem seems to come from people with no tattoos, towards people with tattoos. Frankly, I can t see a problem with them. They're just an expression of self and it s a permanent form of art that takes commitment. I don t see anything wrong with that. The word Stigma dates back to the 16th Century, in Greek culture, a stigma was a type of marking or a tattoo that was cut or burned into the skin of criminals, slaves and traitors in order to be visibly identify them as scums of the earth and they were often avoided and shunned in society. Presently, stigma is a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person. Stigmas can produce feelings of fear, isolation and discrimination and to this day, it is still associated with tattoos. A 2007 Harris Poll found that as of today, 39% of people between the ages of 18 and 29 have at least one tattoo. People who are often tatted have a personal reason for the tattoo, usually

2 Medina 2 being something close to home, religious motive or the occasional funny story. However, back then people that were tatted were assumed to be socially deviant. Us, as humans, we have a tendency to do something we ve been told not to do since we were young and that is judge based on appearance. I believe there are two types of people, the ones okay with people having tattoos - I find myself in that category - and the ones that aren t cool with them. Those often relate individuals with tattoos as having some sort of problem, a criminal record, bad childhood, not religious, etc. I find it to be such an old way to look at things. I have two friends, Bryan and Daniel, who have more than their fair share of tattoos, and when we hang out, the looks they often get are a little uncomfortable, even to me. I can only relate their feelings to the way I feel when I get judged by my tongue piercing. Working at restaurants and clothing stores, you get to meet all kinds of people. I ve found that from 3 years having this piercing I ve received all kinds of attention for it. Younger people often ask me if it hurt, and often tell me they want one or that it s cool. Older people are often the opposite. One went as far as telling me to take that shit off your mouth. From conversations I ve noticed that the same goes for Bryan and Daniel. Younger generations are more into the idea that tattoos are a form of self expression and beautiful art as opposed to older folks who connect them to deviant personalities. The problem with that is that it is the same older folks that judge us for our body art, that are our potential employers. Legally, they every right to fire an employee, or not even offer you a job if they feel you don t represent the image they are going for. But we shouldn t be denied opportunities based on the art on our body. If I have the same or better skills as the next guy shouldn t I have the same chance of being chosen to perform the job?

3 Medina 3 Here s a gentleman with fully covered arms in tattoos. Would you let him save your life? If you saw him without doctor scrubs on the street, would you shake his hand? However, I can see why some people with tattoos are denied jobs. If I had my own company, I would be very selective with who I hire to represent my company and I can only imagine it is also how other people feel. When I see someone heavily tatted in the streets I wonder if they regret any of them, or if they still like all of the ink in their body and as a human going through a thought process at the moment my facial expression might also change and if they see me they might think I am judging them, which could add to the stigma. It is understandable that when you go to work or an interview, you go well-dressed, usually wearing a suit, which should cover the tattoos that are placed in common locations of the body such as your arms or your back. But it is the situation outside of a work environment that worries me more. It s when you're walking outside, going about your day, maybe at the mall or the beach and someone gives you that look. That judgmental look, the one that speaks for itself and says oh my god, why did he get that I hope there s a good explanation for that Does he hate his mother? Who would hire someone like that? How did we forget to do that one thing we were taught when we were young.

4 Medina 4 How did we forget not to judge a book by it s cover, rather than by how rich and enlightening its content might be. I don t understand. A study back in 2009,performed by Wohlrab, Fink, Kap-peler & Brewer, examined the attitudes towards tattooing rating exactly 287 online avatars. The researchers found that those with avatars with tattoos and other body modifications were rated quite different from the ones without tattoos and body modifications. They were rated as more likely to be thrill and adventure seekers, have a higher amount of previous sexual partners, and being less inhibited than their non-tattooed counterparts. So basically we also judge virtual people, they are also stigmatized. However I don t really see anything wrong with those stigmas. Who doesn t want to seem more adventurous and like they had a lot of previous sexual partners, am I right? I also ran my own, simple survey. I made an 8 question survey with the questions that follow: Do you have/want any tattoos? Age? Are you employed? Do you feel judged by your tattoos? What s your take on people with tattoos? Would you hire someone with tattoos? Would you allow your offspring to get tattoos? Do you believe in equality for LGBTA folks? I ran it by 30 people, and to make it fair, I tried to assess people from all age groups, different ethnicities, sex and sexual preference. The results I found didn t quite surprise me as it s

5 Medina 5 something I knew from experience. The older the surveyed person was, the more negative he felt about tattoos, and some about equality for LGBTA. The older people generally felt that tattoos weren t something to be proud of, they wouldn t let their kids get tattoos, nor would they hire someone with them. The younger the surveyed person was, the more open minded his views were. When asked about their take on tattoos most replied with a cool or something about tattoos being a form of self expression and individuality. They were also more open minded about LGBTA folks. Also, around half of the younger people I surveyed had tattoos, and are employed. Now the reason why I asked the LGBTA equality question which I know it may seem unrelated, is because throughout my experiences I ve found that the people that are opposed to tattoos, are also opposed to LGBTA concepts. The survey also found the same correlation. I believe it s because back in the day those weren't what they deemed as normal, that s why older folks are much more angsty against those two concepts. It s like fashion, it s an accessory to my personality. It s a tie, except it s a lot more permanent. It s a lot of things but it isn t something that should deny us an opportunity. I feel as generations go by, the misconceptions will disappear and the stigma will fade. Let s be that generation, the generation that ends the stigma.

6 Medina 6 Works Cited "MORE THAN SKIN DEEP: PERCEPTIONS OF, AND STIGMA AGAINST, TATTOOS." EBSCOhost. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec "Tattoo Prejudice Is Alive And Thriving." Medical Daily. N.p., 07 June Web. 03 Dec Tattoo Survey Eolo Medina. N.p., 29 Nov Local Files. 03 Dec. 2015