Okay fair enough, but we can at least see how things like makeup and jewelry and clothing enhance. I’ve rarely seen tattoos that look better than the skin they cover unless they are specifically there to cover up some injury or flaw. My mom got a tattoo on her arm to cover up a surgical scar, for example.
Is it that or did the opposition to tats come first and this is just an excuse? I know my conservative family would be turned off even if Picasso himself had done the art. Well, especially if it had been Picasso because they hated modern art in any form.
But my point is that the hate for the tat came first, and I suspect that this is the case for most haters.
I think of all the things to be outraged about in the world, and this doesn’t come in my top 1,000.
“Mutilation” is a loaded word. I’m not judging others, but penetration of the skin or anything that won’t grow back is where I draw the line for I would do to myself.
I’ve rarely seen clothing that looks better than a human’s glorious, flawless, work-of-art skin that the clothing is covering. Then again, only beautiful people should have exposed skin. Ugly people need to cover that shit up!
So if someone has gross-looking skin, you think it’s ok to get tattoos but not otherwise?
kayaker your tattoo seems to be to be about either divorce or depression. I remember seeing it before (when you got it maybe?) It’s great!
Oh, please. Twenty years ago, I knew women who were getting tats to celebrate 50th birthdays, to show they were still youthful and wild and free. Twenty years ago. How can they possibly still be edgy and cool now?
Bad decision-making will always be edge and cool. And herpey.
I agree with adaher, at least as far as womens’ legs go. As an ardent admirer of womens’ legs, I have to say that ink always spoils them for me.
Not being a dick, I admit that women shouldn’t care what I think, and should feel free to tattoo the shit out of their legs.
A co-worker had some phrase tattooed on mid-thigh. I said, “It’s upside down.” She said, “Not to me.” I kept quiet but was thinking “Okay, great, it’s summer, you’re wearing shorts, you can sit at a cafe and sip a cool drink and contemplate the phrase you tattooed on your thigh. Whatever.”
I shouldn’t criticize. I passed out drunk in a tattoo parlor once for a week, and woke up with a full-color “Wreck of the Hesperus” all over my chest. This is why I always wear shirts in social situations.
And here’s the thing for those that say they’ve never seen a tattoo that enhanced the owner. Well, obviously that’s in your opinion. I’ve seen many guys that make me salivate that, otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have turned my head for if not for their sleeve (or whatever). Similarly, I think the Suicide
Girls are frigging hot. I’m sure they’d still be pretty au naturale, but all inked up, they have an attitude and a confidence and a sexualness I could only dream of. So, what one abhors, another adores.
Heh. I have the stereotypic “pictorial instructions for chopstick use” on my calf. When people ask, “huh?” I demonstrate how I can cross my legs and use it as a cheat-sheet when eating Chinese cuisine. Really, it’s just “fun with your body” art.
Thanks!
I wish it were that deep. 
I also wish it was somewhere visible to me. I have to use mirrors to see it.
I think you hit on the key difference between tattoos and things like clothes and makeup. With clothes and makeup, there’s a balance between what you want and what you think you need to be presentable, to please others. You may love bellbottoms or an 80s perm, but you’re probably not going to actually do it, you’ll probably find something that fits the way you want to look but is also not going to get you made fun of(loudly if you’re not an adult, behind your back if you are). Tattoos seem to be almost entirely for the benefit of the owner, however. I guess we’ll find out for sure when they become most definitely “out” and a lot of people have a decision to make about how often they are willing to hear, “Hey, the 2010s called, they want their tattoos back!”
Man, some folks that don’t have tattoos are really concerned about people that do. Kind of like how, back when Crocs first became a fad, they somehow had many seeing red. :smack: It all just seems a really odd and bizarre thing to delve very deeply into. I’m sure when tattoos first became prominent, the arguments began about how much they’d be hated and regretted later by their owners. Obviously, that’s not even remotely always true, yet I bet it’s something that will be believed to the end of time, despite any evidence to the contrary.
Yeah, seriously. They’ve been pretty cool for at least a few thousand years by now, so I don’t know what’s going to change that at this point. People who get all wadded up about tattoos seem like they’re desperate to prove that their opinion is fact, and common to all people.
Hardly. Other than sailors, they were almost unknown for the last couple of hundred.
True, some tribal groups way back when used, them, but it doesnt appear for decoration much, mostly for superstition/religion reasons.
Otzi’s tattoe appear to be for some sort of healing ritual. We are not sure, but certainly not for decoration.
They’ve pretty much ruined current porn for me. I always have to search for “vintage” to find unblemished female skin.
And there are still those of us who think that tattoos look like suppurating skin diseases, and were never cool to begin with.
I can’t tell if you just have no concept of the history of tattooing, or if you just think that huge chunks of the world are populated by savage tribes. You just aren’t right about this-- tattooing is and has been common in a range of cultures around the world that are neither obscure nor dead. There are many places with a continuous and vibrant history of tattooing.
Yes, tattoos have often had superstitious, religious, affiliative or healing meanings. Just like tattoos today.
No, I have a good idea of the history, and you are quite wrong.
I’m particularly fond of the “don’t you know what that will look like when you’re 60?!” concern trolling.
A. 60 ain’t that old, dude. Seriously, my mom is older than 60, and she looks pretty good. You’d be lucky to lay her.
B. Skin that’s usually tattooed - upper arms, shoulders, back, legs - doesn’t get all that wrinkly or saggy on most people, even when you’re 100. Butts get wrinkly. Hands, faces, necks, decolletage, and feet get wrinkly. So if you’re all that concerned with wrinkly tattoos, choose your site wisely.
C. How many elderly people are walking around with those commonly tattooed areas exposed, anyhow? They’re usually so cold, they’re covered up!
Didn’t read whole thread.
WRT to OP: We’re there.