Tattoos

It is partly the colour that is so revolting - a sort of dirty blue. Ghastly.

I really don't like them at all.

And yes, I do think they affect job prospects. Last year the young chap (Cypriot) at our care hire firm in Cyprus told us that he'd been instructed to wear long sleeved shirts, since he had a large tattoo on one forearm. He was told that it was not the right image, and he regretted getting it done. Not least because he preferred short sleeved shirts in the summer heat.

David Beckham - covered with the horrible things - is IMO at least partly responsible for popularising them, since he's supposed to be a 'style icon' - God knows why. I'd better not say what I think he's an 'icon' for...

Never heard anything bad about David Beckham Witzend - so just say it.

Perhaps tattoos are almost as old as humanity. They were once a tribal symbol of belonging and a rite of passage. Maybe they still are in some cases. A symbol that says - I can stand the pain - I'm a tough warrior.
Some of the artwork is amazingly skilled and I wonder if there will ever be a living exhibition at Tate Modern. Why not.
There just doesn't seem to be a single reason why people choose to have them done. Belonging, rebellion,shock value, exhibitionism, art that means something personal? I feel the same about piercings. In some cases perhaps there's a link with self abuse, but not all. I don't know. I have wondered if their popularity now is saying something about modern society as it changes.
Personally - They are not for me. I don't find the all over kind attractive in any way. I can't even bear to get my ears pierced. I'm a big woos! (If that's how you spell it.)

While visiting a patient in hospital recently,I noticed a very elderly patient in a nearby bed. He had several tattoos on his arms, done during his youth, but alas, hard to recognise now on the loose, sagging skin of his frail, and aging body. A poignant reminder of the young and vibrant person he must have been once.
The problem with tattoos is that you're stuck with them, and clearly they don't look that good as you age!
I do appreciate that they are creative and artistic, and often they display the incredible talents of the tattoo artist. But, apart from the odd, small discreet tattoo, I find them very unattractive - especially when I see a beautiful bride in a gorgeous wedding dress with tattoos on her arms or back.

There's been a thread about tattoos here before, which received the same vitriol (eg) tattoes are 'revolting, hideous, common, tacky, cheap, repulsive, disgusting' to pick out a few of the comments so far.
I'm in the minority here (as usual). I have three small(ish) tattooes that I designed myself and had done when I was in my 30's. They each represent something personal, and to me are not revolting or hideous, they're certainly not common, or were they cheap. They each illustrate happy memories from the walking book of my life. I cover then at need, so they cannot on sight send the weak stomached into fetid vapours. This is my life, my story, my skin, and as long as I do not hurt anyway else in the process, why should I not decorate myself in the way I choose. I once scoffed I'd 'never end up an old woman and have a blue rinse', now I can look in the mirror at the pink, purple and blue hair and can laugh at my folly. Life's for living, and as a few on this thread say, live and let live. There's far worse in the world today to get so boiled up over.

Good for you

I once passed a man in the street whose whole face and shaved head were covered densely by tattoos - it was terrifying!
I don't like them, but the little ones are ok.
It's the fact that they're permanent that bothers me. They might be a fashion statement, but what happens when they go out of fashion? You can't change them like clothes, hair colour and style etc.

Isn't it judging for all the wrong reasons to assume that as someone has (in another pereson's opinion) a terrifying/ugly, etc. tattoo, it makes them an evil, frightening person. I know people with body covering tattoos who are the kindest people, holding down responsible humanitarian jobs, helping and saving others lives, their tattooes in no way hinder their inner beauty or detract them from their work. I suppose the same could be said about David Beckham, I don't think his tattoos have detered his ability to kick a football around

"Isn't it judging for all the wrong reasons to assume that as someone has (in another pereson's opinion) a terrifying/ugly, etc. tattoo"
I'm sure you're right,boheminan but at the time it just gave me a shock. You couldn't even see his eyes or mouth.

boheminan I agree with you - there are far more important things to get het up about and far worse things that people do than have a tattoo.

I would not choose to have a tattoo. They are a popular fashion..but a faily premanent statement! The people I know with a lot of tattoos do seem to be 'addicted' to them and keep going back for more. So many folk have them now across all walks of life/age etc. It is not a big deal!

I have 2 statement tattoos personal to me done in my 50s ...they are not on show..unless I choose too...and I have 2 holes pierced in both ears ....my son is tattooed and so was my daughter,My GD is having one when she is 18 in february in memory of her late mother....we are a good law abiding kind non judgemental family..my GD also has multiple piercings in her ears and a nose stud...and she looks and is, gorgeous ..so there, every one entitled to their opinion

Ok Witzend, what should the gorgeous David Beckham be an 'icon' for?

I have a small one - it's a expression of art you choose to put on your body. I don't like the big ones. And certainly don't understand the ones you put on your face!

I object to people making themselves unemployable with visible tattoos and piercing then expecting those of us in employment to pay taxes to give them handouts.

There have been numerous threads about tattoos. Attitudes have changed towards them, these days they seem to be known as "body art" call them what you will, to me they are permanent self inflicted blemishes, sometimes on what are perfect bodies sadly. The perfect body speaks for itself, it doesn't need drawing on it and somehow on the less than perfect body, tattoos don't do it any favours One of my sons has a handful on his upper arm and torso. I don't like them, my generation tended to view them as low class and ugly it wouldn't have occurred to us to get one let alone a few, I associated them with say Hells Angel Bikers. My other son I know hasn't any and won't get any done because his partner and her family also detest them, but I don't think he would have any done anyway because he is rarely influenced by his peers when he considers something foolish. I think very visible tattoos could be a drawback in some professions, I have read the Japanese corporations won't tolerate their employees having tattoos, I can understand why, at their worst they just look grubby. I remember Ossie Osborne, who is covered in them, telling his daughter on that fly on the wall programme "if you want to be different now" don't have tattoos