What do you reckon about tattoos?

I hardly think judging tattoos negatively is a stain on the soul, massively over the top imo My son has a few, we don't like them, I never will like tattoos per se. I don't feel the same about piercings, purple hair or any other such outward statement because those aren't permanent. Disliking tattoo is hardly tantamount to morphing into Hitler. Committing a mortal sin, which according to my catholic upbringing was doing something really, really bad. thus leaving a stain on one's soul.

Whether one likes them or not is a matter of taste and opinion, "what do you think of them" was the questioned posed in the OP. Tattoos as a subject matter will always present two sides, that's it really, neither good, not bad to like or dislike them!

Lizabeth Ann you raised a good point, I like others probably forget new members won't have realised that certain subjects have been raised many times before. Anyway welcome to you as a new member.

TerriBull

I hardly think judging tattoos negatively is a stain on the soul, massively over the top imo My son has a few, we don't like them, I never will like tattoos per se. I don't feel the same about piercings, purple hair or any other such outward statement because those aren't permanent. Disliking tattoo is hardly tantamount to morphing into Hitler. Committing a mortal sin, which according to my catholic upbringing was doing something really, really bad. thus leaving a stain on one's soul.

Whether one likes them or not is a matter of taste and opinion, "what do you think of them" was the questioned posed in the OP. Tattoos as a subject matter will always present two sides, that's it really, neither good, not bad to like or dislike them!

Lizabeth Ann you raised a good point, I like others probably forget new members won't have realised that certain subjects have been raised many times before. Anyway welcome to you as a new member.

Im sorry you feel its over the top ..I actually feel that many of the really nasty , negative and totally judgemental comments are OTT So a stain on the soul.. ? Judge not... and all that.

I see these kinds of arbitury old fashioned narrow minded judgements as a stain on the soul in that its the deepest kind of discrimination , its unfair and its unnecssary yet just look at how many nasty petty comments this thread has bought up..
I bet most people wouldnt dare have the guts to say these things face to face.

So while the faces may be blemish fee and they may smile inside they are rotton with their hate and judgement.

Well said Cass64

"rotten with hate and judgement" I think you are reading too much into what are personal opinions Cass.

My son got his first tattoo aged 18 to mark the death of his brother, who he undoubtedly loved. My husband, father to both sons was very saddened by his desire to permanently mark his body. I remember their conversation in the aftermath of him having that done, when he explained losing a child the greatest loss he'd ever experienced, but no way did it give him the impetus to commemorate such heartbreak with a tattoo because feelings don't go away and you don't have to make an outward display to the world about grief. However, we both understand our son comes from a generation that doesn't understand stoicism. Our son is someone who likes to make statements, along with many of his peer group. I know him inside out, he would also admit he is impetuous and sometimes lacks judgement. Our other son on the other hand would never contemplate having a tattoo, I'm not saying that makes either of them better or worse, just one is more prone to draw attention to himself, that is his nature.

When I grew up tattoos were socially unacceptable so possibly our attitudes are hard wired insomuch as many of us are of our time. I know my parents would have had ten pink fits if I'd have come home with one, but people didn't then, ear piercing was about as far as anyone went.

I will never like them in the same way as I don't like torn jeans it's simply a matter of opinion, both are pointless imo but the jeans will eventually be cast aside when that fashion fades into oblivion, the tattoo well it's there forever, and we don't continue along life's path always liking what we once thought was great.

TerriBull that’s a good post.
Posters on GN express their own opinions and others read their posts and think them ‘good’, ‘stupid’, ‘fascinating’, ‘ill-informed’ ‘hateful’, ‘hurtful’,etc and post back their likes and dislikes and their own feelings on the matter or share what they feel is their expertise to try and correct what they see as lack of knowledge. What they write is often offensive to readers who hold different views!

On the other hand, many posts on GN threads definitely seem OTT to me and possibly some of mine seem OTT to others, but a stain on the soul? ‘Speck and beam.’

If posters stuck to ‘judge not that ye be not judged’ some threads would never get off the ground.

We are all entitled to our opinions which is what was the point of the thread.
No-one has had derogatory remarks about anyone here. It's just how we all personally feel.
Would you get so upset if I said I didn't like marmite?
It's just nice to know others points of view.

People with tattoos will of course defend their choice, and if they’re happy with them then great!
But if asked what I think of them on an anonymous forum I’ll give my honest opinion - because in real life I wouldn’t want to hurt someone’s feelings face to face.
As we all know, in RL, quite often people tell you what you want to hear, because it’s rude to be negative about anyone’s appearance. But they’re lying.
Tattoos look awful on most women.
Why any woman wants to look like a masculine sailor god only knows but that’s life. If a friend or family member asked my thoughts on tattoos I’d say exactly what I’m saying here. But if they already had one and asked my thoughts ( not that they would ) I’d be a bit more discreet.

Thank you Mollygo, as I said what anyone feels about them reflects taste and personal opinion.

I've posted my own personal experiences about my son, I would add that once he was in tattoo mode, he had several more done. At the age of 21 he and girlfriend of 3 or so years decided to embrace the hackneyed idea his and her tattoos, each others names for a Christmas present to each other. Swearing their undying love and a relationship they saw as a "forever" one. Time moved on and unfortunately she was 3 or 4 girlfriends ago, I say unfortunately because I really did like her a lot and they did have nearly 5 years together. However, in due course son had new girlfriend, at the time he had the cheek to ask whether we could pay to have ex girlfriend's name removed as a birthday present, a painful procedure both for wallet and body I gather, anyway our riposte" you have to live with your choices I'm afraid" It reminded me very much of a character Catherine Tate once portrayed "Young Lauren the schoolgirl", had boyfriend of the moment "Ryan" tattooed, broke up and then said to her mates further down the line "anyone know another Ryan?" I believe Jonny Depp when going out with Winona Rider ages ago had "Winona Forever" inked, but after the relationship broke up, changed that to "Wino Forever"

On a more serious note, and going back to being impetuous and not always feeling as you did once, as you continue down life's path, I'm thinking of my son here. He had the commemorative tattoo to late brother done aged 18, he's now in his 30s, a few years ago out with a new group of friends who didn't know his personal history, on a hot day in pub garden, he was wearing short sleeved t shirt, tattoo was visible, so someone in that group asked him about it. He confessed he didn't really want to talk about it at the time, and pondered about the wisdom of getting carried away in the moment.

My sister has a couple of beautiful large tattoos - she has a giant butterfly going over her shoulder to the top of her chest. The other one is around her hip and we both agreed TMI on that one lol! They look fine on her - were done by an excellent tattoo artist and were extremely expensive. I really dislike the rush to judgement for women, in particular, choosing to have tattoos. That is a very old fashioned attitude and one I do not subscribe to. Yes there are plenty of awful-looking tattoos out there, on men and women both, but I have also seen lots of lovely artistic tattoes on both sexes. Like piercing, its a matter of personal choice and expression - sorry some of you cannot see it like this.

Common as muck. It's a fad and I'm sure a lot of people will regret having one.

the oldest known human to have tattoos preserved upon his mummified skin is a Bronze-Age man from around 3300 BCE. Found in a glacier of the Otztal Alps, near the border between Austria and Italy, 'Otzi the Iceman' had 57 tattoos.

I always told DC that the day they got a tattoo was the day they left home. Some years later, after leaving home, DD has a rather pretty Charles Rennie Mackintosh design on her arm and DS has some ugly thing on his. I can only hope they stop there. A tattoo is well up in my list of things to never do.

Why any woman wants to look like a masculine sailor god only knows

That’s exactly my type, Kandinsky, so thank god they do!

Wanders off to add Lea DeLaria to my evergrowing list on the crush thread

TerriBull Read your posts with interest (as always) and was stuck by your mention of stoicism in relation to your son, and therefore felt his getting the tattoo may have been more than a symbolic memory of his brother and might be about externalising the pain of that grief, literally wearing his heart on his sleeve? The change since would fit. Not trying to psychoanalyse your son, just feeling for him and you - such a huge loss.

I've never had a tattoo, got close one drunken night in Amsterdam but mercifully I ducked out. Not because I'm particularly against them per se, but not on me. I have a weird phobia about ink (even washable ink) on my skin and would have freaked out had I woken up sober with a tattoo. Husband has one, he doesn't regret it as such but says if he could go back in time he'd not have bothered.

But people like him are 'randoms' - one tattoo, on a whim, no big regrets. I believe some people see it as an art form, as in living art and an outward expression of who they are and what they represent as a human. It seems to me that seeing it that way it's good to accept that like all things it's an evolution and for some people it's an important method of self expression. But I tend to be very accepting of other people as long as they are decent humans, what they look like is wholly irrelevant to me. But that's me.

As a form of self mutilation (as some have described it) I'm not so sure that should be a cause to condemn it - human beings have been altering their appearance in physical ways since they first stood on two legs, so you could argue it's in our nature as a species. In fact an absence of doing it is almost more interesting - if you consider that it was always a way of telling others who you are and what meant something to you, in short being open, then does it follow that we have been socialised not to show our true selves now? We can present many different 'faces' to our 'tribe' by the use of make up, clothing, hair colour, accessories etc. The art of disguise? A tattoo is a permanent statement of what means something to us and who we are. I think those who see it that way may not ever regret them.

Sorry, bit of a ramble - but yet another really interesting topic that probably needn't be as divisive as it is.

The self mutilation aspect is interesting - I self harmed for years and have some lingering scars. When I was considering a tattoo, I figured that since I already had permanent markings on my skin I might as well get some that looked pretty.

AmberSpyglass

The self mutilation aspect is interesting - I self harmed for years and have some lingering scars. When I was considering a tattoo, I figured that since I already had permanent markings on my skin I might as well get some that looked pretty.

Or perhaps began to tell a different story about you?

All human history is the recording of and telling of stories in one way or another. Why not our own individual history on our own skin?

janiepops Wow your foot tattoo is beautiful. I love the colours, very artistic.
Tattoos are a personal choice and if you like them get one and if you don’t then look away.

I don’t have any and I must admit to not liking them. To me they look like bruises! Skin is the largest organ in the body, why damage it. I know someone who lost his beloved dog and had a tattoo of him on his arm, he loved it but I thought it was awful, looked like Winston Churchill! My DIL has a little unicorn tattoo, that is quite pretty but I still don’t like them. I feel the same about body piercings! That’s another thread!!!

As I said earlier, I dislike tattoos and would never have one, but each to their own. The tattoos that really make me cringe are the ones done on the inside of the wrist where the skin is very thin and the blood vessels are visible. Surely this is extremely dangerous? I just detest the thought of that tattoo ink going inside body!

Some people hang their art! Some like to wear it. I wear mine proudly. Stoicism (I'm a 60s baby) maybe part of my generation too. However I'm still the wild one and that won't change.

First tattoo at 22. 2nd at 40 after I left the ex in 2000. Many years later, 16 more and yes you read that right and I will have more. Waiting for the tattooist to reopen as I missed the one last year.

Don't have to say but I will however I have never come across anyone who doesn't like my tattoos, even people who wouldn't have them.

Mine are NOT horrible ones They are all pretty ones and symbolic.

Even the Welsh dragon on my arm is surrounded by daffodils with my late husband name on, obviously his memory, who is my 2nd husband, soul mate, best friend and the dad he didn't have to be to mine.

Others include another flag (Greek) our spiritual homeland, flowers, roses, butterflies, autumn leaves, daisy chain, bracelet dedicated to my late mom, dolphin, birds, ribbon with my grandchildren and children names on.

My favourite is the angel praying over a sleeping baby in a crib on my back with wording above.

Oh I have long hair dyed deep purple, look 10 years young than I am and yes I wear statement clothing. Though I don't wear all the piercings I used to have anymore LOL

There is nothing conventional about me and it won't change ?

Well Jonathon Van Tam has said that one of the things he’s going to do when lockdown is over is get a tattoo. If it’s good enough for JVT ..........?

I married a tattood man and it didn't bother me.
What I have said before about other subjects still stands here.
We should all do what we want to, - as long as it doesn't hurt other people.

Do these young folk have their tattoos ever think about what they will look like after 40 or 50 years? When the skin gets saggy and baggy, what will their tattoos look like then?

No I don't like them!!