There’s a stereotype revolving around women who have tattoos. Multiple, actually. One, “you’ll never find a job with those.” And two, “chicks with tattoos are so hot, dude!” While we are fully aware tattoos are a stigma and may affect some employers decisions and we also understand that tattoos are pretty and interesting, there are people behind the art on our bodies and I think I speak for all women with tattoos when I say that we wish you’d look at us in the same light in which you look at boys with tattoos or girls with clean arms.
We know our art is awesome, we wouldn’t pay hundreds of dollars and endure the pain of getting a tattoo if we didn’t think it was cool looking, but also, there are generally deep meanings besides just being nice art. We love being known for our tattoos and we love people pointing them out and asking questions because it truly is a story, our story, printed on our skin. What we don’t like is having some sort of stereotype about us being more sexual or more wanted by a “certain type” of man. We do not get this art on our bodies to be looked at differently, we get it for us to wear with confidence.
In this day and age, the millennial age, we suppose most hiring managers or people in the industry will understand body art and will accept it, however, the vast majority of people do not. We are constantly told by people older than us that, “you’ll have a hard time getting a job with those” and “you didn’t think it through before you got that, did you?” We did. We wouldn’t just get things written on our bodies without giving it a second thought. I believe that once we get to the age where we get a “real” job, it will be socially acceptable to have tattoos and employers will be okay with hiring more women with tattoos, as they generally do not have an issue with men who have tattoos.
What we put on our bodies permanently is the same as what we wear, it’s an extension of ourselves and we just hope to be understood through it.