Tattooes

Some months ago a friend of mine got herself a tattoo. It surprised me because we are of the same age - and I was kinda thinking that we are already past the tattoo period - but also because I had never before heard her talk about getting one. She told me about her tattoo on a letter, which had the effect of introducing a thinking and meditating period, which doesn't happen with e-mails and messages over the internet. My first thought was wondering why she didn't post a word of it on the Internet, specially because she tend to live her private life on the wall - just like the 98% of the users of social networks. Nothing of the things she told me about on the letter had ever been mentioned on her profile.

Getting a tattoo has been a fleeting thought or a fantasy for many of us. Personally the idea has appealed to me more often than not, thinking about getting a sea turtle and all the way to Vegeta - an anime character. However I never actually went to get ink done. A friend of mine once got a tattoo of a Sun done with henna, which stayed with her for a couple of days. That idea appealed to me, thinking I could resource to it if I've got the urge for a tattoo, but the itch for ink never got high enough for henna. Thus, getting close to 40, as my friend got the ink done, for a moment the idea appealed to me. She got a dragon - as we've been born in the year of the dragon -  but I wasn't really taken away from it. That or maybe after seeing guys with the Mortal Combat medal tattooed on their bodies got the flair of the dragon away from me.

In those days I had found a picture of a bronze statue depicting the Roman goddess Minerva, not exactly as the Romans depicted her - nor was she entirely refered as "Minerva" but rather Athena/Minerva - and the piece was so beautiful that I thought about getting her inked up. I have thought already about getting the statue since I like the idea of Minerva - the maiden goddess who represents wisdom and skill, thus signaling that the woman loses no value if she devotes her life to the development of the mind and the skills, instead of being the sexual, reproductive object our society makes from us, always circling around sex, striving to be attractive and beautiful, as if there were no other way to measure us, but from the number of men who want to fuck us.

This idea didn't last long in my head - not even enough to consider a henna tattoo, as I remembered Mitch, a girl I met at the Alliance Française, back in the days I was studying French. She was working at the UNICEF back then and she had quite some many tattooes on her body. She was proud of them all and loved them, but one day told us how hard her tattooes often made her life. Though she held an administrative position at the UNICEF, it happened that she was invited to attend a formal party. For those occasions, she watched with sad envy how her coworkers went for beautiful cocktail dresses or gala gowns with deep necklines, low backs or spaghetti straps. She had time and again look for more conservative dresses that would cover her tattooes.

Truth is that tattooes - though a form of art and a means of personal expression - are also a brand you put on yourself, and upon which others will judge you. Truth is that not everybody will get that you get butterflies to show your love for freedom, or a Tree of Life to represent your love for nature and the mistical balance of life. Many people won't even go as far as to give a thought about the particular design of your tattoo, but will automatically assume that you are an irresponsible, rebelious, show-off person. If they - by chance - become visible, say you lean down too low or your shirt rises up, you pants pull a bit low, the people you are having a meeting with will pay less attention to you and concentrate more on the tattoo you have.

There are places where you can't enter if you have tattooes, such as the baths in Japan - if I'm right and I remember correctly. Stupid or not, tattooed people are usually discriminated, often labeled unfairly and repressed to a place in society where these societies think they should be.

Though I understand the appeal of tattooes, and the beauty of them, before you get one I suggest you to think a couple of things over:

1. The kind of life and future you wish to have. Think of the circles you want to enter, the job you'd like to have, the friends and type of family you'd like to have, your hobbies and so, and think how does a tattoo fit into them.

2. Either you want your tattoo to be on plain sight or hidden, remember that you will encounter moments in life when the tattoo will be on plain sight. Because of the dress you'll wear at the party, or the swimsuit or bikini you'll wear, maybe because you'll take your shirt off for a game, or you'll get into a sauna or get a massage at a spa. Think of the hardships it can cause you and whether you are willing to deal with the consequences of it.

3. Think both of the tattoo you want to get done, who will do it and where. Removing it isn't as easy as you'd think of, so if you  really want some ink done, ask if you can get first the tattoo done with henna. That way you can get used to it, see if you like it, if you can live with it, and then - if you are happy and you fit it well into your life -  get it permanent. If the henna can't be done, still think very well about it, because once it's up, it's not going anywhere.