OK, so first off, I am tattooed.
If I'm wearing a short sleeved shirt and/or shorts they're quite visible.
So I ask you, what would your initial reaction be if you saw me on the street and didn't know me?
Mixed bag of responses I am guessing. Tattooing is becoming more acceptable in our society. Our "great heroes"(yes I am being sarcastic) the all blacks, the warriors etc blah blah, have tattoos.
Alot of musicians have them. People are so exposed to tattoos now that it's stripping the negative connotations away from it more and more every day.
Why then, as soon as I enter a store like say, Smith and Caugheys, do they follow me around like I am about to steal something?
Is there a reason why you get treated so differently?
Most of the time I wear long sleeved shirts or jumpers. It's my little social experiment. I get treated alot better when my tattoos are not showing.
Sure, you may be thinking, "I don't judge people for that" and I'm sure you don't either, but it does happen.
Through this blog I will be exploring what people think of tattoos.
I can understand why peoplethink ill of tattooed people to an extent. Certainly when people can't understand between art, and the average tattoo criminals seem to have in this country(which FYI are generally TERRIBLE).
I think people just don't understand the MANY different reasons for somebody getting tattooed.
Sure, alot of gang members and criminals have them, but so many of my friends who are Lawyers, designers etc have ALOT more tattoos than your average gang member. But they do have to hide them in their workplaces.
Please discuss with me whether I am doing this assignment correctly as I get the feeling I'm missing something...
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3 comments:
When I was growing up, my Mum told me that getting a samoan Tatoo was all about honour. My friend's dad who is Maori told me the same thing and when I asked about pakeha people getting a Tatoo, he laughed for ages and said they were just copy cats before adding that they just got Tatoos because they thought it was cool!
So that's what I grew up believing and when one of my pakeha mates got his Tatoo, I couldn't help but think that he was such an uncool guy. Later, he was showing it off and someone asked him what it meant to him and he had such a lovely explanation. I decided to throw my judging thoughts to the wind after that.
...except when I see high school girls who get their lower backs Tatooed... (sorry girls)
Hey:-)I totally agree with u about how tattoos are becoming more of a norm in society, but yet when people with multiple tattoos are in certain places like smith n caugheys they are treated unfairly.
It is something that is most likely going to continue to happen through time especially in a small country like ours.
Which is stupid i think but sadly inevitable.
It's just the whole stereotype thing that most people who have tattoos are immediately assosciated with crime or being bad.But, this stereotype was formed in like the 80s when the predominant of people having tattoos were gang members.
Times have changed, and people from all different backgrounds are getting tattoos, it's just a pity that peoples stereotypes about it has not changed with it.
Anyways yeah, really good blog!
look 4ward to ur next entry
Good start to your blog dude.
If you are running short off topics perhaps you could research the different meanings tatoo's have in different culture?
As Maria commented, tatoo's in Pacific island cultures are very honourable display's of culture.
Just a suggestion.
Keep working hard..
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