One would think that the negative stigmas associated with tattoos would have diminished by now, after all we do live in the twenty-first century. Of course that is not the case and if you are thinking of getting a new tattoo you need to realize that tattoos are still considered taboo in many professional jobs.
Places You Should Avoid Tattooing
Although many tattoos are somewhat accepted by society such as tramp stamps on women and bicep tattoos on men. There are areas of the body that you should avoid tattooing if you have any apsiration for a professional job of some sort in the future.
Whatever you do, don’t tattoo your face. If there is one spot on your body that almost everyone looks down on it’s a facial tattoo. A facial tattoo pretty much says “I give up on becoming successful in any way, now look at my face!”.
Other places you should avoid tattooing if you have any aspiration for professional success are ; the neck, top of your hands, your head (anywhere a professional haircut will expose your tattoo), and anything that can’t be covered up by a t-shirt should be pretty much avoided.
There are of course many seccessful professionals with full sleeve tattoos although most of them cover their tattoos every day with long sleeve shirts to hide their body art.
Tattoo Acceptance Around The World
Many countries around the world still view tattoos as associated with organized crime or thugs. One example is the Japanese who still do not allow people with tattoos to enter bathhouses (a common place to socialize in Japanese society). The ones that do allow tattoos are usually in seedy neighborhoods that you probably wouldn’t want to visit anyway.
The reason for the Japanese dislike for tattoos comes from the Yakuza (similar to the American Mofia) who traditionally have huge highly detailed back piece tattoos that cover their entire back, upper arms, and butt. The sight of a large tattoo in Japan can easily cause someone to move to the opposite side of the street and cause people to stare.
Along with bathouses many Japanese waterparks do not allow patrons to expose their tattoos which means tattooed visitors must spend their time in the park wearing a long sleeve shirt or long pants to conceal their body art. Until recently the discovery of a tattoo at a Japanese waterpark would cause immediate dismissal from the park but with the influx of modern tattoos many parks have relaxed their rules and allow patrons to cover their tattoos without fear of dismissal.
Think Before You Ink
In closing I would just like to stress that tattoos are permenant and choosing the proper placement is essential, not only for the tattoos sake but for your potential carreer as well. I suggest that you keep all your tattoos under your “T-shirt Line” so that you aren’t condemend to a life of long sleeves at work.
2 responses so far ↓
1 YoMo // Sep 6, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I would counter this with 2 things. 1, you always have the option of choosing a field of work and place of work that doesn’t have these issues. There’s a big difference between being tattooed and in telemarketing in Denver versus tattooed and a well-paid programmer in Seattle. 2, consider you choice of tattoos and the reason for getting it. You might not be able to argue that your tattoos shouldn’t be covered for work if you got something offensive to many people or cliché like a butterfly or skull. I have tattoos ranging from large ones on my legs that are easily covered by pants, to a small one on my wrist that isn’t under a watch or jewelry. However, each tattoo of mine has deep religious significance to me. Your best bet is to ask straight out in the interview if it will be a problem. Then it’s your choice of what to do from there.
2 andi // Nov 14, 2008 at 4:04 am
You said “One would think that the negative stigmas associated with tattoos would have diminished by now, after all we do live in the twenty-first century”, but then go on to give exactly the advice of avoidance which perpetuates prejudice. As soon as anything becomes clearly mainstream, whether that’s piercings, facial tattoos or parading sexuality; there’s really no choice other than it being accepted (whether liked by individuals or not).
And just for the record, I have tattoos covering both arms and hands, piercings in my face, I wear hoodies and ripped jeans at work, and I live in Japan. I’m a professional consultant, and so far - although it’s attracted comments, it hasn’t lost me any work.
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