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<\/a>Business student Danielle Nuttgens has had a wholly positive experience with getting tattoos. \u201cI have one tattoo behind my ear, and one on my wrist,\u201d she shares. \u201cI\u2019ve only had nice comments; someone told me that they were more likely to get a tattoo, because they\u2019d never seen one they liked.\u201d<\/p>\n
This, at least, was nice to hear, but what about someone with more substantial tattoos?<\/p>\n
\u201cI have my full sleeve, I have two on my chest, and two on my back,\u201d shares Electronics and Computer Sciences student Matthew Hawes. \u201cI noticed I have been treated differently when my tattoos are visible versus when they\u2019re not visible. You get looks from people, stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
People speaking out are a different story, though, he says. \u201cNobody has said anything verbally. It\u2019s more just an attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n
No matter what somebody might say to you in the street, it becomes a different story when you take it to the workplace. One of the most common arguments against tattoos is that you might not be employable.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s legal in Canada to force an employee to cover up tattoos, as long as the employer can prove they aren\u2019t violating the Canadian Human Rights Act and employees are told the restrictions when they are hired.<\/p>\n
A recent example involves Ottawa hospitals that were put in the spotlight in 2010 for their policy on tattoos and piercings, which ended up being shot down in court. Their loss hasn\u2019t stopped many other employers from continuing their \u201cno ink\u201d policies.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, though, like in the case of Hawes, who is in the Navy, \u201cit\u2019s kind of the norm in my work,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I do like to keep them able to be covered up, just in case I do see that stigma.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nuttgens has never had to cover her tattoos up for work, but says she would be uncomfortable if she was asked to do so.\u00a0\u201cI wouldn\u2019t really want to work in a place that\u2019s that judgmental,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Although there are workplaces where tattoos are acceptable, it\u2019s definitely still something to think about when contemplating getting a tattoo. In a 2011 Careerbuilder study, 31 percent of business managers said a visible tattoo would make them less likely to promote an employee.<\/p>\n
But are there any other situations where tattoos should be kept under wraps? Hawes says he\u2019s never been asked to cover them up, and Nuttgens was only asked once.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was asked to cover it up for a dance show once,\u201d she says, \u201cwhich I thought was kind of rude.\u201d So you might have to be careful if you\u2019re looking for a career on the stage.<\/p>\n
Taking it to the limit<\/b><\/p>\n
Tattoos are no longer uncommon, but uncommon tattoos are still making headlines. Rick Genest, more commonly known as Zombie Boy, has made a name and career for himself due to the skeleton tattoos that cover the majority of his body.<\/p>\n
And he\u2019s not the only one: Lesya Toumaniantz got her 15 minutes of fame by getting a tat of her boyfriend\u2019s name across her face the day they met in person after communicating online for some time.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s something about such extreme tattoos that changes the way people look at them. \u201cThere are still some rejected images or art styles, places that people don\u2019t generally want to see tattoos,\u201d says non-tattooed Business student Devon Bowden, \u201clike if it\u2019s a big Mike Tyson style face piece, maybe not.\u201d<\/p>\n
The face is the most extreme place one can get a tattoo, since it\u2019s almost impossible to hide. For many, even those covered in ink, a face tattoo is too risky.<\/p>\n
\u201cTattoos shouldn\u2019t be anywhere on your face,\u201d says Hawes. \u201cPeople want to see you, not a gigantic whatever you have on your face.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, anything super-offensive is still a no-go.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s a big swastika on your hand or something degrading, something that\u2019s going to bring discredit upon you anyway, that\u2019s where I think you draw the line,\u201d says Hawes. Anything offensive increases the risk for rejection from potential employers, as well as increasing judgment you might not otherwise get. If you wouldn\u2019t want to show if to your grandma, you might want to reconsider that tattoo design.<\/p>\n
Parental controls<\/b><\/p>\n
There is still one segment of the population that has a clear opinion on tattoos: moms and dads.<\/p>\n
I know my mother\u2019s reaction to my first tattoo was something similar to that of receiving a truly awful gift from your great-aunt Lisa, so I wasn\u2019t surprised to hear others had similar experiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hid it from my dad for as long as I could and one day I was having dinner at his house when my little stepbrother was, like, \u2018What\u2019s that?\u2019 and pointed at my tattoo,\u201d says Nuttgens \u201cI got a big speech\u2026 \u2018It stays with you forever, you should have thought about it more,\u2019 stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
And she\u2019s not the only one. Hawes says he hid it from his parents for close to a year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hid it until my mom saw it through my shirt, so I got busted,\u201d he says. \u201cI was, like, \u2018Don\u2019t tell dad, don\u2019t tell dad.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
But when hid dad did find out \u201che didn\u2019t say much, he didn\u2019t talk to me for a week,\u201d says Hawes.<\/p>\n
Even the non-tattooed know how their parents would react. \u201cIn my situation my parents would not approve,\u201d says Engineering student Bruno Caetano Almeida. \u201cThey\u2019re very old-fashioned parents. They say it\u2019s a one-way trip, no going back. They\u2019ve got some issues with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Bowden says he\u2019d need a reason for his parents to approve. \u201cI\u2019d more or less need meaning behind it,\u201d he says. \u201cMy mom has a tattoo that is directly meaning related. So I\u2019d say, in the end, they\u2019d approve.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is it that makes parents so wary? It\u2019s simply that they care about you. \u201cMy dad wanted to make sure it was something he could be proud of,\u201d says Hawes.<\/p>\n
The majority of parents grew up in a time when the stigma of tattoos was much larger than it is now. Most of the time, they just want to make sure you\u2019re being safe, remaining employable, and not doing something you\u2019ll regret.<\/p>\n
But not to worry, potential tattoo-getters\u2014parents can be convinced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI designed my second and third tattoo,\u201d says Hawes, \u201cand my dad came with me for the third one, so I kind of changed his tune on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hey, you might even be able to convince them to get a tattoo with you. Think of it as a new form of family bonding.<\/p>\n
Insider ink<\/b><\/p>\n
For an insider\u2019s opinion, I talked to Gwendolyn Williams, who works at Painted Lotus Studios.<\/p>\n
Williams has been tattooing for over nine years and has worked in Victoria for five. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the very, very few professions where you can actually make money doing art hands-on style,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
So, if there\u2019s a stigma around tattoos, is there a stigma around tattoo artists?<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople sort of stereotype us when they first walk in here. They expect us to be mean or cold,\u201d says Williams, adding that it\u2019s unwarranted. \u201cOur goal as a business is the opposite. We try to be super friendly, customer-service oriented.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams has also felt a stigma around her own tattoos.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had the whole, \u2018Why would you do that to yourself? You could be such a pretty girl if you didn\u2019t have those,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
But Williams says Victoria is one of the best places for the tattooed to live.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The stigma] is becoming more rare, and I feel like it\u2019s even more rare in Victoria,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s just such a heavily tattooed city, so it\u2019s less of a stigma now.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are lots of extreme tattoos out there, but Williams tries to make sure people aren\u2019t doing something they\u2019ll regret.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t generally tattoo hands, unless someone\u2019s really heavily visibly tattooed,\u201d she says, \u201cand the same with necks.\u201d<\/p>\n
They stay away from face tattoos, according to Williams.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just don\u2019t tattoo faces. Ever, at all, no matter who you are or how many tattoos you have,\u201d she says, \u201cand we definitely don\u2019t do any racially oriented tattoos.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams says the policy is their way of making sure that people aren\u2019t doing something they\u2019d regret later.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just try to make sure people make good choices,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019d rather not have that on our conscience than have your money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides the extreme exceptions, Williams doesn\u2019t think the taboo around tattooing is still around.<\/p>\n
\u201cI personally don\u2019t think tattoos are taboo, and I think that in this city especially, we\u2019re a heavily tattooed city, it would be harder to find anyone in this city who doesn\u2019t have a tattoo anymore,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s probably still the old senior citizen wandering around here that hates it. But I really think it\u2019s become more accepted, even in the workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Should you cover up at Camosun?<\/b><\/p>\n
To get a different opinion on the matter, I talked to non-tattooed Economics and Finance professor Francis Michaud.\u00a0Michaud think there\u2019s still a tattoo taboo in our culture, at least in some career paths.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it depends on which field you are in. If you\u2019re in art or something, people don\u2019t care as much\u2026 but when you go into the business world, there are people who judge you negatively because you have a tattoo and they can see it.\u201d<\/p>\n
So should tattoos matter when it comes to students? \u201cI don\u2019t think it should matter, but it\u2019s a complicated question,\u201d says Michaud. \u201cThere\u2019s always the debate of, are students able to make the distinction between, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m just in class right now, so it\u2019s okay,\u2019 and, \u2018I\u2019m going to go into the business world, so maybe I should cover it up.\u2019 I think that\u2019s the difference. But students are bright enough to know there\u2019s a difference between going to Francis\u2019 class and going to get a job interview.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michaud also understands that there are many ifs, ands, or buts to the tattoo debate. \u201cWhen you have a big tattoo, it\u2019s different than just having a little tattoo. If it\u2019s obviously racist, it might make other people uncomfortable. But where does it stop? I don\u2019t know,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
When it comes to Michaud personally, he would try not to make judgments on somebody because of their ink. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I would; I hope I wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Michaud does admit that if he had one himself, he would cover it up here at Camosun.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I would try to hide a tattoo,\u201d he says. \u201cNot because I have a problem with it, but you don\u2019t look as professional; some profs might not enjoy that.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, what\u2019s Michaud\u2019s final verdict? \u201cI like them, I think they\u2019re nice. I would never have one, but I think it\u2019s always a bit of common sense. I think that\u2019s the problem with these things; we make a lot of rules because some people go overboard with the common sense,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Which just goes to show, if you talk to your prof about anything, you\u2019re bound to get some pretty good life advice.<\/p>\n
Final thoughts<\/b><\/p>\n
So is the stigma around tattoos still there or not? Bruno Caetano Almeida doesn\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that people are more used to it, you know. It\u2019s a big thing right now, a fashion thing,\u201d he says, \u201cI think people enjoy tattoos in general.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEven in the media it\u2019s becoming very mainstream, very accepted,\u201d says Hawes, \u201cbut there\u2019s still the old people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nuttgens agrees that, generally, people are pretty accepting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think generally people are accepting,\u201d she says, \u201cbut there\u2019s still a lot of, like, old-fashioned people who just don\u2019t like it, and some people who think there\u2019s a stigma with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like most things from the past, the tattoo taboo is fading. It remains in extreme tattoos, as smaller tattoos grow more popular every day. A tattoo most likely won\u2019t make you unemployable, but it might cause issues at work if you can\u2019t cover it up.<\/p>\n
And, of course, be careful with mom and dad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I got my first visible tattoo, a small, non-offensive piece on the inside of my forearm, I wasn\u2019t expecting any backlash. Tattoos seemed commonplace (the norm, even) and, besides, mine was small and inoffensive. It didn\u2019t take long, though, before a customer at the grocery store where I worked (after repeatedly giving me nasty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-june-11-2014"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9144"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9158,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9144\/revisions\/9158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}