Body Modification
Oct. 5th, 2009 10:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davywavyBack when I was a student I used to frequent a nightclub called the Banshee. it was a wretched hive of scum and villainy, whose legend was only enhanced when the building which housed it collapsed one night about two weeks after it was closed down as being unfit for human habitation.
The clientele was the predictable assortment of punks, goths, recidivists, reprobates, ne'er-do-wells and second-year engineering students. I used to go there to dance around in my flailing way and to try and meet girls.
One night I noticed a remarkably pretty punk girl wearing ripped fishnets. Nothing unusual in that you might think, but as I checked her out I realised something. She wasn't wearing ripped fishnets - they were tattooed directly onto her legs. Being an impressionable 19 year old at the time, my immediate reaction was Wow, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen!. However, then the bit of my brain which actually does the thinking took over and my opinion changed.
She's really going to regret that in ten years, I thought.
That pretty much sums up why I never got a tattoo. They've grown increasingly fashionable as the years have gone by, but I've always been put off by the permanence. There's bound to come a day when I'd look in the mirror and wish I hadn't had a dotted line with "cut here" inked onto my neck, no matter how attractive a thought it might be right now. The problem isn't just the permanence; it's the fact that fashion changes, and getting a tattoo is like being required to wear the same piece of clothing every day no matter how dated it might look. I mean, I do very much like my Oakleys, but there are limits. Following tattoo fashion is a quick way of permanently dating yourself to the moment you wanted to be at your most funky.
Got a swallow tattooed on your hand? You were in the navy before 1985. Got one of those big, pointy, swirly polynesian tattoos down your arm? You were doubtless the coolest person in Aiya Napa in 1997. Got an ornate yakuza-style sleeve? Your best ever year was 2005. Moreover, with the inexorable march of time those Yakuza sleeves are just going to start looking like you haven't ironed your shirt.
So, question of the day; if you've got a tattoo, what is it, why'd you get it and have you regetted it since? And if you haven't, any particular reason why not?
The clientele was the predictable assortment of punks, goths, recidivists, reprobates, ne'er-do-wells and second-year engineering students. I used to go there to dance around in my flailing way and to try and meet girls.
One night I noticed a remarkably pretty punk girl wearing ripped fishnets. Nothing unusual in that you might think, but as I checked her out I realised something. She wasn't wearing ripped fishnets - they were tattooed directly onto her legs. Being an impressionable 19 year old at the time, my immediate reaction was Wow, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen!. However, then the bit of my brain which actually does the thinking took over and my opinion changed.
She's really going to regret that in ten years, I thought.
That pretty much sums up why I never got a tattoo. They've grown increasingly fashionable as the years have gone by, but I've always been put off by the permanence. There's bound to come a day when I'd look in the mirror and wish I hadn't had a dotted line with "cut here" inked onto my neck, no matter how attractive a thought it might be right now. The problem isn't just the permanence; it's the fact that fashion changes, and getting a tattoo is like being required to wear the same piece of clothing every day no matter how dated it might look. I mean, I do very much like my Oakleys, but there are limits. Following tattoo fashion is a quick way of permanently dating yourself to the moment you wanted to be at your most funky.
Got a swallow tattooed on your hand? You were in the navy before 1985. Got one of those big, pointy, swirly polynesian tattoos down your arm? You were doubtless the coolest person in Aiya Napa in 1997. Got an ornate yakuza-style sleeve? Your best ever year was 2005. Moreover, with the inexorable march of time those Yakuza sleeves are just going to start looking like you haven't ironed your shirt.
So, question of the day; if you've got a tattoo, what is it, why'd you get it and have you regetted it since? And if you haven't, any particular reason why not?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-10-05 02:16 pm (UTC)One, which I got back in October 2002, is of a theatrical mask on my left shoulderblade, half happy and half sad. I got it because I'd been thinking about that design and location for a long time and then had a bit of a "crystallising experience" that made me decide that, yes, I did want to get that done. I've never once regretted it.
The other, which I got back in December 2006, is of a "tribal dove" on my left forearm. It is also the symbol of the band Thursday, who have been my favourite band since early 2002. I got it because, again, I'd been thinking about getting it for a couple of years and had a "crystallising experience." I went to get it done the next day, and again have never once regretted it.
I agree that getting "cool" or contemporary tattoos is probably unwise -- in particular, getting a tattoo by looking through designs and choosing something you like seems a bit daft. My tattoos have specific meaning and stories attached to them and I enjoy their permanence for that reason -- they serve as reminders of particular times.