I was recently at a party where I overheard someone say, “You know, like one of those girls that get a tattoo on her ankle, you know she will never get a real job." Wow, I couldn’t believe how pompous, ancient and judgmental this chick’s viewpoint was, and what’s worse were the nods of agreement around her. I mentally pictured the seahorse on my ankle lurking beneath my pant leg. Hmmm…what to do? So, I calmly raised the leg of my jean and said, “Like this one?” (I had to, I couldn’t help it), and walked away.
There were so many things wrong with her statement. I mean, first of all what is the stigma of an ankle tattoo (or any tattoo for that matter), and how exactly is a “real job” defined? I can’t believe that in a society that has made progress on much larger, more serious social issues like segregation, sexual orientation and the feminist movement, there is still a stigma surrounding the creative expression of tattoos.
