The Dos and Don'ts of Meeting People with Tattoos and Piercings
If you're intrigued by body art but haven't personally experienced it yet, you could be guilty of some major misconduct when it comes to approaching people who are modified. If you meet someone at a store or even a tattoo convention, here are some basic guidelines of respect and personal space we would like you to observe.
PLEASE DO NOT:
* be afraid of someone with a lot of tattoos or piercings. Most of us are actually quite friendly, do not have a police record, and are not in a gang.
* ask if it’s real. Yes, most tattoos that look real ARE real. And it’s pretty safe to assume that the piercing is real unless it’s Halloween.
* ask if it hurt. This is the most annoying question people with tattoos and piercings get asked. In most cases, yes – there was some pain involved in the experience, but obviously not enough not to do it.
* touch it without asking permission first.
You wouldn’t want some stranger to just start poking you – and yes, our tattoos and piercings are part of us, so if you poke the pretty flower you are poking a person!
* show off your sewing-needle-and-india-ink tattoo your friend did on you while you were drunk and expect us to be impressed because it only cost you twenty bucks.
* just grab someone’s sleeve or hair and move it out of the way to get a better view of their tattoo or piercing.
* go on and on about your desire to get a tattoo or piercing, but you just can’t get over the fear of pain. This is a “crybaby” syndrome many of us are not really apathetic to.
PLEASE DO:
* approach us if you would like to ask us about our tattoos. Other than “is it real” and “did it hurt”, most of us do like talking about them.
* ask before you touch anyone’s tattoo, although there isn’t much point in touching one at all. It doesn’t feel any different than the person’s skin anywhere else on their body.
* feel free to ask questions about body art in general, but don’t expect everyone to be an expert. Just because they have a tattoo doesn’t mean they know everything about them.
* ask us if we'd mind moving up our sleeve or hair so you can get a better look at our tattoo or piercing, instead of just grabbing it yourself.
* ask us where we got our tattoo or piercing if you’d like to know. If we really like our artists, we’re more than happy to give them referral business and may even carry their business card.
* keep the conversation short. Granted, most of us could talk all day about body art, but if you caught us at the grocery store or the BMV, chances are we’re a tad busy at the time. If you really want to talk more, maybe you can suggest an exchange of phone numbers.
* go get a tattoo or piercing if you really want one! Every person has to decide this on their own and most of us will not encourage or discourage you – it’s up to you.
