My New Tattoo.

It is only my opinion, but what a pity - I hope that you don't live to regret it.

sorry it took so long to answer, I've been having a little trouble getting around. I'm 57 years old, I don't have a problem with it. I really like it. I know some people think it's not feminine, but I know who I am, I like who I am. And I have been a Beatlemania fan for over 40 years, and this is my tribute to them, even though they will never see it.

another girl (Karen)

ps, where do you hail from, I'm from Lowell, Mass.

I think the tatoo is cool looking. I personaly have only ever had temporary tatoos, but I've also never gotten my ears pierced either. Hm, that connection made sense in my head. Anyway, I like it.

I am from Jersey, Channel Islands. There is a thread in The World About Us which gives the location of a number of our members.

We had a thread on tattoos in the past. I'm going to cut and paste what I said back then.

I don't have a problem with anyone having a tattoo but personally I don't think they are at all attractive and would never get one myself.

After years of working for a surgeon, I have seen far too many patients coming in to have tattoos removed because they were poorly done, or the patient "outgrew" the original motivation to have one and they are just tired of them, or they discovered that their tattoos were stopping them from getting a job or achieving some other career goal.

I only ever saw one tattoo that I thought was artistic and beautiful. It was a butterfly on a woman's hand encompassing her index finger and thumb and spread over about half the back of her hand. Instead of the usual murky dark colours, this one consisted of bright pink, purple, yellow etc. However, despite that, she wanted it removed. We had to turn her away because there was no way that tattoo could be removed without leaving an ugly scar, which would have been much worse than the original tattoo.

The funniest comment I ever heard about tattoos was from a guy who was in the Army with my husband. He refused to get a tattoo when the other guys were doing it, saying "Aint nobody gonna draw cartoons on me".

I have no real problem(s) with tattoos - but I will say that I have a problem with too much anything (which would include platinum blonde hair dye, silicon, piercings, leopard prints, facial hair and so forth ~ just an advocate of moderation, I reckon [and I'm 50 and still plan to get a small tattoo someday before I cross over the proverbial bridge]). But I always think of Johnny Depp when it comes to tattoos. He was all hooked up with Winona Ryder at one time, of course, and speedily got "Winona Forever" (or something) tattooed on himself. The only thing permanent about any of it was, naturally, the tattoo itself (Winona moved on to a nifty new boyfriend and a part time job as a shoplifter ). Anyway, Depp decided to get the tattoo removed but allegedly the pain was too much and he decided to just "edit" it instead which took less time and less numbing medication. He is now branded as "Wino Forever" for life. It always made me embrace the whole idea of "think long and hard and smart first, befriend the needle later...".
Personally, I'd rather be ink-free than, in that case, an advertising 'wino forever'. But to each his own, I suppose.

LOL!!!! I almost believed that!!

I always wanted to get a tattoo that said "the plane, the plane."

I'm another all grown up woman with tattoos. I got my first one when I was a girl, back in the days when it really was unthinkable (1975), and got another about ten years ago.
Personally, I like them, but agree that people should think long and hard, not so much about whether to get one, but about what to get. If there is not a symbol that springs to mind instantly when you think about yourself; if there is not something that has been a constant in your life for years, and that means "you", then you may not have a need for a tattoo. My husband has had a dragon 'thing' for years - he has ceramic, wooden, brass dragons from all over the world, and dragons have a place in his personal mythology. And, yes he has three dragons tattooed on his arms and shoulders.

I have a dragon tattoo. It was my first, when I was just old enough to give myself permission to do it. I was born in the year of the fire dragon and am a fire sign, and, well, I really like dragons, too. My second is a sun/moon design I did as a mobile when I worked at the infant/toddler center, and my third is a bright and beautiful stylized betta fish, also my drawing. They're all in places easy to cover or show off without immodesty (shoulder blade, outside thigh and calf) and I don't feel like any of them are inappropriate to who I am now, and for some reason doubt they'll be inappropriate years from now. The fact that I designed them myself probably makes a big difference, as they are MINE, so therefore absolutely a part of ME. And even if they aren't as meaningful as symbology in the long run, they're still meaningful as a reminder of who I was, and that person is just as important to me as who I AM.

My sis just got a new tattoo... she's such a geek. Anthropologist that she is, with a side-interest in ancient languages and a serious love of the history of tha Khazars as our surname is linguistically descended from the word (and what we've traced of our geneology, it's quite likely we are, too), she got a tattoo of the only known example of Khazar written language (something of a runic looking language, quite pretty), translating to "I have read it". lol Seriously geek, but So her.

I visit a site which is for people who have had or require valve surgery. There is one thread in which members have posted photos of their scars at various stages of healing and to compare sizes etc (sounds gruesome but isn't really). Anyway, there is one young man who had had a tattoo of an M&M with arms and legs and it looks as if it is pointing at his scar, very amusing.

Years ago when I was a nanny for a little boy whose Mother was a female welder she had a tattoo of a "Naked Woman Welder" Tattooed the whole length of her Calf in Bright colors.
I thought it was tacky and this poor little boy had to endure teasing from the kids at school whenever his Mom came to any school event as she liked to make sure the tattoo was in plain sight.
I just think its so tacky to have any tattoo where others can see it. If you choose to have one then I think it should be where only you can enjoy it when you are alone or with your BF/ or spouse or children.
Also as people get older I just can't understand how a 75yr old lady would be proud of a Butterfly that she had had tattooed on her once perky Breasts now trying to show it off at the Senior Citizen's Center. LOL
PF

Well, there's certainly some forethought that should go into tattoo placement, that's for sure. That's why my tattos are all, first and foremost, in places that I CAN show off if I want to, but I can also cover up if I want to. For instance, I don't see much problem with walking about the grocery store with my tattoos showing. However, I can easily have them be hidden if I'm in a situation where more discretion is called for. My daughter likes my "pictures" and my community is mixed enough that I'm not likely to offend the fellow PTA members (when such a time comes) by flashing a little tat at the meetings. (Of course, the most likely candidate for flashing is a betta fish, so... not the same thing as flashing the naked lady. That IS tacky!)

The other consideration I made when placing mine was definitely body changes. Of course old age will probably cause problems with my tattoos, but that will most likely not be the worst of my worries by then. However, I did make sure not to get something on my belly or chest (planned on having kids) or really anywhere that I know my body carries weight. I mean, I know enough about the shape my body will head towards if unattended that I realized upper thighs and the lower back area were not the most reasonable places for anything I wanted not to be distorted, if you catch my drift.

Really, it's all about forethought. Some people really do go into it sort of helter skelter and they wind up sorry for it later on.

well have to say i love youre tatt...i myself have 5 and plan more....no matter what ur age tatts are amazing ways to express youreself....very nice choice indeed xx

I recently saw that despite the rise in popularity of tattoos and the stigma reduction over the years, that for some people it still makes a difference in the way they judge people by their appearance.

One of my classmates was a teacher candidate and we were accompanying a group of kids on a trip in the heat and chaos downtown and we had been told to dress casually. I was one of the oldest ones and I wore real shoes instead of sandals and a dress because I'm older and I don't feel comfortable wearing things that some of the younger folks would around the kids. At home is another matter as I'm basically Old Hippie. I virtually suffered a martyrdom of my poor feet in that heat because of them too! Eight hours of hot sticky weather policing kids trying to use their phones when it's forbidden and making them tow the line.

Imagine our shock when our group received a criticism of our dress and a mention of a tattoo showing on a midriff was made specifically about us and an admonishment was made to us for not dressing properly. We were all volunteers I might add and we worked very hard with the kids on the trip who'd never been to museums ever in their lives.

Turns out the one young woman was the one who had a tattoo that showed when she sat down, but she was dressed appropriately and is one of the loveliest women I know...it was a simple design of little colored stars that represented her father for her who passed away when she was ten and very discreet. The only reason anyone noticed it was that when she sat down with the kids, it peeked out! It was on her lower back. She was not dressed like Britney with tummy sticking out but just her six foot frame was too long for her t shirt. So she was pretty down about this and being singled out.

We were all supportive, but, we finally found out that the 'complaint' about us came from a teacher who was fairly young but a real grouch and instead of appreciating the fact we'd all volunteered to help them and were there in the gruelling hot weather and doing our job well, she picked on the young attractive woman who happened to have a tattoo peeking out of her jeans when she sat down on the concrete exhausted.

Petty? Yes indeed it was, but, it's unfortunately what people think sometimes and I think they sometimes feel that it's innappropriate for certain professionals to have them visible. It's a fluke that my coworker's was visible to others, but, the point was taken that the younger members of our group needed to be careful to dress a little older so that they could be picked out from the female students!
This happened in the States.

Oh well, I also had a case of a young flashy woman visiting Europe whom I was escorting as part of my job and she was involved in a disturbance call from the police and the neighbor mentioned that, 'she has tattoos all over her body.' She did have quite a few, but, she really flaunted them and I think older people were unnaccustomed to quite that many on a woman and displayed so obviously...so when there was a disturbance, this went into the report. They assumed it was a drug related marijuana leaf and I think it was more of a sun pattern on her lower back that crept out when she moved around.
The reason that some older Europeans cringe at tattoos is that it represented prison residents or prison camps from the war.
THis is what they say, not what I think, but, there is still quite a bit of prejudice against it in some circles.

Believe it or not, I got my ears pierced at eighteen the first time, then, the second time at about nineteen. In those days, it was still unusual! Now of course it's nothing new. In those days however, they'd caution you not to wear two sets of earrings to an interview.
Times have changed but not everyone's mentality has.

The coolest tattoo I remember is this bathing suit with a little cutout that tanned you a little heart on strategic parts of your body. Just looked weird in the winter time!

Yeah, and that's another thing people should be mindful of when they get a tattoo. For example, I probably would never have been hired at the jewelry store if my rather conservative boss had known I had tattoos. Fortunately, there was never a reason why I would bare the tats at work, and it was almost a year before he ever knew I had them, and only because he overheard me talking with the salesgirl after I'd gotten my third. And by then he was too impressed with and dependant on my skills as his apprentice. You just have to know and either honestly "not want to work for any place that would not hire me because of tattoos" or be discrete.