Face Tattoos Confronting Tattoo Prejudice Documentary Commentary
I was watching a documentary a few minutes ago called In Your Face: Confronting Tattoo Prejudice (Subculture Documentary) - Real Stories Original. This was put out by the "RealStories" YouTube Channel who has a ton of interesting short documentaries.
The basic premis of the documentary is that people with tattoos and especially face tattoos are sometimes perceived a certain way, sometimes stereotyped, etc. In the documentary they did some little social experiments like having people with face tattoos ask someone on the street for change or direction and oftentimes people weren't too receiptive to them.
At the end of the day I'm a firm believer that people should be judged based on what's inside, based on the type of person they are and their character, that said the reality is that people with face tattoos are going to be judged a certain way.
While tattoos have become very mainstream and are no longer just something worn by gangsters and social misfits, traditionally who had tattoos? Pirates, gangs, gangsters, outcasts, etc so there probably is still some association with that.
I think when someone gets a face tattoo some part of them is getting it to be in people's faces and is getting it to get some type of attention or reaction, so to later be upset that you get a certain type of reaction is kind of silly.
As far as people being judged by their looks, its not fair and its not right, but personally I have a lot more empathy for someone who has some physical deformity or oddity from birth or because of an accident as opposed to someone who knowingly chose to have something put on their body.
As is the case with the guy in this video, if you put a dagger over your eye which covers half your face, yeah you probably will be stereotyped a certain way.
Curious to hear your thoughts on this issue? Drop a comment below...
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I'm fairly heavily tattooed and notice people are a lot less likely to talk to me in public which is good for me because I like to be left a lone in public and people use to always try and start conversations with me beforehand. Most people only really judge you before they get to know you though.
Hey buddy I know you have a lot of tattoos so I was curious to see if you would comment on this one and what your thoughts were.
I like tattoos but I only have one. i got it when I was 16 years old. Kind of a funny story I always wanted tattoos but here in the states you have to be 18. I was like 16 and went to a tattoo shop with my gf at the time because she wanted to buy a belly button ring. While I was waiting for her and just looking at the walls a guy came up to me and was like do you know what you want?
I was so surprised someone was gonna give me a tattoo I just said yeah and pointed at the first thing in front of me. It was chinese letting that supposedly said "Live for the Day". I would later learn that it either means absolute nothing and gibberish or it might possibly mean "poor man" lol.
Over the years I've thought about getting it covered up both because it means nothing and because it doesn't really have any meaning to me but at the end of the day I think its actually quite meaningful, I was a stupid kid and its in a way kind of a fun memory of that time in my life.
My gf has a lot of tattoos probably 8 or 9, she has one giant one going down her back, a wrist tattoo and a couple others.
I don't make any judgements about tattoos, I actually quite like them but at the same time I think its unrealistic for someone to get face tattoos and not expect to ever be judged, some older people still aren't with the times and may look at people a certain way. That's actually kind of one of the cool things about Entrepreneurship in my book is if you can earn a living yourself you don't have to worry about what society finds acceptable.
The evolution of tattoos is interesting to me. I don't have any but I know for sure that old people like my parents judge people with Tattoos. They get all charged up about it. I just laugh and shake my head when they go on about it.
That isn't why I didn't ever get any. At different points I have had different hair styles and facial hair and I just know that with me styles run their course. When I was very serious about baseball I had some serious facial hair but it wasn't something I wanted to deal with forever. It was just fun for awhile. I would worry that a tattoo would be the same for me. Fun for awhile and that I would regret it when the fun ran out.
I dig the rollie fingers look man
I have 1 tattoo. I got it at 16 years old before you can even legally get tattoos here. Was at a tattoo shop with a gf of mine at the time, she was buying a belly button ring. I was just killing time looking at the walls and a guy said you know what you want? I was soshocked they were gonna gimme a tattoo I pointed at the first thing in front of me and got it. They said your 18 right, I said yes sir lol.
Looking back its kind of a fun memory, it reminds me of that time in my life, but I don't actually like the tattoo. I got chinese letters which was kind of the barbed wire of my generation. I've talked to a few chinese people who have told me various things. Most seem to say it means nothing or gibberish, one person told me it means poor man.
I don't have anything against tattoos but I've never really had anything that meaningful I've wanted to get. My gf's family all has nautical stars and they all want to get loteria cards together as a group. I may do something like that as kind of a group activity and memory but could very easily go the rest of my life without getting another.
Hhaha, Yeah the facial hair was pretty epic when I stepped on the baseball field.
that is a pretty funny story about your tattoo.
I have seen some pretty cool tattoos but I just know how I am. I don't think I would be able to decide and I would over think it.
Yeah 1970's baseball player facial hair was epic. Love @brianphobos pic that's epic lol. Sometimes when I grow out my beard and mustache before I go clean shaven I'll give myself a goofy stash or something. I don't think I could pull off the handlebar mustache though.
I didn't think I could ever grow that but it started to get long enough to where I could start to style it. It was pretty funny.
We should not judge by physical appearances, what is inside is more important (feelings) we should walk in life without prejudice, that makes us more transparent.
I completely agree with you. That said the reality of society is people do judge us on how we look. I agree its not right but the reality is if you get a dagger tattooed on your face your probably going to sometimes get stereotyped or judged because of how you look.
The society is very difficult.