Are tattoos trashy? Yay or Nay and why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:33F, no tattoos myself, it depends.

A colleague of mine has sleeves that are really well done. My FIL has his brother's dog tags tattooed on his arm from when they both served and his brother died in Vietnam. I don't think they're trashy at all. But head/neck/hand tattoos (especially hands as they fade badly), badly done ones, or bad subject matter, yeah, that doesn't look so great.

If you want a tattoo, don't cheap out, shop around and pick your artist carefully, and really take time to consider the design and how it might fade or stretch over time.

For the FIL with his dead brother’s dog tag tats, trashy is probably too harsh but tasteless certainly comes to mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the tattoo(s) whether or not I find it trashy. But I’m surprised at the fad and trendy comments in this thread. People have been getting tattooed for decades now.

It became a big fad in the 90s, I know I was there. So yeah, people have been getting visible tattoos for two decades now and it's become super common and no longer means you are edgy.

Well yeah, a 20-something getting a tattoo today may very well have a mom who got one back in the 90s. At this point people don’t tats to be edgy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I spent decades worrying about what other people think about me. And then one day I realized how much of my own happiness I was sacrificing to that concern. One of the things I did when I came to this conclusion was get the tattoo I had long wanted. Then I got a second.

This thread just reminds me what a waste of time and energy it is to sit in judgment of other people about things that have no impact on anyone else. I know most posting here will roll their eyes at this sentiment and offer the usual responses—e.g., “we all judge other people; it’s just a fact of life” or “I don’t like seeing tattoos, so your decision does affect me”—and I don’t plan to come back to the thread to debate the point. But maybe someone will read this and decide to do something that will make them happy and not worry about what other people think. Or maybe they’ll just reflect and decide to spend less time and energy judging other people and using terms like “trashy.” Either would make the time I spent writing and posting this response worthwhile.

I agree with you.

Also, I don't think those of us who have tattoos care about what others think anyway--I know I don't.

Still, I found this thread to be interesting! I am 40 years old and have two tattoos

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not trashy, but like any other piece of fashion or art, I like some and not others. I do not like the look of lots of random tattoos all over. Like a colorful cartoon character, next to a date in Roman numerals, next to an anchor, next to a flower. DH’s tattoos “match” in that they’re all black & gray, flow into each other, and they’re all in a similar style/theme done by the same artist. So basically no to Pete Davidson, yes to The Rock.

+1 to bolded

I also respect people who get tattoos -- they have a lot of confidence in their personal style/aesthetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IME almost everyone I know has a tattoo who is under 50 (and plenty above). Or like 90% of people who are not very religious, and the number is lower on average for Jewish people, even not terribly religious.

But a LOT. There's a real generational divide. It was much more of a class/culture marker before the mid-late 1990s. I am 43, and people my age-- and especially younger-- seem overwhelmingly to have tattoos. But DH is 51, and from the same area (DMV) and only maybe 20-30% of his friends have tattoos. In my extended family including all descendants of great-grandparents, my parents' generation (mostly born <1965) has one or two members with tattoos. My generation (about 1965-1990) is like 70% tattooed.

My point being-- it's hard to generalize with such overwhelming numbers.

Agree....2/3 of our church ministers are tattooed (1 has numberous visible ones). I don't have any, but have a life issue that drives me to want one. It has become so much more common, and among some people I would have never guessed.

I don't think you can classify such a broad spectrum of people as a single word.

59F

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of weird little old ladies say "trashy"?

What little old ladies?

Sorry, I wasn't very clear with that. I meant: What kind of weird little-old-lady-like adults say "trashy"?

I find it helps to read this thread in the Dana Carvey Church Lady voice.

[Anonymous]

I said earlier I don't like them for me and my body but don't care what others do and came back to say that people who don't like seeing tattoos can look the f*** away. It really is that simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like most tattoos, but I don’t think they’re trashy. People who use the word trashy, though…

-43 yo woman

+1 this thread doth protest too much

[Anonymous]

I am 40+, and I think its subjective. Many get it as a personal remembrance of a place/person. Also, its much more acceptable in other cultures - I think its mostly the euro-centric view that its trashy.

[Anonymous]

One tattoo CAN be ok. When I see someone with multiple tattoos, I just assume they are mentally unstable. The millennial trend of sleeves is hideous--from a distance it looks like a skin disease.

I completely understand the youthful need to do something that sets you apart. Drawing permanently on your skin (unless you are from an ethnic group like South Pacific or the like) just show you are a follower who wants desperately to be noticed. You WILL regret it when you are older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:33F, no tattoos myself, it depends.

A colleague of mine has sleeves that are really well done. My FIL has his brother's dog tags tattooed on his arm from when they both served and his brother died in Vietnam. I don't think they're trashy at all. But head/neck/hand tattoos (especially hands as they fade badly), badly done ones, or bad subject matter, yeah, that doesn't look so great.

If you want a tattoo, don't cheap out, shop around and pick your artist carefully, and really take time to consider the design and how it might fade or stretch over time.

For the FIL with his dead brother’s dog tag tats, trashy is probably too harsh but tasteless certainly comes to mind.

As tasteless as going to cemeteries to remember the dead, holding on to a dead person's ashes, hanging pictures of dead saints around your neck, Memorial Day etc?

[Anonymous]

As someone with a tattoo, it's really funny to read these takes that are like "people get tattoos to stand out" or "to be unique." So many people think that people get tattoos specifically to make an impression on other people.

IME it is totally the opposite. As a PP put it, getting a tattoo was a way of no longer caring what others think.

When I got my tattoo, I had a friend who also has a tattoo who really wanted me to use her tattoo artist. I looked into it but decided it wasn't the right fit for me and went with someone else. When I showed her my tattoo, she was really passive aggressive and rude about it, basically saying she didn't like it and that I should have used her artist. It was hilarious because I remember thinking "Wow, I don't care what you think about it at all, and I actually really love how riled up it's making you."

Like there is something inherently rebellious about getting a tattoo, even now that they are so common. There's something really fundamentally powerful about making a permanent change to your body that other people might not like. I think as a woman, that's especially liberating because people are so controlling and judgmental about women's bodies.

So it's funny to see people who think getting a tattoo is about pleasing others or trying to make a good impression. It's the opposite! I could care less what you think about my tattoo. The fact that you hate it and there's nothing you can do about it is [not so] secretly pleasing to me. Hate away, haters! My body, my choice.

"Trashy" lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I spent decades worrying about what other people think about me. And then one day I realized how much of my own happiness I was sacrificing to that concern. One of the things I did when I came to this conclusion was get the tattoo I had long wanted. Then I got a second.

This thread just reminds me what a waste of time and energy it is to sit in judgment of other people about things that have no impact on anyone else. I know most posting here will roll their eyes at this sentiment and offer the usual responses—e.g., “we all judge other people; it’s just a fact of life” or “I don’t like seeing tattoos, so your decision does affect me”—and I don’t plan to come back to the thread to debate the point. But maybe someone will read this and decide to do something that will make them happy and not worry about what other people think. Or maybe they’ll just reflect and decide to spend less time and energy judging other people and using terms like “trashy.” Either would make the time I spent writing and posting this response worthwhile.

100% yes to this. I had the same experience. It may sound silly to some, but getting my first tattoo was an act of embracing not worrying about what others thought about me. That was less about what people think of the tattoo itself -- although I knew my mother and sister would have strong opinions about it -- and more just a visible symbol of my desire to stop worrying so much about what anyone else thought about any aspect of my life. As Walter White said, "I did it for me."

In personality, I am also the last person anyone would have thought would have a tattoo. I come across about as straight-laced and goody-two-shoes as possible. So it's additionally meaningful to me to have done something that others thought was so out of character.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:54M. Always trashy and reflective of low self esteem, narcissism and poor long-term thinking since they always look worse as you -- and they age and the references no longer fit. Particularly bad call on Jews given our history with them. I know someone who persuaded his 15-year-old son not to get a tattoo by saying "our people already have been given enough tattoos."

Yikes. A citation to Leviticus would have been more apt. Suggesting that your child is perpetuating the Shoah by getting a heart with "MOM" or a compass rose or whatever would seem a bit much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the tattoo(s) whether or not I find it trashy. But I’m surprised at the fad and trendy comments in this thread. People have been getting tattooed for decades now.

It became a big fad in the 90s, I know I was there. So yeah, people have been getting visible tattoos for two decades now and it's become super common and no longer means you are edgy.

Well yeah, a 20-something getting a tattoo today may very well have a mom who got one back in the 90s. At this point people don’t tats to be edgy.

Obviously. Which means that more and more young people will decide to do something else. There are just a lot of people 30+ that still think it is "edgy" and "rebellious" to get a tattoo.

Some people get tattoos because they really mean something to them, and some people get tattoos because they want to be trendy.