Dear Aunty,
My 19-year-old daughter is hell-bent on getting a tattoo sleeve down her arm. I know she has a few other tattoos (she hides them from me) but they are small and easy to conceal. I am just worried that she will live to regret getting a big tattoo in a prominent place. I have tried telling her it could limit her future job prospects, that it will date and go out of fashion, look uglier as she gets older or even put potential partners off, but she says my views are outdated and that everyone has tattoos these days. Do I just accept she is old enough to make her own decisions or keep trying to convince her not to do it?
Yours, Cleanskin
Dear Cleanskin,
In your Aunt’s former life as a cancan dancer in an internationally acclaimed troupe, One saw more tattoos on more parts of the body than you’d find in a prison yard during a heatwave.
One recalls not long after One arrived in Paris for the first time being taken under the wing of an older dancer who insisted on introducing your Aunt to the city’s vibrant nightlife scene — and absinthe. It was an eye-opener for this former country lass, who had never before seen a tattooed woman or an erotic piercing of any kind.
By the end of the night One could only watch on in awe as dragon tattoos slithered down legs and skulls morphed into smiley faces. Needless to say your Aunt woke with a headache that would register on the Richter scale and swore off absinthe for good.
But this was many decades ago, my dear, when tattoos were worn like a badge of honour by bohemians who knew they would never be beholden to a desk job and a 9-to-5 schedule.
These days everyone from fringe performers to sports personalities, CEOs and even politicians have embraced the ink.
Most workplaces are accepting of discreet tattoos, but it is worth noting that the law offers no protection if someone feels they have missed out on a job due to visible tattoos.
Will that change in the future? Perhaps. Is it worth the risk if you are 19 and still don’t know what you want to do with your life? Probably not, but that is just your Aunt’s opinion.
Your Aunt doesn’t have a tattoo, despite a high level of peer pressure to get one during those hazy dancing days. One did consider getting a small inscription on the inside of One’s wrist at some point, but then realised it would forever look as though One had just stumbled out of a nightclub and hadn’t yet washed off the admission stamp.
One did get a large temporary henna back tattoo (a tramp stamp if you will), before embarking on a cruise with old Bert Saunders from next door a few years back. One did it mostly for the amusement factor. Loyal readers will know Bert has long harboured amorous feelings towards your Aunt, probably ever since One first moved in next door and he spotted your Aunt doing some knicker-flashing high kicks while he was out watering his petunias.
Bert is an old-fashioned sort who would not approve of a large back tattoo, so One was using it as something of a deterrent. One still has to prepare the pelvic floor muscles for the avalanche of laughter when One recalls how he spluttered his Long Island ice tea all over the sun lounger when your Aunt flipped onto One’s belly while sunbathing in a bikini. Priceless, and it certainly put paid to any awkward conversations about cabin arrangements.
But back to you, Cleanskin. Sometimes doing something against the wishes of parents or authority figures is part of the appeal to young folk, so perhaps your protests are actually fuelling your daughter’s desire to get the sleeve.
Given you have laid out all the usual arguments about the permanence of tattoos and how it might impact her future, One would be inclined to say no more. Ultimately it is her body and her decision. Is it one she may grow to regret? Possibly. Especially given the pain and costs involved if she decides to have it removed.
But we live and learn, don’t we, Cleanskin?
