Courtney Viars Professor Presnell English 1102 31 Mar.

2014 Tattoos Final Draft Ever sense I was a child Ive always been amazed by tattoos, mainly because for the most part nobody has the same tattoo. Some tattoos were big, some small, some black and white, some with color, and always on a different part of the body. A tattoo has a different meaning to someone, whether it is the memory of someone or a drunken night; they all hold significance. With this being said everyone has a different reaction towards tattoos and this is my chance to explore into that with more detail. Mainly I will look into the Christian Communities and the work force and see how they react to visible tattoos. As someone who already has a tattoo and is planning on many more I wanted to find out how this would affect me in the long run. Since I am a college student who will be looking for a career in a few years I thought it was imperative that I find out what my options will be with visible tattoos. I want to know not only why the clean cut individual would get the job but I also want to know what businesses are different. Who will choose qualifications over appearances? Appearance or Qualifications? Majority of the time if two people come in for a job interview for the medical field and one is a clean cut individual and the other covered with tattoos on their arms, the person who is clean cut will get the job. In the article I read, Find Out How Tattoos/Piercings Can Limit Your

Career, Aaron Gouveia stated; 76% of respondents feel tattoos and piercings hurt an applicants chances of being hired during a job interview. During my research I found that certain companies such as Bank of America allow tattoos along with some Universities allow their professors to have visible tattoos. Also, at New Mexico University there is a professor with a tribal tattoo directly on his face and he stated that he has never had any trouble finding a job. Though some people may get lucky when it comes to some companies when it comes to the medical field most arent as lucky. In the medical field their main concern is that the tattoo an employee has could upset a patient in some way; any type of tattoo could offend someone in a weird way. An example of this would be if a nurse had a cross on her wrist and a patient saw it, they could be so outraged that they could request a new nurse and it wouldnt be worth switch up the schedule just because someone has an offensive visible tattoo. In my research I was beyond shocked to find out that not only is it less likely that you will get a job if you have visible tattoos, but your chances are even smaller if you are a female trying to get a job with visible tattoos, Visible Tattoos and Other Corporate No-Nos by Larissa Faw. For some reason society says that it is more acceptable for males to go through a rebellious stage in their life with tattoos but women cant. How sexist is that? With all of this research in front of me I came to the conclusion that interviews should be completely blind from this point on. If all you have in front of you is a persons qualifications and you get to talk to them over the phone what kind of people do you think you would truly hire? This would also put an end to companies trying to get a certain amount of Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, etc to work for them. The Bible Says No A glance in The Bible; Leviticus 19:28 clearly states, You are not to make gashes on your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves; I am Yahweh. In The Bible they

associate markings on the body with sin because Cain was marked as punishment for slaying his brother. As a society today most of us no longer see tattoos or markings as punishment; we see it as expression. Although I am a firm believer in God there are parts of The Bible I question. The Bible has a lot of rules that I feel we have altered ourselves over the years such as cutting your hair; the bible clearly states in Leviticus that we arent supposed to cut our hair but we do that multiple times in a year. We as a society are constantly changing and along with that I feel that its okay to break some of those rules. Body modification in The Bible is a pretty big deal, but do we condemn those who get plastic surgery or die their hair? I am Pentecostal; most of the members in my church are very old and believe that we shouldnt alter our bodies and that we should live the way God made us. I understand where they are coming from because statistically their generation has the smallest percentage of people with tattoos. Therefore, I know my pastor will not approve of this tattoo but eventually the church will have to accept it because our generation is a large part of the church and we will become the leaders of our church community. As a Christian one of my main concerns if that my church family and my part of my immediate family will take offense to me getting a visible tattoo. Ive recently discussed this with my youth pastor who says he himself is about to get a tattoo of the cross on his back which makes me feel slightly better about the situation. When it comes to my immediate family the only person who has a problem with this is my Aunt. She not only thinks that I am destroying my body but she also thinks that I am setting a bad example for her children. And Ive told her just as I have told her children, It is your decision on what you put on your body. In saying this, her youngest daughter already wants a tattoo; shes thirteen. Does My Skin Offend?

When others see a person with tattoos from head to toe they assume they have either been in prison for a portion of their life or they assume that they are up to no good. What Ive learned is that although some may thing that we are putting on a mask when we tattoo ourselves its not; its purely the way we choose to express ourselves. Maybe some of us are more creative than others so we get tattoos, or maybe we are just slightly more rebellious but we enjoy it. The feeling of a tattoo is the best kind of pain; it is pure addiction in the best way possible thing. In an interview I currently did with my mother, Amy Viars, she stated, As soon as I left the tattoo shop I was already planning my second one. Honestly, I couldnt tell you one person who doesnt feel the same way after a getting a tattoo. That clearly explains why people get cov ered from head to toe. While Ive learned that some people will always have their beliefs on tattoos Ive also learned that companies and Christians have come a long way and are willing to look past the tattoos. From the research I have composed on tattoos in todays society, it seems that more people are becoming accepting of tattoos in multiple settings such as places like church and the workforce. My youth pastor and Bank of America are prime examples of how we as a society are moving forward and excepting the way a persons physical appearance is. In the end we are pushing away future coworkers and friends all because of first impressions; we as a society are shallow. I think some things may change with the work force accepting tattoos because as the tattoo population increases they will have less people to choose from if they refuse those with tattoos. As for Christians when the baby boomers die out I think tattoos will become more acceptable because our generation is used to seeing multiple tattoos on someone.

Works Cited Gouveia, Aaron. "Find Out How Tattoos/Piercings Can Limit Your Career." N.p., 21 Jan. 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. Hennessey, Rachel. "Tattoos No Longer A Kiss Of Death In The Workplace." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 27 Feb. 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. Hewitt, Kim. Mutilating the Body: Identity in Blood and Ink. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular, 1997. Print. Jana. "Free People Blog." N.p., n.d. Web. Thomas, Megan L. "Body Art Seen as Less of a Workplace Barrier." Msnbc.com. N.p., 23 July 2010. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. Viars, Amy. Personal Interview. 20 Mar. 2014.