In many of my recent experiences with watching tv and movies, I’ve had no trouble spotting the antagonist in the show immediately, even prior to the story indicating anything about the character. The odd thing is that all (and I really do mean ALL) of the antagonists have had one thing in common.

They all have visible tattoos.

And it isn’t like anyone ELSE in the show or movie has a tattoo. Only the bad guy.

When I was around 12 years old, I decided that I would really enjoy having a tattoo one day. I voiced my desire for ink to my mother, who promptly scrunched up her face like she was going to cry, and then proceeded to tell me, in no uncertain terms, that people only get tattoos if they’ve been to prison. She told her best friend about my idea, and her best friend told me that she would never speak to me again if I got inked.

Now I understand that, once upon a time, tattoos were things reserved mostly for sailors, pirates, convicts and military personnel. That time is long past. We now live in a time where some huge percentage of the population of the world sport tattoos. And we’re not all villains! In fact, most of us are perfectly reasonable, respectable, fantastic people! And many of us are even professionals, making more money than our parents ever dreamed of making!

What is it about the villain that makes them want a tattoo? Or maybe it’s the ink itself that turns people into villains? Why do I suddenly feel as though I should be robbing a bank or stealing someone’s kitten?

Tomorrow, I will join the ranks of the visibly tattooed. Given that I am up late thinking about this, I obviously have some mixed feelings on the subject.

The tattoo will be on my left forearm. It will be low enough on my arm that a 3/4 sleeve length shirt may cover it, but likely not. I will officially have to wear long sleeves when I meet with people who wouldn’t approve of my tattoo. Who would that be?

Well that’s what I’ve spent some time thinking about tonight. Will clients choose not to work with me because of my tattoo? Will colleagues judge me or think less of me? Will I miss opportunities because of being judged, and not even know it? Am I limiting myself in some way, even a way in which I may never realize, by getting this tattoo?

The conclusion I have come to is that I don’t really WANT to work with clients or colleagues who are going to not work with me just because of my choice to have a tattoo. I am quite sure if people are put off by the tattoo, it would only be a very short matter of time before they were thoroughly offended by me in other ways as well.

I will admit though, that I am having a little bit of a difficult time crossing this line. I have always, in the past, tended toward the more reserved public face. I did this in order to provide for myself the maximum amount of opportunity in the world. This tattoo is definitely a departure from that approach. I wonder if this will lead to other departures from my perception of what constitutes societal normality.

Will I regret having the tattoo in a place that is more difficult to hide? Will people think I’m a freak for wearing a long sleeved shirt in 90 degree humid weather? I wonder how often I will even be in a situation where I’d want to hide my tattoo. Will there be some occasion where I want to wear some perfect dress, except it’s sleeveless and I have to be able to hide my tattoo? SHOULD people ever put themselves in situations where they have to hide their body art?

I’m very excited about it, too. I love seeing ink on other people, and I have four other tattoos that I don’t get to see when I’m wearing clothes. I look forward to being able to see my body art right in front of me, whenever I look down. I have heard all the standard arguments against tattoos. The most worn of the arguments is likely the most used: will you regret it (when you’re old, later, at some point, when you’re over that particular thing…)? My thought on tattoos is that you should a) always find a good artist so you don’t end up with crappy ink, b) never get them on a whim — think about what you’re wanting to get and really dwell on it for a while before doing it, c) get something that you actually really like or that has meaning to you (not some shitty flash art you found on the wall at the tattoo parlor five minutes ago), and d) don’t regret it. Even tattoos that represented something that was important to you 10 years ago, but which may not be important to you now, are still little depictions of memories.

Not that anyone asked me to defend tattoos. I’ve diverged from my original topic. Onward to the land of visible tattoos.