I’m a 24 year-old average looking white girl with died blonde hair and hazel green eyes. My right arm has what some call a mini-sleeve on it, which is to say I have a semi-large tattoo. I have had most of this tattoo since I was 16, but I added to it a few years ago, making it much bigger than it was before. This is what makes me different, and I’m realizing that might be why I got it in the first place. When I was 16 no one had tattoos, because they were illegal for minors. My father, bless his deadbeat soul, signed for it without the permission of my mom. This caused a problem I need not discuss here. But when I was that age, having this tattoo set me apart from everyone. In some cases I got respect for it, it was strange. Now that I am 24, I know more people with tattoos than without. Now that I am 24 I am looked at as someone who should have my life figured out. Now that I am 24, this tattoo produces dirty looks from older people, and I see the judgment flowing out of their curly grey hairs. This is nothing. This is less than minor, but it is the only thing on my body that makes people look at me and think they have me figured out. I’ve never been a victim of racism, but I deal with judgment constantly because of this tattoo. If I wear a sweatshirt you can’t see it, when I take that sweatshirt off…it’s exposed, and in most cases people can’t help but talk about it. I have never once regretted this tattoo, it’s who I am, but it has most certainly made me more aware of societal behaviors and judgments. I look more apt to steal, or smoke cigarettes, or cause crimes, or use weapons, or lack intelligence, or lack motivation, and I’m constantly answering the question, “How will you get a job with that thing on your arm?”
