I am seriously considering getting one. I left 4 years ago, and I've done everything else considered "bad" by the Mormon church. Well, except for piercings. I don't have any of those. What's a tattoo going to do to me? Make me feel like I've gone full circle in sin!
I just don't want a tattoo. Too permanent. I don't care what the mormon cult tells me I should or shouldn't do. If Dallin Jokes told me to get a tattoo of Macoroni on my ass, I wouldn't do it. Others can get all the tatts they want.
I was just starting to really have huge issues with the church and I felt like I was having an early mid-life crisis or something.
So one night I just went and did it. It was absolutely freeing. I didn't feel any guilt or worry about what other people would think. I also didn't tell my husband I was going to do it. When I got home, I showed him and I thought he seemed kindof mad, so I asked him if he was upset, and he said that he was just a little sad that he didn't get to go with me! I told him he can go with me next time. :)
For reasons that contribute to my income, I wear nothing 'extra' on my body that would allow someone meeting me to use to start making assumptions about me.
Also with no extraneous details, how they gonna find a guy, in SoCal, described as Hispanic, 5'9", medium build, dark hair? I might as well be a ghost!
One thing that tattoos do for you is eliminate you from consideration by aliens who come to earth to collect human pelts.
Also, I'm given to understand that no banquet in Galactic Center is complete without a nice haunch of human thigh! Seriously, have you looked at yourself in the mirror? Succulent!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2015 11:34PM by elderolddog.
I've considered getting one just to celebrate the new feeling that my body is finally MINE and is no longer controlled by mormonism! The only issue is deciding what to get and where... and whether or not I can handle the pain haha.
I want take my birthday back. DW and I met on my birthday. We got very serious and were talking marriage. She had all kinds of requirements of me that I had fulfilled when suddenly, boom, two birthdays later she meets and has sex with a total stranger, then continues to do it behind my back for several weeks until discovered. Well it injured the whole relationship, but sometime after that she begged and begged. Others begged on her behalf, and we got married and have stayed married to a long time. I don't want to hold the thing over her head all the time, but not a birthday goes by that I don't think of this. I think getting a nice tattoo on my birthday would suffice as a way of getting it back and not feeling as emasculated as I have for many years. I'm thinking a nice Celtic "tree of life" motif is what I"d go for.
I got one before I left. I love tattoos and decided I wanted to get one. So I did. Wife wasn't happy because she is very TBM. I was TBM at the time, but I just wanted a tattoo.
I've never wanted one. They look fine on others, but it just would take up too much skin on my body to feel like it belonged to me.
Not natural. I didn't like the idea of the dyes and inks going under my skin either to possibly get into the bloodstream. I hate anything to do with needles. And when my skin sags as I age as it already does, I didn't want the added burden of drawing attention to a tattoo on an already sagging arm, leg, or what-have-you. I'm too self-conscious to wear them.
It's also against my "other" religion, Judaism. It's considered desecrating to the body. (So is pierced ears, but well, too late since I've had mine pierced since high school, and I love my pierced ears.)
I got a tattoo a few months after my 50th birthday, but it had little to do with the church since I was out by then so no one in the church has seen it.
My daughter is TBM and she doesn't care. And you can only see it if I'm wearing a short sleeve shirt(no garments) and pull it up so it can be seen.
I'm now 66 and keep thinking I want something else, but it probably won't happen.
I also got my ear pierced before the tattoo but I didn't like the way it felt. I did get a strange sense of satisfaction when some people from an old ward saw me with it and had a hard time not staring at it while we chatted in the grocery store. The hole closed up after a few years.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2015 10:35PM by memikeyounot.
I had the same satisfaction with my nose ring. Most TBM's would stare and avoid the subject completely. Only one member freaked out that it could get so infected it might have to get cut off, and she works in a laboratory and was spewing such nonsense! I eventually took it out because it was always attracting boogers and getting infected (though I wasn't worried about my nose getting amputated, lol!). Sometimes I miss it because it signals that, no I'm not Mormon and they can kiss my backside.
Looks over at her husband, an old sailor, covered in tattoos. 'Someone calls you trashy'. 'Call me trashy, call me old, my body is mine and i will do to it what i like' I do not have them yet, but i do have plans for a full sleeven on my right arm and will join the trashy community then ;)
If you have to worry too much about something like that, it doesn't speak to you being classy. Classy people can do whatever they like because they set the standards, they don't grovel to them.
I guess DH and I are trashy. We got matching ones that are significant to us.
Last week I went out with my group of TBM friends that don't know about my break with the church. They were asking about my children and what they were doing now, and when I remarked that my 18 year old daughter is excited about getting her sky-diving certification, some of the comments were interesting.
Evidently sky-diving for women is frowned upon, and one friend then added, "Well, at least she didn't get a tattoo!". I didn't mention that I was the one with the tattoo.
SpartaExmo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yes, I have a tattoo. > > It's on my shoulder, and was designed specially > for me by a renowned local artist who specialises > in traditional pieces. > > I don't judge people on their tattoos or lack of - > I judge those who do though.
The more tattoos someone has, the more I question their sanity.
As for being a canvas, if you look at your body as a canvas, and you only get one canvas to toy with for your mural, hope you pick a Picasso for your artist because whatever you paint on is permanent (without going through more painful reversal of same tattoo if you have a change of heart down the road.)
To each his/her own. But there are a lot worse things people do everyday for you to question their sanity. A couple a tattoos-not a solid reason to question a person's mind set. People really enjoy having them or they don't. No biggie. I definitely don't feel a person should be judged one way or the other.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2015 03:18PM by Slumbering Minstrel.
Yes. It is a local artists take on the logo for the childrens tumor foundation. It gives me a chance to talk about the foundaiton, and my genetic disorder. I see it every single day and think about how lucky I am because other people with my same genetic disorder, unfortunately, face a great deal of suffering. It also reminds me to do something small every day to try and make a positive impact on any living thing.
Yes and I am so glad I did. I got a little white cross on my wrist because crosses are also a no-no in Mormonism and I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone. I have always wanted a tattoo and, when I converted to Mormonism in my teens, I had to quit wearing all the crosses my beloved Episcopalian grandma had bought me over the years. Basically, it wasn't so much a rebellion against Mormonism as much as a taking-back of my right to make my own choices.
Later I got a small, white setting-sun tattoo by my elbow. I tell people it's to remind me to let things go, the way one day ends and a new one begins. The sun's rays disappear. But it's actually a tribute to one of the two people who got me out of Mormonism. I always believed that Mormonism thrives on promising to meet emotional needs of people and that in order for someone to listen to the facts about the church, they have to realize that the church can't keep it's promises to meet their needs. You have to break that emotional hold. Knowing this guy, I realized no matter how good a Mormon I was, I couldn't win the one thing I was counting on Mormonism to provide. Once I realized that, I was willing to listen to the facts.
It's a long story but basically, there are a lot of reasons to get a tattoo - to take back your power, to commemorate a big life changing experience, to fulfill a long-standing desire etc. But don't do it just to rebel or as a middle finger to Mormonism because the day will come when you don't want to give the church a second thought. Revenge tattoos are never a good idea. Not that the OP said they would do that - just as general advice to anyone considering getting a tattoo.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2015 01:14AM by CA girl.
(I'm a CA girl too, though I have not lived there since 1975, and I miss it every day!)
Your last paragraph says it all. Your tattoo should be something YOU want, to celebrate something meaningful or significant in your life.
I've written recently about my own tattoo - the one based on hearing bells ringing in Venice. Beautiful day, beautiful experience. And it is MINE. I bet there isn't another person on this planet who has a tattoo that says "They sing for joy" in Italian. And it is in my university colors rather than generic black and red.
So it is unique, a cherished recollection, and I LOVE it. Whether anyone else does or not is THEIR problem. And yes, I admit that I'm getting up there in years and I was worried about wrinkles - I have a hell of a lot of them - but so far, the tatt is looking good!