When Scarlett Johansson wore a backless Oscar de la Renta dress to this year’s Oscars, she looked so flawless that it was difficult to imagine anyone finding fault with her look.
But despite the body positivity movement gaining traction, it seems people are still finding ways to criticise women for their appearance.
This time it was US talk-show host Wendy Williams offering her no-holds-barred opinion on the tattoos that grace ScarJo’s back. Speaking about the best-dressed stars at the awards ceremony on The Wendy Williams Show, she complimented the gown – before admitting she was ‘judging’ the rose tattoos and branding them ‘filthy’.
Like Scarlett, I too have experienced unwarranted comments about my body art that began soon after I got my first tattoo, of a daisy on my wrist in 2016. While I started off small, it wasn’t long before I moved onto more prominent and intricate designs.
I now have five tattoos, including one large floral design that crawls up my right arm.
‘I just hope you won’t regret it when you’re 40,’ was the first thing my brother said when he saw the large bouquet of flowers inked on my back.
Then, days after I had my arm tattoo, a friend of my mother’s didn’t spare my feelings when she told me she would ‘never date someone with tattoos’ as she found them ‘off-putting’ and ‘rough’. My mum agreed, telling me my tattoos would soon go out of fashion and that I had ruined my skin.
Their comments made me worry I’d made the wrong decision, and would live to regret it.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that only my family members had the guts to tell me what they thought of my tats, but sadly you’d be wrong. Men have said it’s a ‘shame’ I had chosen to get inked, while others have told me that tattoos on women are ‘trashy’.
Family or not, it’s hard to understand why anyone thinks it’s their place to comment on another person’s tattoos. You wouldn’t comment on my body weight, so why is offering your opinion on my tats any different?
Despite some of the less-than-complimentary opinions I’ve been offered, tattoos are very popular today.
A 2015 survey found that one fifth of British adults had inked skin, with 30 per cent of 25-to-39-year-olds having at least one tattoo. This number is even higher in the US, where a 2019 study found that 35 per cent of the population have at least one inking, while in 2016 almost half (47 per cent) of millennials had one tatt.
The rich and famous are fans of tattoos, too.
It’s hard to find a single celebrity who doesn’t have at least one, with stars like Lady Gaga, David Beckham and Harry Styles opting to cover themselves in tattoos at a young age. Cheryl’s infamous rose tattoo that reportedly took a painstaking 15 hours to complete covers her entire lower back and derriere, while Amber Rose recently got her children’s names tattooed to her forehead.
But while tats are popular among both male and female celebrities, it’s always the women who are slated for their ink. Cheryl’s rose design was voted the ‘worst tattoo of all time’, while social media has been rife with nasty remarks about Amber’s face ink since she stepped out with it this week.
Meanwhile David Beckham tops lists of the worlds sexiest tattooed men, and the One Direction lads seemed to grow even more popular when they all got inked. From what I can tell, men with tattoos are seen as rugged and sexy, yet tattoos destroy a woman’s purity.
This was clear in a 2013 study, in which men were asked to rate a 24-year-old woman in a photograph on a range of characteristics. While some men were shown an image of a woman with a black dragon tattoo on her upper arm, others were shown a woman without the tattoo. The men who did see the tat claimed they saw the woman as less athletic, less motivated, less honest, less intelligent and less generous.
But why? Women should be allowed to do whatever they want with their bodies without judgement, whether that’s eating whatever they want, wearing what they want, or covering themselves in ink.
For me, ridiculing a woman’s tattoos is just another way of body shaming and controlling us.
I might not look the way you think a woman should, but strangely enough I didn’t choose to have my body inked for your viewing pleasure. I did it for me and me only, and frankly I don’t care whether you like it or not.
If Scarlett and I are happy with our ink, that’s all that should matter.
MORE: Amber Rose tattoos children’s names Bash and Slash across her forehead
MORE: Meet the nine-year-old girl who has been tattooing since she was a toddler
MORE: LeBron James gets new tattoo to honour Kobe Bryant
source https://metro.co.uk/2020/02/18/nobody-asked-opinion-tattoos-12245113/
0 Comments