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apocalyptic_tea
Joined: 04 Oct 2009
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 Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 4:30 am Post subject: |
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| brandonlk wrote: |
| I am going to be working/living in Bundang which I hear is very upper class and full of rich people, so I am not sure if they are going to be more comfortable or less comfortable with my tattoos. I plan on covering them while at work but not on my time off |
If you're "visibly foreign" (as I am not), they might just write it off as a Western thing. Anyway, good on you; no way to naturalize 'em if you keep them hidden all the time.
| youtuber wrote: |
| Actually they are trying to prove something. It's the whole "I may be an accountant/English teacher/engineer/insert boring job here but I am really a bad ass." |
Nowadays that is hardly the case. With the exception of folks in gang and prison systems--many of whose tattoos actually do mean something along the lines of "I am really a bad ass because I: have killed people/ have been in jail frequently and lived to tell the tale/ am part of such-and-such organized crime unit" (and I've yet to see one turn to accounting/teaching/insert boring job here)--most folks I've met in the modified community don't think of themselves or other tattooed folks as bad asses. They're just other people with tattoos.
| youtuber wrote: |
| And narcissism plays a role too. You want people to look at you, and that's why you get a tattoo. If you lived alone in a hut on the side of Alaska, you wouldn't want to get a tattoo - or if you could think with your own brain. |
Why do you assume that tattoos are for the benefit of other people? I'd like to think that--again, outside of gang/prison communities and cultures in which tattoos bear a widely accepted significance--tattoos have special meaning on a deeply personal level to the ones who get them. They are, after all, more or less permanent--the tattooed person is the only one who has to live with them long-term.
Not exactly in a hut on the side Alaska, but I have a tattoo on the side of my head. I knew when I got it that I wouldn't want a mohawk forever, or even for more than a few months (it's a bloody high-maintenance hairstyle). It is now invisible to all but my hairdressers. But the tattoo and its placement were important to me, so I got it--again, for me. I like my ink; sometimes I forget they're there, but when I notice them again, they make me happy. (They also make me practice better health precautions, because before I got my first tattoo, I never wore sun block.)
There are always exceptions. There are always people who walk into a tattoo studio and point out a piece of flash on the wall and within twenty minutes get in a chair to have something they'd never laid eyes on before inked indelibly into their skin. There are always people who regret decisions they have made. But considering, as you and several others have mentioned, the rising number of people who are getting tattooed--at least some of whom may remotely resemble thinking individuals--doesn't it stand to reason that getting tattooed isn't always the expression of some repressed adolescent desire to impress a bunch of strangers?
| youtuber wrote: |
| The funniest is seeing these "armband" tattoos on people today. Cause you know they got it about 5 years ago when everybody wanted to look cool like Tommy Lee (he isn't cool btw). |
I don't know about this Tommy Lee business, but some Polynesians may want to protest the lumping of "armband tattoos" as a recent fad. 
| I'm no Picasso wrote: |
| I've been using G Dragon in a lesson plan this week, and my students have absolutely no idea that he has multiple tattoos. Odd. I told them to check it out on the internet when they got home -- they didn't believe me. |
I had to Google G Dragon, and it wasn't until the third page that I saw a pic of him with a tattoo. Maybe your students don't watch much press coverage of him? (Oh, who am I kidding--some of my kids came in the other week with a bunch of trading cards featuring some musicians. They were stunned when I didn't want one when they so generously offered.) |
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apocalyptic_tea
Joined: 04 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 4:34 am Post subject: |
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stimpleton
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
Location: Suwon
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| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 4:40 am Post subject: |
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youtuber I have 4 tatts so far, with another planned for while I'm home over the next month. I'm over 30 and I've never thought of myself as "bad-ass".
Each of my tattoos I got because it means something to me. Not one of them is 'original', but I don't care. I didn't get them because they were popular; I got them because I wanted them.
I also have my ear pierced, and have had since I was 18. Most of my friends who had theirs pierced around the same time 'grew up' and took theirs out. I didn't.
I keep my tattoos covered at work here for the same reason I kept them covered at home - some people don't like tatts and that's fine.
People get tattoos for plenty of different reasons, just like people choose certain color/styles of clothes, music etc. We are exposed to an idea, and can choose either to ignore it, accept it, reject it or embrace it. You are free to reject tattoos, but please don't lecture others who may choose a different option.
have a happy day |
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DebEVoyager
Joined: 21 Dec 2009
Location: currently USA, GA
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| Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Old Gil wrote: |
| The only thing unprofessional is judging people because of ink. A dying mindset, and deservedly so. |
Thank goodness too, I have read that there are now a few tattoo shops in Korea and the laws have changed so that it is no longer illegal to have a tattoo other than make up
I am a fairly heavily tattooed woman, you would never know unless you saw me naked, I have chosen not to get any visible tattoos the past few years because I knew I wanted to teach and appear 'professional'...while you can be perceived as professional with visible tattoos in the West it is still difficult and a slooooow change. Spare me the rants of professionals - unless they are tattoo artists or hairdressers - having knuckle tattoos...I have traveled extensively around the world and in no time soon will this be a trend...don't expect your dentist or Dr to sport them any time soon.
Although I would love to see it.
So for a country like Korea to become a bit more accepting of tattoos in heartening...but my happiness vaporized when I read the ignorant you think you're a bad a$$ comments. My tattoos are for me and nobody else. Would I be excluded from a job because I mentioned I have breast implants? Would I be denied a job? Certainly not. Do I think I am a bada$$ for them? No, I just happen to like then and got them for that reason and that one alone. I mention this only because it is a major body modification like a tattoo can be.
I stuttered a bit when I heard public schools are rejecting teachers with tattoos....if this was the case they would not have very many teachers...between the criminal record and tattoos they would have a hard time finding teachers from the West.
I am currently working towards a public school position in Feb, the recruiter never mentioned anything about tattoos, or expressed any concern about them... I certainly don't plan on divulging ALL of my tattoos at orientation..unless they strip me, they would only see my leg and foot tattoos.
I stated on my EPIK application that I have no visible tattoos, if they want to see them I will let them peek behind my ear and see my lady bug and that is it. It is none of their business...if they see me outside of work with tattoos..well then I will deal with it, but again my linguistics degree, teaching experience and TEFL certification should surely outweigh any taboo tattoos I have.
I certainly plan in not talking about them to the Korean school board...I wouldn't dream of doing it in the States so why would I in Korea.
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