The Body Art of the Deal — Destigmatizing tattoos in the workplace
Don’t judge a book by its cover
As children, we’re constantly told not to judge a book by its cover. Despite this being told to us by our parents, in school and at various times in our adult lives, this lesson seems to slip away, particularly by those who’ve dubbed tattooed people ‘unprofessional.’ Even though tattoos have grown fairly mainstream over the years and many tattoo stereotypes seem to be fading, the sentiment that tattoos are unprofessional still seems to be ingrained in the minds of previous generations.
My first tattoo at 19 was a last minute spring-break whim, and the semi-nihilistic lyrics ‘modernity has failed us’ donned above my right hip are the very permanent proof of this decision. Despite being a $50 scratcher tattoo that I got on impulse, I felt like a badass. I loved my tattoo (and still do), since then adding 4 more to the collection. Each time I feel giddy to show my family and friends, a considerable mix of inked and blank canvases.
My immediate family has always been pretty open minded about my expression. I’ve chopped and dyed my hair, sport a wardrobe of mostly blown-out jeans and cropped shirts and adorn my left nostril with a white gold hoop. I sport bold rust-colored eyeshadow and thick black eyeliner on the regular. I’m known for showing up on any given day sporting very different looks, simply for the enjoyment of trying something new.
So it came as a bit of a surprise when my parents weren’t as thrilled about my tattoos. Their first reaction was a cocktail of qualms, fueled equally by worry and curiosity as to why.
Their biggest qualm was an age-old anti-tat argument: my tattoo would cost me a future job, or that a company would deem my body art ‘unprofessional.’
42% of American adults have tattoos, according to a 2019 Accountemps survey. The same survey revealed that one-third of companies reported they see no problem with employees donning visible tattoos (35%) and it would not play any part in the hiring process.
Moreover, tattoos have existed for thousands of years, the oldest tattooed human being Otzi “the Iceman,” a European mummy discovered in the Alps in 1991. In Samoan culture, tattooing was ceremonial and performed to symbolize a young chief’s elevation in society. Winston Churchill and his mother both sported traditional tattoos, an anchor and snake respectfully. A number of royals, including Catherine the Great, Peter the Great and King George the V all bore tattoos.
The history is proof that tattooing was once a symbol of status, and not just socially acceptable, but even considered elite. So what happened?
In the early 1900’s, after the emergence of the tattoo machine, tattoos became more accessible to lower classes, thus ending their reign as an elite practice. At the beginning of the 20th century, tattoos were most commonly found on circus performers, sailors and other outcasts of society. The 1920’s and thirties further stigmatized tattoos, even going so far as to theorize that getting tattooed was an explicitly sexual act. This led to tattoos being taboo amongst the general public until about the 1970’s and eighties, mostly due to rock stars being heavily tattooed and the rise of counterculture.
Now, tattoos are pretty much everywhere, and people of all professions are getting inked. The stigma has decreased exponentially, but even a two-generation gap causes worry about sporting permanent art. The idea that tattoos are just for society’s oddballs, ‘bad boys’ or criminals and having them will automatically cause an employer to consider you unprofessional is still deeply embedded into the minds of parents, it seems, even the most open-minded ones.
To the worried parent of a child with tattoos, concerned about their future hireability: I can say with almost 100% certainty that their tattoos will play no effect in the process. Statistically speaking, it’s likely that their hirer is sporting at least one too. The world is changing their view on tattoos, and the most likely reason it’d be brought up in an interview is as a conversation piece.
