Tattooed for a Day, Wild for a NightBy RUTH LA FERLA
Published: January 24, 2008
Okay, really. I know that tattoos are in. More and more people are getting cut, inked, with bright colors and deadly semiotics. To bleed for art is noble in my opinion.
I guess that there are a lot, I mean a lot of people out there that are willing to pay for a fake. Fake tattoos, temporary tattoos are cool for children. The fad that Ruth Ferla writes about in her article, Tattooed for a Day, Wild for a Night, disturbs me a little. Temporary tattoos, like the ones being adorned by the fasnionistas, are false advertising.
There is pain involved in collecting tattoos, physical and mental. When you go around with that temporary sleeve or a ten inch dragon your back, you’re telling the word that you sat through hell as the artist cut ink into your flesh and endured days of itching as it healed. You are also advertising that you belong to a part of America that will never be fully accepted and understood.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think that temporary tattoos are good for tattoo artists and shops. They tap into a new client base, money is money after all.
Tell me what you think!
See my tattoos, Tattoo No 1, Tattoo No 2, Tattoo No 3, Tattoo No 4, they’re real.
3 comments:
Hi Aaron,
We don't know each other, but I found your site last week when I Googled "Something Magic This Way Comes." I have a story in it and was just checking to see if advance copies were making their way out into the wild blue yonder.
I got a tattoo a few years ago as a treat to myself for hitting forty. I guess it was my middle age crisis :). I'd always wanted one, but where I grew up (Deep South), girls only got one if you were trampy. Also, the permanency was an issue for me. I finally decided that I'd live with it if later I became unhappy with one. I'm sorry now that I didn't do it as a younger woman. I wasted a lot of years not having one when I would've enjoyed having one.
I now have a 15 year old daughter who wants one as soon as she's old enough. As you pointed out, temps are good for kids.
I recognize your point for "false advertising", but I respect the many reasons that these folks might not want a real tattoo. If we'd had the awesome temps 20 years ago that they're producing now, I would've worn a lot. My reason would've been in order to decide upon a style and place. And, I'm highly allergic to lots of things, so I was always a bit worried about my skin's reaction to the inks.
Yeah, it was painful, and took an hour (it's roughly 2x3). I haven't tired of it yet, but neither have I gotten another one. I think I'd like another one at some point, but even with the one, I'm haven't decided for sure that I want two. I'm quite the indecisive wish-wash. And there are so many pretty ones out there for women now, that it's just flat out hard to choose.
I do feel that a tattoo should speak to the person and say something personal and deep about them to the outside world. I love to look at tattoos on the people I see in public, especially the women to see what they chose for themselves.
I haven't yet read the article you've linked here, but I'll check in. Thanks for the post. And let me know what you think about the rest of SMTWC!
Linda Davis
Wow. Thank you for stopping by. I have been trying to finish “The World is Flat,” but I take request. I will take a look at your story in SMTWC. If I finish it in time, it might kick of my February 2008 issue of The Soulless Machine Review.
It is up: http://soullessmachine.blogspot.com/2008/02/winds-of-change-by-linda-b-davis.html
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