Tattoos & Piercings: Opinions?

I have several tattoos up and down both arms, but not quite sleeves. There are only two types of tatoos that I outright fucking hate: Tribals & "Tramp Stamps".

Tribal tattoos are just goddamned tacky and if you've got one, chances are you're a something of a douchebag that picked yours of the artist's wall with hardly a second thought (my brother has one w/ a fucking Ankh in the middle of it).

"Tramp Stamps", like tattoos that are only *just* covered up by a shirt sleeve or whatever, irk me because the wrong kind thought is put into them. It's a douche thing to do I think, that sort of "peekaboo, my shirt moved up a bit and you saw my sexy tat" thing is so silly to me, and goes against my idea of what tattoos are about. I'm no hardcore modern primitive, but I always considered tattoos to be about laying claim on your body. You come into this world how you come in, but you can control how you go out, and so I mark myself w/ things (symbols) I love and believe in.

Edit: As far as piercings go, I don't have any myself, but I don't have much of a problem w/ it no matter what the extreme. Now, I wouldn't necessarily be attracted to anyone with a major population of metal all hooked into their face, cock, or clit, but I can't say that it bothers me at all.

Strange coincidence. You bring this up just as I've decided to go for my first tattoo. I'm 28.

I think both tats and piercings are extremely sexy, depending of course on the place and the type. As Johnny says gimmicky (tribal, barbed wire, tramp stamps etc.) tattoos are tacky and also reveal a sort of mental retardation about the person who has them - it's like he/she can't see the difference between a TREND and a PERMANENT piece of body art.

I'm far from the thread police type, but is this really a topic for Sex? Most of the thoroughly tatted people I know seem to do it as a means of expression or simply decoration, not as a fetishistic exercise or an attempt to attract others. Not sure about piercings, but I'd imagine that the sexual implications of an eyebrow piercing is worlds away from those of a clit piercing.

But on the topic of piercings, at dinner the other night, a friend told a story about being dragged by an acquaintance to a suspension event that this acquaintance had been hired to DJ (said friend didn't participate and was pretty derisive of the whole thing, but it sounds like this wasn't the first time he'd been dragged to one). Being somewhat to entirely unfamiliar with this concept, we all started asking him questions about it, some of us treating it as if it were bound to evolve into an orgy. Someone pointed out that this may have been incorrectly attributing sexual overtones to the activity. What do you think?

I have a small, stud nose ring. Most people don't even notice it. That's the extent of my body art. I've contemplated tattoos at various points in my life; all would seem absolutely ridiculous now, so I'm glad I didn't get them. In hindsight, I almost fell for all the fads (under belly button, inner wrist, back of neck, lower back).

My first boyfriend had a pierced tongue and nipples. Clearly there's something wrong with that picture.

Another ex had a penis piercing (it was like a horseshoe shape through the tip and while I'm sure that it gave him much pleasure, I can't say the same for myself.

If you're past the "claiming your body as your own" phase (say, over 21), I don't see the point. I have friends who got like a dozen tattoos after 35. Why? Who cares?

If you have to get one after that point, you have to go full ironic, and gank some grieving portrait to which you have no connection. That is to say, you all have my permission to get this tattoo:

I recently saw a book of celebrity tattoos at a bookstore. I flipped through and came across Margaret Cho and her recently acquired full-color Peacock tattoo. She's quoted thusly: "I got my peacock tattoo to remind myself that I'm beautiful".

I find that as proof of my suspicion that people who get tattoos have a really bad self image. Their normal bodies, they way they are, aren't good enough. They need to be "enhanced" to feel "beautiful" or "special" or whatever. If, like Margaret Cho, you need outside art to make you feel beautiful, you are fucked up somehow, because, if you weren't, you'd feel beautiful they way you are.

Like the fellow upthread who talked about "reclaiming" the body you were given at birth. Why do you need to reclaim it? It's yours already. The fact that you feel you need to "reclaim" it indicates a deep dissatisfaction and dislike of your own body, your own skin. That's fucked up.

I am thinking about dying my pubes, which are all jumping fucking ship to Greyville this year. My pubes are fucking douchebags.

Tattoos are a bonding thing. I dated a girl who hated them, thought they were stupid. As I don't have any, I loved that she hated them. A lot of my good friends have some. Most of their tattoos are interesting. If someone has a tramp stamp, that suggests any relationship I might have with said person will be limited to the physical.

Or, ya know, some people just really dig tattoos. It doesn't always have to go deeper than that. Hop off the armchair for a second, doc.

I suppose, on a crude symbolic level, a girl willing to have her skin scarred by a tattoo, or her skin pierced, is saying she's going to be willing to be penetrated sexually. So, in that sense, it's "sexy" because it makes the girl seem more "easy". But that's old news. Girls with low self esteem are more trampy. Thus the name "tramp stamp".

Of course, the trampier, the more likely to be infected by STDs, so no, I personally don't find tattoos and piercings to be sexy.

Now's the time for experimenting! Neon colors? Highlights? Maybe even a stylish merkin!

I definitely have a thing for girls with tattoos (excluding the aforementioned tramp stamps). Never got into piercings though. Ears, belly button, and as Iggy said, maybe a little nose ring can be cute. But that's about the extent of it for me.

I'm not going to get too personal here, but no, not really. Physically, I'm fine. I'm thin and in decent shape, I'm 5'7" which isn't tall, but that's not an issue either, it just took me years to get comfortable in my own skin and its all rooted in how I grew up and who I grew up with. I felt shut in for some time, and as I came out bit by bit, in all manner of ways, I started doing things that felt expressive to me, tattoos being one of them.

As Phil none too subtly suggested, it may mark me as immature, and maybe there's some truth to that, after all I do feel as if I had to play catch up a bit, but I've always been fine with that. There isn't anyone without at least a few marks on their spirit, not a problem as long as you recognize them.

Edit: Also, I suppose you can say my reasoning behind tattoos is tied into the reason that I don't drink or do drugs; I like being in control of as much as I can. Worrisome? Maybe, but that mindset hasn't totally fucked up my life thusfar, so I'm good.

I have big plans, but basically money is holding me back. My tat ideas seem more and more retarded the older I get, so I'm not sure if it will ever happen. I begin and ended my piercing phase with ears(2 in each).

As for other people... surface piercings are generally very unattractive. I don't know why people keep getting them.

I've been out with a few women who've had clit piercings. Apart from being a pretty hilarious surprise when you first see them naked, they make it about a hundred times easier to give them an orgasm.

Though I've never seen a live suspension, I don't find anything particularly sexual about it, unless you're into the pain thing. In all honesty, I struggle to see the point of suspensions but I guess it's a you had to be there sort of thing.

I'm almost always just giving my subjective point of view in here, as opposed to pointing fingers or dismissing. Wasn't looking to offend, and sorry if I did.

Excessive piercings and tattoos don't necessarily say "slut". It does say "hey, my body might have once been a temple, but the neighborhood's gone to hell with all the littering and graffiti, so don't worry about making a mess."

Dude, not all tats are called "tramp stamps" - only the lower back ones - and that's because of some illusion that those girls are more easily swayed (which might or might not be the case). Either way, you're making horrendous fucking generalisations.

I'm not a particular fan of either, really. Oh, sure, every so often, a small tat here or there, maybe a belly button or extra ear piercing will arouse my attention. However, most of the tats I do see are pretty fucking lousy to begin with, and are far too large that it "spoils the scenery" if you will (if I want to look at a sexy body, I really don't need to see a dragon holding a rose in it's teeth slithering up and around some girls leg or arm). Small tats on girls always struck me as a bit of a surprise - part of the fun of sex is exploring each others' bodies - you're getting into it with your partner, and hey! I found a little heart near her tanline! Cute! Or hey, she's got a VCH! Kinky! Where's the fun if you're performing oral only to discover the girls' photo-realistic tat of John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band is staring right back at you? I'm under enough pressure as it is!

As for piercings, I'll give credit where credit is due, and say that most piercings I've seen on girls are mostly small and unobtrusive (piercing your nipples and tongue does absolutely nothing for me, ladies, sorry). Men, however, always seem to take it to an unnecessary extreme. Piercings all over one's face, big ass hoops in your earlobes, etc. Why? So your face becomes a place I can hang my keys? So your folks have something easy to grab and pull when the time comes for them to lead you out of the room to yell at you?

I have no tats or piercings (neither does my wife), but my brother does - big back piece and a couple of pieces on each shoulder and bicep (I personally designed the leprechaun on his one shoulder myself), and I can't begin to tell you how my mom reacted when she saw them. It was so bad, my brother, to this day, is terrified of her finding out if/when he gets anymore work done.

There is no image I have seen yet in my life that I would want to have carved into my body forever. And no part of my body that would be improved by shoving a piece of metal through it.

I have eight, most of which are religious (the rest are family related). I work in an office so most of mine are not visible. As sexist as it sounds, I think a woman with too many (i.e. sleeves) unattractive.

Ditto.

The wife had a navel ring (ripped out accidentally, ouch) and has a small stud in her nose. She also has 2 tats, an abstract fairy on her ankle, and a goodly sized back tattoo of a fairy sitting on a stack of books. She's a library branch manager, and her markings haven't had any impact on her career so far.

Chicks with tramps stamps are generally easy to get in the sack; its no illusion. You can generally spot them wearing skirts/pants way to low and thongs which protruding way to high. If your lower back is visible in public, you're wearing clothes that are way to small or none at all.

It often is, but my issue was with Muck's comment that ALL tattoos are trampy.

Hint: Or NoDiggityMuck might be trolling in his usual inimitable style by combining ill-conceived sexual symbolism and a pronounced (and likely deliberate) misogynist streak in an effort to get attention.

If you don't buy that, ask yourself why he deliberately omitted the logical conclusion from his "pierced/tattooed women want to be penetrated sexually," which is quite obviously "pierced/tattooed men want to be penetrated sexually."

Uh huh.... Were you really not already aware that most women in our society have some form of body dysmorphia and feel ugly? Margaret Cho speaks for a lot of girls with messed up self esteem issues, that's why she has such a huge following.

You clearly don't hang out with girls a lot if you're surprised that most of us feel insecure.

Agreed, although I found his needle penetration analogy amusing. This guy must think about blowjobs when he sticks his toothbrush in his mouth each morning.

Just like any "accessory", a tattoo can be trashy or not, trendy or not...etc. Of course the conditions are all subjective opinions.

I already thought something similar Werewolf but I still find this amusing. Is there a thread about it around here?

On topic, like Richard I don't find any image particularly attractive for me. I like lower back tattos and subtle ones on the shoulders but that's all. Some girls with piercing look insecure for me.

Do girls find men without tattoos unattractive?

ETA: you could add toothbrush fellatio to he urban dictionary.

Though I'm not generally a fan of extensive tats, they can be appealing on the right person.

Yet most of us are totally down with gradual body modification via carbs. Paradox!

If I were to get a tattoo, it'd probably be small, ironic, and of something that means absolutely nothing to me, like this.

Patrick I don't even reached to the middle of the sentence but the beginning and your avatar made me crack up.

No tattoos, no piercings, no sort of modification on me. Never actually occurred to me, but I dont drink, dont smoke and never even tried drugs, so I guess I am a really bad case of control freak.

Anyway, I am funny when it comes to tattoos. I dont mind mostly, though I rarely if ever found them sexy on a woman. However, there have been times where they have actively discouraged me from dating someone, simply because it was not very good, but really huge.

I am funny because, when I am playing video games or drawing characters (hobby artist, fantasy stuff mostly, think pencil Luis Royo stuff), I find facial or generally pretty dramatic tattoos very attractive. Actually to the point of thinking they are sexy.. until my brain translates it into real life, and it loses its luster.
I cant quite explain why that is, but quite a few of my friends have commented on it as a real double standard.

She's never going to stop, though. Once she is done covering herself with spots, it'll be something else. Face modification more than likely. What she's going to wind up having had done to herself down the road is why I can't find what she is doing appealing.

I've never been a huge fan of piercings on a girls face, or more than two in each ear. I used to think the star tattoos on a girl were kind of sexy, but that's getting played out now. My girlfriend is un-tattooed, which is fine by me. If she got a couple in some tasteful places I wouldn't be turned off by it, but I'm not exactly dragging her to a parlor.

Myself, on the other hand, I have one tattoo, and I plan on getting at least one more when I can afford to spend money on putting ink in my skin. I got a tribal design on my arm when I was 20. It may be cliche, but I definitely like it. I took my time in picking a design I really liked, and 11 years later, I'm still happy with it. My next one is going on my other arm, and will most likely incorporate a musical symbol and my sons name. I have made a pact with myself that if I ever become a professional rock musician, I will gladly get sleeves.
Favorite Fake Tattoo:

The fact that it went all the way up to his neck was badass.
Favorite Rock Musician Tattoo (because who needs a shirt?):


As far as personal piercings, I got my left ear pierced on my 18th birthday. I never looked good with a stud, so I wore a little hoop. One day, when I was 25, I realized the hoop made me look like a fat gay pirate. Earring came out, and hasn't gone back in.

As long as she sticks to tattoos, I'm okay. This is what happened to a woman who used plastic surgery to physically transform into a cat.

I was dating a girl this spring who had her whole back covered with a geisha sitting under a tree, it was a beautiful design and very well done. But I didn't really care for it. She was half native, half norwegian and had beautiful skin that I hated to see covered up. She also had a nose stud that I disliked because on the inside of the nostril she had this clamp to hold it in place, so it always looked like she had a metal booger.

She is a beautiful girl but I really think the tats and piercings took away from that. She did fit the mold of body issues and low self esteem that were mentioned earlier.

Things I've Learned From This Thread:

I'd like to tattoo a penis onto Muckety Muck's forehead.

For me, tattoos and piercings are a warning sign. I do believe that they are very often indicative of self-esteem issues. Small, subtle body modifications aren't a huge deal, as a little insecurity now and then is probably not a bad thing. But numerous or large changes to the body would make me very worried that the girl I'm looking at is desperate for far more attention than I could ever give her.

I've known a handful of women with bodies that look like they covered themselves in silly putty and rolled around on a newspaper covered in thumbtacks. Not all were 'tramps', but every one of them was an attention whore. Whether it was aggressively flirting with their boyfriend's friends as he watches (thank you for appreciating my package, but please stop before I get punched by my friend!), causing scenes in public (like yelling at the giant slab of meat that bumped into her), or needing their boyfriend to be with them 24/7, there certainly seems to be more than a coincidental link.

Then there's that brief feeling of disappointment when I finally get to see the girl naked, and it looks like she's still wearing something. Some part of me wants to put my socks back on to even things up.

I've got two: a set of Japanese characters on my right arm, the V For Vendetta "V" symbol on my left. Both have an immense amount of meaning for me. Planning my third by this time next year.

I see tattoos the same way I see any t-shirts with art or text on them. No problems with either long as you can justify why that particular phrase, character, or symbol is on your body, and youre okay with having that symbol never leave. Don't see any inherent psychological need besides the normal human one to see oneself as beautiful and adorn as such with beautiful, meaningful things.

That said, tramp stamps and tribals are akin to having Hollister or American Eagle permanently stitched into your skin. None of these things scream pretty or hardcore. They scream "This is where they sucked out the soul."

Some pretty weird thoughts in this thread.

Do people honestly think that all people who have/like tattoos are psychologically damaged in some way? Or even worse that only women who have tattoos are psychologically damaged in some way?

I have three tattoos and will likely have a good quarter of my body covered by the time I'm done. Quite simply I like the way they look. I get that some people don't like them. That's fine. But don't try to lump some pop psychology on to why I get ink done.

Ouch, ouch and ouch!

That last post brought to mind something that I should have mentioned in my first post, something that's not gone over in this thread and is more appropriate to the forum. I've never experimented w/ sadomasochism at all, but I find the sensation, the "pain" involved in getting a tattoo to be very pleasurable and I've definitely experienced something approximating a sex flush everytime I've gotten one.

Of course, when you're being inked by a 250lbs cholo, it's kind of hard to find the comfort zone to articulate that, so, you know...you don't. =)

Don't know if anyone here can relate to that, but there it is.

Question...was prison life hard?

Kidding...