do you have a therapist with...

I think it'd be freaking tight. Maybe she feels this way because she's young, some might say about me...no - it's the way I am.

Don't be hatin'.

The health risks of tattoos are virtually minute when acquired at a professional studio by a trained artist. Most people don't do their own tattoos LOL

My sweet therapist I have now is such a classy, southern lady that I can't imagine her having anything pierced or tatooed. Of course, she has pierced ears. She dresses super cute all the time. She's Irish, fair-skinned and just beautiful.

But, the social worker I saw at the mental health center in 2009 was definitely a fan of tatoos and piercings. Her style was a bit college-girl-having-a-good-time. She wore chunky wedged flip flops decorated with her favorite football teams, she also wore football jerseys on Fridays, toe rings, wild toe nail polish designs, and she had a very trendy assymetrical bob hair style complete with chunky/striped highlights. Her hair was kind of old school Kate Gosselin. She also had piercings through the cartilage at the top her ear. She looked like she was a cast member from The Real World. Her appearance was really distracting sometimes.

One day, she decided to show me her new, very large butterfly tatoo, complete with scrolls and such on her lowerback. She literally got up from her chair, stood in front of me with her back to me, raised up her shirt and showed me all of her business. It was really fresh, because it was flaky and drying out. I've always heard of tatoos in that area being referred to as (pardon my language) "tramp stamps", so it distorted my view of her, and I could no longer receive anything from her. I don't like that I had/have that judgement, but I do.

She gave me her email address to add her on Facebook, but I never added her, because that just is not something I wanted to do. But, I just looked at her Facebook page that is set to public view and she liked a page called "Tattoo Acceptence in the Workplace". She loves herself some tatoos and piercings.

Now I'm trying to picture my rather conservative male T with a tramp stamp. Hee hee.

My T does not have any tattoos or piercings. I actually asked her if she did once because she seems like someone who might have a cool, classy tattoo somewhere hidden by most shirts/pants. But alas, no, she's just a typical middle-aged mom type. She knows I have a couple of tattoos, though. While they're hidden by most clothes, they're still in "appropriate" places so I showed them to her one time when we were talking about a related topic. I think she may have been a little surprised that I have tattoos because I look somewhat innocent otherwise; very blonde, girl-next-door-esque.

As for whether I would care if my had tattoos or piercings-- no, I wouldn't care. And, more pertinently, as someone who DOES have tattoos/piercings (granted, fairly conservative ones), I don't judge my T for NOT having them. I accept her fully despite her fairly conventional appearance, conservative clothing choices, love of neutral colors, and "unique" taste in shoes. With T, as with others in my life, I appreciate her for who she is as a person and how well we relate to one another, and I pay little attention to her apperance.

On a side note: Learning1, I'm not sure what you're referring to when you mention the "health risks" for those who have tattoos. While there is a very minimal risk of infection at the time you get the tattoo, after that, those with tattoos are not any higher health risk than those without tattoos.

"I expect I'll regret you,

but the skin graft man won't get you,

you'll be there 'til I die..."