Therapists and Tattoos

I don't think so, and he's so buttoned-up and conservative that I'd be surprised if he did.

Me, on the other hand - I got my first (and only) in my mid-60's, and I love it. It's the signature of a man I fell in love with. He has a beautiful signature - just a big G that trails off into a hint of two other letters. Very delicate and graceful. No, we're not together, but the tat commemorated an event that he was part of rather than a r/s, so it makes me smile every time I look at it.

I don't think my T has a tattoo not that I have noticed anyway, It really wouldn't bother me if she did, I would find it rather cool if she did as I have 3 tattoos myself

It would put me off them for sure.

My T doesn't have any tattoos. We spoke about it once as I want to get one and he commented that he had thought about wanting to get one but his wife asked him not to.

Yeah, I think it's an age thing. I would be turned-off if my T had a tatoo. I don't like multiple piercings, either. But..I am not going to judge anyone for them because I have learned that it's what is underneath the tatoos, or the piercings, meaning the person inside, that matters. It's silly to have a reaction one way or another, but my initial reaction is a negative one, due to my age and upbringing.

I wouldn't mind having a therapist with tattoos -- but like MKAC, there are limits to that. Even now, when lots of people have tattoos, I think everyone knows that if you get a tattoo on your face or neck, you're going to look like you were in prison. Also, obviously not tattoos with anything provocative as the subject matter. I don't want to feel like I'm being provoked on purpose.

I have a tattoo, a small one on the back of my neck that I can hide with my hair or a collared shirt. What's funny, though, is I got it when I was 18 and had just graduated from high school. I showed a friend's mother, and she gasped, "Sally! I'd have kicked you out of the house!" It was like... so, I graduated valedictorian, won the town's most prestigious scholarship, and am headed to a top-tier school, and you'd have kicked me out over a 2x2 inch patch of inked skin on the back of my neck?

To me, a tattoo says, "I live in the present and have no thought for the future."

Do you think that's a bad thing, or a good thing? I THINK I agree with you but wanted to check out what you meant first. It's not necessarily true, though--if tatoos are small and inconspicuous. You can't ever get rid of them, though? I admit I don't know much about tatoos! Never even occurred to me to want one. If they could wash off, I might want a pretty rainbow, though.

Tattoos aren't just some fashion or fad thing for everyone... They can have meaning to a person. At times I've used the tattooing process to inspire me to try to HAVE a future.

I'm a teacher and I have both Tattoos and visable piercings. The kids tell me I'm a rebel.

My one tattoo , that I got 2 years ago....says live laugh love and it means I miss my friend Dooley, she died too young. Me and a group did this in her honor. It's not always an unthought out negative thing. If T had one , I would not care... as long as it wasn't a distraction.

I am a teacher and have two tattoos,
My t would totally get a tatoo i think. Her hubby has one. She would probably get something like a heart with a knife through it or something that would suit her well.

I disagree. My tattoos are very forward looking and I chose them primarily because I knew they would have future signifcance for me. For instance, my first two tattoos say "to strive" and "to transform yourself through writing." I got them before I wrote my first book, before I started my PhD, and before I did all of the "striving" that one must go through in one's career. I chose my tattoos as a way fo making a commitment to myself. I wouldn't want to be walking around with a tatoo about writing if I failed to become a writer/academic!

I can really relate to that! My tattoos are also in easily covered places so many people don't know that I have them. Once, when I was picking up the little girl that I mentor, her grandmother said something about all people with tattoos being "bad news." I decided not to say anything with the little girl there, but I wanted to say "So, despite taking your grandaughter out every Saturday, going to her PTA, going to her school plays, helping her with her homework, teaching her how to swim, (and being a college professor in my own life), if you knew I had 3 tattoos, I would suddenly become 'bad news'? Really?!" People's preudice about certain things can be astonishing sometimes.

Interestingly, the little girl has seen one of my tattoos (when I taught her how to swim) and she thinks it's "pretty."

Interestingly, I've also noticed that people often don't "see" my piercing. I have a diamond stud in my nose and, somehow, when people talk about piercings, they ask me things like "what do you think of them" or "have you ever wanted any?" I'm like....uh... look at my face?! I think because I'm the "blonde former sorority girl" type they see my nose ring as though it were earrings or a necklace, and not as a "piercing." I used to have more when I was younger (belly ring, upper ear), but I took them out after college. However, I got all of my tattoos later on. And, most likely, I'll get more.

Yes she does. Its on her shoulder and its hot.

My T doesn't have any tattoos that I know of. I'd love it if she did. I have one small tattoo from a couple of years ago. My t commented on it one day when I wore a shirt that revealed it (it's on my upper back). I don't see her as the "type" to get a tattoo, which is kind of ridiculous, because what type would that be?

If one were to get a tattoo impulsively I would agree. I have two tattoo's and I thought about them for years before I got them. I put a lot of thought into where and what to get, and how they will look on me years from now. There are two more that I know I want to get, and I also have been thinking about them for years. One I want to get would make me think that I am living in the past. It will be initials of someone very close to me that died a few years ago.

As for my T - He does not have any, but does want to get one. I would not care about tattoo's as long as they did not say anything rude or hateful.

Well, my therapist is in her 70s, the wife of a rabbi, who wears fancy clothes, make-up, and jewelry. I don't think it's ridiculous to assume someone who fits this description probably doesn't have a tattoo.

This topic has stirred my brain juices. It seems that the overall consensus is that judging a person for having a tattoo is a no-no. I guess I agree, but only because I try not to judge anyone based on superficial things (though I realize this isn't always possible...sometimes judgments just happen). But I'm wondering if people would be as open about other forms of expression or ways of being. Like having spiked hair or a mohawk. Or dressing in non-gender conforming clothes. Does anything go? Or is it just body art?

Many of my students have all of the above. I teach in the humanities at a University, so if I made judgments about my students based on spiked hair, mohwaks, gender non-conformity, military dress, revealing clothes, pajama-bottoms, sorority letters, etc. I'd be a pretty terrible professor and role model. Some of my best students are the kids with mohowaks, chains, and neck tattoos. I don't judge based on appearance and I wish that more people operated that way as well.

I'm often judged by my appearance, but in a different way. I'm young, I'm blonde, I wear make-up, I have an interest in fashion, I was in a sorority in college, etc-- and, as a result, people often make the assumption that I'm stupid before they get to know me. I was valedictorian, went to any ivy leauge, was phi beta kappa, and now I'm a college professor-- and I STILL have to fight the assumption that young blonde women are stupid.

Wow, now I have a question! She asks if I have any questions at the end of session. How fascinating.
I'll ask if she has a tattoo. My neighbor has one of the goddess of compassion and his wife is an artist and has one she designed. Tattoos don't bother me. My grandpa had a littke one in the webbing between his thumb and finger he got at a carnival.

That surprises me. I don't understand that at all.

T just emailed, he has no tats... i told him its never too late !

It's been interesting to see people's opinions on tattoos, and show a real movement in attitudes. I think in 10 or 20 years it'll soon be extremely common for all professionals to have tattoos and we won't blink an eye.
It's all down to personal choice i guess.

I find the process and the result symbolic and empowering. Tattoos are a way I could see that change and transformation are possible - something I could choose for myself, something no one can take away from me - at times where I've felt I've had little control over my life. I chose words and created designs that mean things to me, that would inspire me or that would remind me of thoughts or feelings. A way of marking events in a journey, too.

I'm totally with you. When I got my tattoo, I had just finished high school and was feeling the freedom of suddenly having a path out of my crappy hometown, where everybody seemed to think they knew me but no one really did... I was suffocating there and couldn't wait to leave and build my own life. I wanted a tattoo BECAUSE it was permanent, not as something I only wanted in the moment. I wanted to mark the change between the old me and the new me -- I would quite literally never be the same person afterward.

I was explaining this to a few of my students, back when I used to teach college freshmen, as, "For me, it marked the beginning of the rest of my life," and one of them smiled back at me in a way that I knew she knew exactly what I meant. Man I miss teaching those kids sometimes.