People overly nosey about your tattoos?

Question

I heard a story once about a guy who had a tattoo on his upper arm. Usually it would be mostly covered by the sleeve of a tee-shirt, with just a little of it poking out. Even though it was on a visible part of his body, he still considered it HIS body, and the tattoo itself had personal, sentimental meaning to him that he considered not to be the business of a stranger. One time, he was in the mall, and a woman wearing a tube top came up to him and curiously pulled up the sleeve of his tee shirt to have a look. He reached over and yanked down her tube top. When she freaked out about it, he told her she had invaded his privacy just as much. Do you agree? Has anything similar happened to you? Or do you get tattoos HOPING people will look at them?

Bubba, now I'm curious to know what your tattoos are if people get offended by them! C'mon, you can tell US. :-)

Answer 1

I fell asleep half way through this.

Answer 2

I got my first tattoo for personal reasons and I do find I get quite annoyed when strangers ask me about it. My tattoo is on my upper arm too and I mostly keep it covered but if someone actually touched me or pulled up my sleeve to see it, yes I would be offended but not to the point where I would yank down someone's tube top lol. I guess it depends on each individual person but if I were him, I would have been equally upset. I don't mind people looking at my tattoo, I just get annoyed when they talk to me about it because like I said it's for sentimental and personal reasons. In his case, the saying applies..."look but don't touch"!!! She should not have touched him. You never know how sensitive a person is about their tattoos. Hopefully, she learned a lesson.

Answer 3

No, it is NOT the same. When you get a tattoo, the prupose of it isn't so only YOU can look at it all freaking look at it. The dude could've bought a chain and keep it in some jewelry box so NO ONE could see it. Granted, the woman shouldn't have done that, but she just lifted up his arm...just his ARM. No one gets embarrased when people show their arms, but people CERTAINLY get embarrassed when their boobs (whether they're covered or not) show. When was the last time you went to a mall and saw shopper without her top on? In the workplace (and in many other places), that's considered sexual harrassment. She invaded his privacy, but he invaded her privacy and stripped any dignity she had. He can still go to the mall, but she can't. That is totally egregious on his part, no matter what. The human thing to do was NOT be a little ***** and show her and say, "If you wanted to see it, please just ask" or not even show her and say something. It's counter productive to humiliate someone in the process of teaching them. In America, we value things like free speech and privacy in expense for common decency.

Answer 4

I have huge heart with wings, and the name "Tommy" over the top of it on the left side of my chest. I have never once had a stranger ask about it, and it is always at least halfway visible. I also have a tattoo on my lower back, and I haven't had anyone ask about that either. I think that most people don't ask about my chest tattoo because they are afraid of the answer they might get, or afraid that I will know that they were looking at my chest. With the back tattoo I guess they don't want to be caught looking at my butt. Who knows.

Answer 5

i think people are missing the point of the story.
its not about putting a tattoo in a visible place where it can be seen....... but the point of violating someones personal space by touching them.
YES, she might have been curious at to what the tattoo was.
YES,she has the right to look.
but NO, she does not have to right to touch a complete stranger in ANY way, shape, or form.
i do not think what he did in return was justifiable, but there is NO reason to touch a COMPLETE STRANGER, arm, breast, butt, back, leg, stomach, foot, NO WHERE!

i have tattoos myself that are not always concealed, but i got them for ME AND ME ONLY!
completely visible or not, if someone is curious and wants to have a look, JUST ASK, ITS NOT THAT DIFFICULT. BUT IN NO WAY DOES ANYONE HAVE THE RIGHT TO TOUCH ME WITHOUT PERMISSION! ITS NOT ACCEPTABLE!

she should have just kept her hands to herself.
even though i would have freaked out if someone yanked down my tube top as well, i would not be stupid enough to touch a complete stranger, i dont care how many tattoos he had, if i wanted to have a look i would have just asked politely, and if he said no, i would have just walked away. its not the end of the world!

Answer 6

i do believe it is the same thing. it is much more polite for people to ASK if they can look at your tattoo if clothing has to be moved, even a few inches. but this rarely happens. people just don't think that it's rude to touch a stranger or invade their personal space. i don't get pissed or anything i just smile and answer the questions. it is a lot less annoying when people with tattoos admire your tattoos because you know they won't ask dumb questions or say dumb things like "you must love pain" and they always ask before touching.

Answer 7

I think that he had his ink in a very visible place but it wasn't right for the lady to go up and yank his sleeve up. Very rude. She should at least ask if she could see the tattoo - not just assume and lift up his shirt. I also don't think it was right for him to yank her shirt down either though.

Answer 8

I have two tattoos, one on my wrist and one on the back of my neck. They are both visible, because I wear my hair up most of the time because of work. I agree with the man in the scenario because I have had complete strangers in my place of work (a restaurant) come up to me and grab my hand and turn my arm over to expose my wrist and then ask what it means, or had people come up and move my hair out of the way to see whats on my neck and then ask about it. Both are symbols that mean something to ME and were not gotten to show off to others or to be used as a conversation piece. What gets really aggravating is that if someone would ASK me before grabbing my arm or touching my hair, i would be glad to tell them what it means. But for a complete stranger whom i've never met to come up to me and touch me however they wish makes me want to slap someone. I completely empathise for the man in your scenario.

Answer 9

I have a lot of tattoos and one of them is a huge chest peice, I wear a lot of v-neck shirts or low top shirts so you can see it, I hate that a million people come up to you and say "oh let me see your whole tattoo" or "ohhhh what is that of" you get annoyed because they are just plain strangers, but then again if your going to get tattoos where people can see them then expect for people to ask about them...yes its annoying, but you have to deal with it.

Answer 10

Maybe he should of put the tattoo else where, some people mind others don't, sounds like your friend has some issues, Touching him was inappropriate,
I'm sure it doesn't happen all the time like he says it does, he probably feels stupid for pulling her shirt down and is trying to rationalize his behavior.

I'm sure most days when he is in a good mood he loves the attention.

Answer 11

She was wrong for walking up to a total stranger and yanking up his sleeve. She should have asked him to let her see it. She caused him, in my opinion, no public embarrassment. He, on the other hand was totally wrong in his treatment of her. He was showing his immaturity in pulling down her tube top. He is no gentleman, that's for sure.

If you have a tat and don't want anyone to see it, put it where no one can.