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Nerve poll: Are you attracted to people with tattoos?
By Alex HeiglMay 14th, 2012, 12:30 pmComments (23)
Last week on Nerve, our Tools of Attraction feature focused on some fashion-forward punks. Tattoos were discussed, with one of the interviewees, Jimmy (the owner of New York City's Trash and Vaudeville thrift store), mentioning that at this point in his long career as a punk rocker of note, he's more attracted to a lack of tattoos than anything else. So we decided to turn that line of questioning over to you, the Nerve readers. Are you attracted to people with tattoos?
61% of you were generally positive about your tattooed brethren, though noting that something "small and tasteful" was preferred. (Sorry, Steve-O.) Nearly everyone who picked this answer was quick to latch onto "tasteful" as their watchword, and the rest noted diplomatically that such things should be decided on a case-by-case basis. But some offered specific caveats, like "band logos, tribal armbands, characters in languages you don't speak, and cartoon characters." One person did note their suspicion that all Chinese character tattoos secretly read "beef and broccoli."
29% were enthusiastically in favor of lots of ink, with most of the answers citing their own art. Almost everyone expressed reservations about throat and face tattoos, though, so if you're considering getting your favorite Looney Tune inked on your neck, you might not want to show it off to Nerve.
Finally, a slim 11% were decidedly against any tattoos, with oft-cited arguments like "It'll look terrible in twenty years" trotted out. One person emphatically stated "You couldn't pay me to get one," though they didn't leave any further explanation. Come on, man, out with it! What spoiled tattoos for you? An unfortunate encounter with a tribal armband? Was it that guy from Elektra whose tattoos come to life and attack people? The public wants to know.
Either way, if you want to find a set of tastefully-inked arms to hold you tight, find them on Nerve.
Commentarium (23 Comments)
"What spoiled tattoos for you?" It's more like, "Who came up with the idiotic notion that permanently marking your body is a sensible or attractive thing to do?"
+1 ^^
methinks that Alex Heigl must have some tattoos, which is why that response so irked him...
Weak troll is weak.
V's comment makes me think of that saying about the difference between people who have tattoos and people who don't is that people who have tattoos don't care if you don't have one.
Is the person using the name "@v" suggesting that I'm a troll? I would think my comment was completely on topic and directly responsive to the original blog post. If using the term "idiotic" was inflammatory, I apologize.
I take exception to the idea that small and tasteful go hand in hand. There is such a thing as a big, tasteful tattoo. And few things look as stupid as a tattoo that is too small, no matter how "tasteful" it is.
If I got a tattoo, it would be of an ink blot. So when someone asked me what it was, I'd say "you tell me."
I do but only on other dudes.
whenever people tell me I will regret having tattoos when I'm old (mine are all small and hidden, mind you, not garish) I always tell them I hope I have more important things to worry about. I really, really don't see what the big deal is.
Right. When I'm 80, I'm not going to be thinking "I would look so good naked if it weren't for these tattoos." All of me is going to be wrinkled and saggy. Tattoos are not going to make a difference.
"You won't like it when you're 60" is a dumb reason to deny yourself something. I'm not living my life to be unflawed and unregretful in my sunset time.
Good point. We should all be so lucky as to live long enough to have said regrets.
Yes, I hope to be full of regrets and totally flawed when I'm 60.
60 isn't that old, I'd hardly call it the "sunset time"
When I was 19, in 1976, my friend Jimmy asked me if I'd get my ear pierced with him. It would've been the left ear because having the right ear pierced meant you were gay. We were still working out how to deal with gender issues that I believe are better defined today, and clearly we were working out what was 'cool' and what was transgressive: what our limits were. Now it's obvious we were conformists rather than rebels. I didn't pierce my ear because I thought I needed to do something like that for me rather than for some other person's approval. Same with tattoos. If you get tattoos for yourself, for your own reasons, fine. It's your own business. But I can use my own judgment, seeing someone else's tattoos, as to whether that's an indication he or she might indulge in risky behavior that could affect me. That feeling of danger and recklessness could be attractive, of course.
Jimmy got his ear pierced and was quite happy about it. And I would still feel a bit silly had I done it myself.
That's an interesting point, Scott. Just be careful how you exercise that judgment. A lot of people assume that people with tattoos are reckless risk takers because they think people get tattoos on a whim when they're drunk. Granted, a small minority do, but most of us put a lot of thought and consideration into permanently marking our bodies. Tattoos are time consuming, painful, and expensive. You could just as easily say that having tattoos tells you that a person is not afraid of commitment and has a high threshold for pain - making them well suited for long term relationships.
An astute reading of my comment, Nikki. Your conclusion re commitment rings true. Jimmy and I were close friends but also fought over women. At about that time I 'got the girl' and lived with her for 7 years. But I could not commit, left her for someone else, and Jimmy married her.
I'm in the camp that sees tattoos as permanent bellbottoms. Still, a lady friend has giant tattoos of robots that I have to admit are awesome.
I see *some* tattoos as permanent bellbottoms, but there are a lot of timeless tattoos out there (since, ahem, they've existed for around 10,000 years now), while there are zero timeless bellbottoms.
My friend the professional tattoo artiste would kill me, but I kind of have a thing for the jailhouse tattoos. I live in a community with a lot of spur-of-the-moment, non-professional ink, and there's something kind of hot about it.
i'm a woman and on certain men who have great arms..they look hot depending on the artwork. if the guy is overall built and have more than that-then yum even more. ;] yum yum yum it also tells me he's kind of a tortured soul which is attractive to me and is his own person.
I myself have 5 tasteful tattoos in non showy areas, however my boyfriend is COVERED. 37 all together I suppose, two full sleeves, his chest and stomach, his two calves. and honestly I think its one of the sexiest parts about him. not due to the simple fact that he's inked, but why he got them and the significance of each one. tattoos are meant to symbolize a piece of yourself physically, and hes definitely allowed himself to be an open book, especially for me. I love them :)
Grunge and hipsters spoiled tattoos for me. They used to be either personal or subversive (or both) - now they're a fashion accessory. There's no meaning to them anymore other than conforming.
Since I was a child I knew I wanted one when I 'grew up'. I even knew where (my right shoulder/scapula) and had a general idea of the artwork I wanted. Once I 'grew up', grunge was in full swing and they no longer appealed. How personal can they be when everyone and their dog has 10 of them, and they're usually lousy.