Week 13 - Research updates

I've made a mistake and I've broken my own rules about writing. Last weekend, I went on a huge writing spree and attacked every project I could get my hands on. I managed to knock out a good 60% of my paper and I was happy at my place in the world. This was my mistake. I know better, especially with only 60% done, than to be happy at my place in the world while I'm in the writing process. Because inevitably, at some point, I will step out of the author's shoes and into the readers' shoes. When that happens I'll find every whole and flaw that exists in the paper and will leave myself fighting to quell the desire to press delete and start from scratch. I learned the hard way long ago that just because a paper isn't going where you thought it would, doesn't mean you need to run for "delete." Sometimes it's even good to take a side road.

I might even go as far as to say that is what's happening in my project right now. I've taken the time to talk in a circle around my point, and now I think (think being the key) I may be getting a handle on what exactly that point is. It started out that my point was simple: People with tattoos are judged as being bad people and that's not fair. In the course of my research, my point has spiraled out of control into many directions. It was a historical aspect, then it was a gender only aspect, but whichever angle it was, it was simply exploratory. No argument. No point. That's not the case anymore.

My point instead is this: All things being equal in terms of education and experience, a person who is not visibly tattooed will get the job before a person who is. Many companies, in fact are opting to implement policies regarding the visibility of their employees ink. They feel this is no different than asking an employee not to wear shorts in the office, but to "dress appropriately & professionally." But how do you define what is professional when the question is on some one's skin? How is this not just another form of the discrimination that lead to entire races being oppressed? The law will not allow employers to discriminate against religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, or race/ethnicity anymore, but tattooed people aren't considered in those laws. They should be.

I realize that there are people who have chosen to ink obscenities on their skin and perhaps someone might cringe at the idea of employers being forced to hire such a person. But that's a minority of tattooed people. The few do not represent the whole and to assume such would be as absurd as stereotyping all Hispanics as gang members or all Caucasians as supremacists. If someone who has tattooed obscenities also has a criminal record, of course that person wouldn't be hired, but that's another paper. My concern for this research project is the 24 year old grad student who feels like she can't wear short sleeves to the office in the summer because the butterfly tattoo with her little sister's name might peek out and cost her the job she's worked so hard to land. Or the 30 something guy who took a chance and followed his artistic dreams through his 20s but is job searching in the business sector now. Only he keeps getting turned away because his back piece is almost visible through a business shirt. These examples are hypothetical, but they're not unrealistic. Many of my sources have interviewed people who tell stories just like this and I think it's ridiculous. Tattoos are a form of self-expression. Sometimes art is the only form we have to express what we feel about someone or something and if the feeling is that strong, why not carry it on you're body? The only differences between a tattoo and a really long conversation is that the art isn't limited by language that can't engulf the emotion and if it's visible enough other people are forced to see it whether they want to or not.

I know the last part seems like the whole point of why people with tattoos should have to cover up, but I have to point to the long conversation again. People I don't know or like launch into long, detailed conversations with me all the time about their grandma's medical history and their boyfriend's lack of bathroom etiquette. I can't get away from them without being considered rude and they can't lose their jobs for forcing me to listen. But if one of my office mates catches a flash of my wrist tattoo, I have to wonder where my next paycheck will come from?  In the 21st century where every man has a cause how is that fair?