Stereotypes

During break the other day a group of us were discussing tattoos. One of my classmates told me that he could picture me with a sleeve. This made me wonder if I did have a sleeve tattooed would people treat me differently? Would I change from an innocent looking girl to a wild child with a radical outlook on the world?

Its amazing how we instantly stereotype people by how they look, and often don't take the time to get to know them first. I decided to look up this topic online and found many webpages dedicated to this subject. One website explained, "Many "minority" groups have long complained about being judged solely on their appearance. People of these groups are automatically stereotyped into a class of certain expectations. The body art community is no exception. From schools to the work force to every day life, people with body art are generally perceived as rebellious and irresponsible."

As someone who has a tattoo myself I would like to think that I am neither rebellious or irresponsible (The fact that I am in the process of getting it removed may go against that argument!). However I know many people with tattoos and I think its a great way of self expression and many of the designs are great works of art in their own right.

However will my friends that have tattoos go on to have problems when finding a job? For instance would you be allowed to get a job for the government if you had a visible tattoo. Would people not take you as seriously? Or could it go in their favor? If you worked in the Creative Industries, for instance, your employee may welcome body art and see it as a sign of creativity.

Another topic that got raised in a chat room was how footballers don't get negatively stereotyped for having tattoos but heavy metal rockers do? To be honest I don't think this is at all fair after all aren't they both doing a job that they are passionate about? Why is it that celebrities, pop stars and sports people don't get discriminated against but others might?

After looking at online articles relating to this subject, I decided to find an image to attach to my own blog. I would like to know whether you think this young gentleman falls into the common stereotype or not?