Why do you have so many tattoos?

'Why do you have so many tattoos?' It's a question I get asked regularly. Because yes, why does someone take tattoos? Why does someone take many tattoos? What possesses someone? The answer lies in an early childhood memory.

I think I was about nine years old when I first became aware of the fact that you could have drawings etched into your skin forever. On the chest of a friend's father was a mermaid tattooed which fascinated me immensely.

Not long after - on a free Wednesday afternoon - I was leafing through my grandparents' Panorama and Revu, which they had in their reading folder, and suddenly saw that besides tough men, beautiful women could also be tattooed!

A photo shoot of tattooed ladies proudly displaying their butterflies, anchors, flowers and hearts heralded the beginning of my fascination with ink.

From the moment I could hold a pen, I did nothing but draw myself, and the fact that you could apparently have drawings permanently put on your body was the discovery of the century for me!

Since that Wednesday afternoon, I regularly drew flowers, anchors and hearts on my arms and hands with a pen, much to my mother's displeasure. First small, later bigger and bigger, with graceful curls around them and, when I was really busy, also with coloured felt-tip pens.

"Take it off! Soon you'll get blood poisoning!"

Rose

At 16, after three years of nagging (I actually wanted it when I was 13), I got my first tattoo. I was finally allowed to! Although my parents would have preferred to postpone this moment for another two years, I was determined and they finally gave me their permission provided I didn't overdo it.

Unfortunately, I did have a boyfriend at the time who was heavily against it so my first piece of art turned out even smaller than actually intended.

He went with me to the tattoo artist and was right there with his nose as the design I had chosen was permanently engraved into my skin with precision.

"Not too big, not too big!"

Stop

The final result was a rose on my upper arm barely six centimetres tall, including petal and stem.

Boyfriend and I turned out not to be on the same page after all, so I broke off the relationship after two years. The first day I was single again, I immediately made another appointment at the tattoo parlour and got two more tattoos: cats! One on my left upper arm, one on my right shoulder blade. Still not alarmingly big, but still. Now suddenly I had three.

Although I was now eighteen and three tattoos richer, I was still not completely happy. I thought I could do with a bit more colour.

But yes. Since tattooing was also a rather expensive hobby back then, it took quite a long time each time before I could get something new done. Consequently, expanding my ink collection was agonisingly slow.

At 25, I had still managed to have a leopard put on my arm, a skull with roses and a snake through its eye on my shoulder blade, a Hanya mask on my back, two dragons and a rat on the inside of my arm and a black panther on my chest.

My tattoos were now reasonably sized and in full color. This was beginning to look like it, although not everyone agreed. Even the cashier at the supermarket thought so:

"Now you have to stop, you know.

Tattoo shop

People and opinions. I can dream the calibrated comments by now.

Not that I do anything with it, of course.

Over the years, a fortune teller was added to my right forearm and a tarot card to my left, but I didn't really loosen up until I finally got went to work in a tattoo shop himself. Money played no role from then on; in exchange for an extended lunch at the local hummus bar, I was given free inked!

As I worked every day with people who had also tattooed their hands, necks and even faces, my own boundaries also blurred.

Whereas before I never wanted to get my neck tattooed, now my neck, throat ánd entire chest were covered. Whereas before I wanted to be able to cover up my tattoos in certain situations, now I would gladly get my hands and fingers covered up to the nails.

My own creativity was also in full swing. Each time I got new ideas for new, colourful and symbolic tattoos, so that little by little every empty spot on my skin was being used..

A friend was seriously worried about my career.

"Now you won't get hired anywhere.

Scarf

But I didn't want to be hired anywhere anymore either. I went for an independent profession, which fortunately I managed quite well. Besides, I couldn't imagine that in these days of anti-discrimination and pro-diversity, anyone could be turned down for an assignment on their looks alone.

Promptly, tattoos became a fashion thing during that period. Also! Hipsters with big glasses and full tattooed necks and hands were on the rise, so having lots of ink was finally more accepted for women too.

And how about all the wonderful inked models who meanwhile had their photos taken in full?

Partly thanks to the TV programmes Miami Ink, LA Ink and, of course, the world-famous and, at the time, beautiful Kat von D, more and more women dared to venture beyond the hitherto 'safe' flowers, swallows and butterflies. In this respect, as a nine-year-old girl in 1980, I was pretty much ahead of my time in terms of taste...

Fortunately, today, tattoos are also becoming more accepted in the job market, even in the medical sector. I remember feeling tremendously burdened when I was invited to the TMG building for a photo shoot to take a profile picture to go with the horoscope column I wrote for VROUW, which I was now working for. Many readers would probably not be happy to see me there in the photo.

I offered to bring a scarf to at least hide my neck tattoos from readers who might take offence at this. Fortunately, this proved unnecessary.

"Well no, those tattoos belong to you. This is exactly what makes you 'you'!"

Diary

Besides drawing, writing was already early my great passion. From the age of 9 to 16, I kept daily diaries with the result that my entire childhood is documented in notebooks, folders and other bound booklets, accompanied of course by pictorial illustrations.

In a way, my tattoos are also part of the course of my life. Each tattoo reminds me of a certain period so my skin also acts as a kind of diary, so to speak.

Think of it as old photo albums that you never look at again. You lose certain memories until you see the photos again. I don't need to take out my old photo books to bring back memories, I just look at my arms and legs every day.

And apparently I'm not the only one who does this....

"Do your tattoos have any special meaning?"

Meaning

Yes, they certainly have.

But just like I don't just blow the whistle on what is written in my diaries, I also don't tell what the meanings behind my tattoos are. If I did, I would also immediately expose my emotions, feelings, private life and past and I don't want that.

Certainly strangers are none of my business what I went through and why I had something put in place.

Pretty cheeky to ask someone you just know about their personal history and private life. Because that's what someone does the moment he asks about the meanings of my tattoos.

I know that there are many people who love nothing more than talking about their tattoos and not sparing a moment to reveal the meaning behind them, but this does not apply to me. Fine that they are visible to everyone, but I really keep the invisible meaning behind them to myself.

Not infrequently, the symbolism behind a tattoo design is also quite complex. This line stands for this, this curl stands for that and then this stands for that and that stands for something else. Tiring to explain and boring for someone else to hear.

Often things are not what they seem either. Once Billy idol had a hit titled 'Dancing with myself'. It was widely believed at the time that this song was about masturbation, when in fact it had absolutely nothing to do with it. Billy was once in Tokyo where he visited a club where all the Japanese youngsters danced by themselves in a room full of mirrors. This fascinated him so much that he wrote a song about it. Speaking of prejudice...

People like to hear in songs what they themselves want to hear, while the creator of the song often means something completely different with the lyrics. This is also often the case with art and, yes, also with tattoos. For example, I have a boxing brace on my hand. Contrary to what you might think, it has nothing remotely to do with fighting or aggression.

Above all, it is a matter of taste. Probably incomprehensible to people who don't like it or even find it downright disgusting. And that's OK too. After all, I did not colour myself for them.

"UGGH! Ugly!"

Opinions

Airing your opinion unsolicited is allowed, of course. Under no circumstances can you leave it To churn out your egg? Go ahead. We live in a free country. Even though I am in no way curious about what you think, just pour that personal opinion out over me, and you'll be off the hook.

Nevertheless, I don't understand the motivation. Why all the fuss? My tattoos are my choice, my taste, my style. They are not on your body, are they? So why bother at all?

Usually, these are pedantic wiseacres or slightly older people who I find downright unsightly myself in terms of truttering hairstyle, sour head, uni-sex jacket or unkempt moustache, but whom I personally will never comment on out of decency.

I am talking here about the type of person who in 2019 still believes That you are 'aso' if you have tattoos. A view from the juggernaut, of course, but alas, they are still around. Although I never respond to these kinds of acute reactions, I do believe that if you yourself call someone "aso" just because they have different tastes from you, you really should seriously ask yourself which of you two is the real aso.

On the other hand, if I really cared, of course I would never have let myself be so conspicuous. Everyone knows that there are still plenty of people who are tight with prejudice or bursting with narrow-mindedness. Of course, if you can't stand that, you shouldn't get yourself tattooed full.

Often I just laugh when someone utters a cry of disgust in passing. Big deal. I have a creative mind and she has a blood pressure of 160 over 100. Have a nice day!

16 reasons why

Oh yes. Why do I have so many tattoos? Let me start by telling you why I don't have them. Because there are quite a few misconceptions about people with tattoos. People with tattoos are, according to the many prejudices that still linger:

• perjurers
• (wannabe) tough
• a-social
• stupid
• criminal
• boozers
• drug users
• attention-hungry
• lazy
• unemployed

Of course, there will be people with tattoos who indeed exhibit prejudice-affirming behaviour, but even then this says nothing about all tattooed people. As if people with tattoos are necessarily stupid and ill-mannered and cannot have a successful career. As if people without tattoos always be intelligent, show appropriate behaviour and have a good job. If we are going to start talking about this...

Once, I was on holiday somewhere with my family and at the lane where we had rented a cottage there was another - non-tattooed - family whose children were not allowed to interact with ours because we had tattoos, their daughter informed our son. Three guesses which family caused the most nuisance on the park that week....

Personally, I think one's lifestyle, personal attitude and behaviour is completely unrelated to having or not having ink. So many kinds, so many tastes. But for now, let me stick mostly to myself.

Why not?

• I don't have them because it's 'fashion'. In fact, I had them long before footballers with sleeves appeared on TV and the tattooed hipsters advanced.
• I don't have them because I want to be 'tough'. I am very sensitive and whine at the slightest thing and no, I am in no way ashamed of that. Animals, children, beautiful music, a moving TV clip, you name it; tissues at the ready!
• I don't have them because I am 'asocial' and therefore 'nice and shitty' to everything and everyone. Asocial, in my view, is: maladjusted. I am perfectly adaptable. And no, I certainly don't 'shit' on everyone, but I also don't see why I can't have tattoos because there might be people who find them ugly. I don't like everything I see passing on the street either; live and let live.
• I don't have them because I 'have a low IQ' and therefore haven't thought about the possible consequences. My IQ is above average, thank you, and there is nothing wrong with my understanding of cause and effect either. I still assume that normal, right-thinking people will not judge or, in this case, condemn someone on their appearance. I don't have anything to do with people who do, so that selects itself nicely.
• I don't have them because I am 'criminal'. I still don't dare pick up a pack of gum in the supermarket. I didn't before, and I don't now.
• I don't have them because it's part of my 'wild lifestyle'. I don't smoke, drink alcohol or use drugs. And no, never did either.
• I don't have them because I 'want attention'. I am outside my work for which I sometimes appear in the media (part of the job) fairly introverted and the last thing I want is to be the centre of attention. In fact, there was once a time when I hoped my tattoos would actually keep people at bay. Even work I prefer to do online, alone and behind the scenes.
• I don't have them because I am 'unemployed and lazy' and therefore 'have nothing to lose anyway' with a view to my career. I have a small media company as well as my own practice, am swamped with work and even tend towards workaholism.

Why do you?

• I find tattoos especially beautiful, all my life, I see it as an art form, if set well.
• It is body modification: beautifying your body to your own taste. Where others take a breast augmentation, nose job or facelift, I get myself tattooed.
• My tattoos act as permanent jewellery and complete my outfit. They make me feel good, like someone else feels comfortable when wearing a nice necklace that matches their clothes or image, only permanent.
• My tattoos match my make-up in colour.
• My tattoos lift my complexion, make me less pale.
• My tattoos act as permanent reminder to great and not-so-great times, and help me remember how certain things used to be. Of course, I don't need tattoos to remind me of´where I came from´, but it also doesn't hurt to just dwell on them every now and then.
• My tattoos remind me every day of the special life lessons I have learnt over the years, each of which has contributed to my personal development.
• I love symbolism and therefore value the spiritual and symbolic meanings of my tattoos.

Last but not least, >DIT are the comments that, as a tattooed woman, I indeed get regularly and which are indeed particularly irritating and out of place.

Especially the question, "Do you have any more in other places?" is beyond cheeky and inappropriate. I don't ask what you wear under your clothes, do I?

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Source photo/quote Kat von D: https://www.azquotes.com/author/41503-Kat_Von_D

This blog post has been reproduced in part as an opinion piece on the VROUW/Telegraaf website with my permission.