Tattoo Discrimination

Tattoos do not interfere with people’s abilities to do their job. A person’s ability to perform a job will be the same regardless of the art on his or her body. Keith, Greer, & Weimer (2009) conducted a study to investigate how workers in hospitals get treated with tattoos. They found that tattoos did not hinder employees from doing their job (p. 56). The worker is still able to perform the job to the best of his or her ability. However, Ponte and Gillan (2007) emphasize how body art in the workplace is being rejected by employers and courts, even when employees are able to perform their duties (para. 5), thereby proving that people are being declined job because of their appearance, which is consider to be discrimination. Therefore, people

According to The Washington Times (DC), a study conducted by Brian Miller, a professor of management at Texas State University, reported that body art has many disadvantages that can cause “stereotyping, stigmatization, and prejudices in the workplace” (Harper, 2008, p. A03). Mr. Miller conducted a survey interviewing people with and without tattoos to see how they feel about the situation. One study conducted by Mr. Miller has shown that most people are turned off or even offended by body art: “People would rather not work with someone who has visible body art in situations requiring face to face contact with customers, even if qualified for the job” (Harper, 2008, p. A03). The study has also shown that people who work with tattooed people do not want to help or even share commission with those individuals. The workers are afraid that the other workers with visible tattoos will negatively impact their own job performance, if they help them (Harper, 2008, p. A03). As an 18 year old living in the United States, I can say that trying to get a job while having tattoos is not that easy. I have two tattoos that have sentimental value. However, some employers visualize tattoos differently and do not see them as sentimental value. Therefore, I am stereotyped, judged, and declined the job because of my tattoos, even when I am qualified for the

Instead, people should simply visualize body art as one's choice of expressions. Among the years people’s perceptions towards tattoos has changed. We could simply say tattoos were looked at as a bad idea, however, now they are looked at more positively. From my own experience, tattoos are hugely popular in people ages 18-30, however, not so much in ages 30-50. With that said people know that most employees are going to be between the ages 18-30 range, and the employers are more likely to be between the ages 30-50 range, meaning they do not see tattoos as one’s way of self-expression like today’s generation does. Everybody has the right to express him or herself. Keith (2009) suggests that “A person has a right to self-expression, including the display of body art, just as one has a right to wear their favorite color scrubs, dye their hair a different color, paint fingernails a certain shade or modify their appearance with plastic surgery” (p. 56). Another study done by Kosut (2006) reveals that in recent years tattooing has been used to customize the body with meaningful designs (p. 73). Kosut (2006) also states “New meanings of tattoo are being generated by exhibitions that reframe tattoo as art. Long-standing and commonplace associations between tattoo and criminals or psychopaths still linger, yet they reside alongside new representations and discourses” (p. 91). Therefore, this proves how the