Recently in my state they banned Police from having visible tattoos. New officers will be turned down if heavily tattooed and current police will have to have them covered.

So… we’re not all going forward.

I absolutely do not want to see tattoos in high fashion. The models are there to display clothes. I don’t want to see any nonsense about tattoos, fat girls, or anything else… I just want beautiful clothes and elevation of the art form. Because some offbeat shop has 130 lb. models with tattoos does not mean those kinds of models have a place in high fashion. I’m 5′ 6″ and I love fashion, but I’m too short and fat to be a model. (I’m almost 120.) I don’t expect the industry to change for me. That would be the definition of asinine.

I work in healthcare. I have never had a problem with an employeer discriminating against tattoos. Mine are coverable but many coworkers have visable tattoos.

My husband is an EMT on an ambulance and has a near full sleeve and visable tattoos on his other arm.

Most models have a BMI that’s in the low normal range, about 18-19-ish. Curves are sexually interesting, but they don’t serve the purpose in high fashion. Isn’t the notion that models should be sexually appealing and more curvy bigoted in and of itself?

I said I was too fat and short to model. I did not say I was fat. However, I am *not* underweight. I’m on the low side of normal. As a health professional, I’m tired of people wanting to say being 140-150 lbs. is a “healthy” weight at the average female height of 5′ 4″, and then they still want to shame fatter people (while bitching Hollywood is evil)/

Fat people should not be shamed, but I’m not going to humor less fat people and tell them they’re not fat. Just a few decades ago, the average woman was only 120 lbs. at 5′ 3″. What’s messed up in the western world is we shame anyone who is either not fat enough or too fat. We attach these emotional value to “overweight” and “obese.”

I could rant on, but believe it or not, the runway is not the problem here. There are lots of gorgeous, healthy role models in the entertainment and modeling industry: Heidi Klum, Gisele Bündchen, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Selita Ebanks, to name a few.

Fat people can be sexy, beautiful, and all sorts of things. But fat doesn’t have a place in high fashion. No one is crying because thin, athletic women don’t have a place in burlesque. Being happy with our bodies and making the changes to please us should be tolerated here of all places; if we can’t talk candidly about our bodies on a body modification website, then where can we?

Maybe if instead of putting thin women down and bitching how it doesn’t let enough (acceptably) fat midgets in, we actually worked toward building self-esteem in girls for reasons other than their looks.

@kcgreyhound 106954 wrote:

I posted earlier that I was a teacher who was afraid of getting a full sleeve. Our district does not have a policy in place, but I certainly don’t see anything that bold on our staff members. So, I decided to write to the superintendent to get his blessing, if you will, before being relegated to hiding under long-sleeve shirts for the rest of my career.

Yesterday, he responded, and the word is good. Our district doesn’t have a no-visible-tattoo policy in place by design. He said that the cabinet specifically left it that way because it’s not “their business” to get into teacher lives. He also said that as long as tattoos are appropriate, he had no problem with them. He further offered that he strongly preferred that tattoos remain in places that could be covered by traditional clothing at times that might be deemed appropriate in dealing with some members of the public.

Bottom line, with this blessing, I’m now beginning an earnest search for the right tattoo artist to assist me with my sleeve idea. I’m pretty damn stoked, and I’m grateful I work in a place where it’s a non-issue.

P.S. I should have known it’s a non issue, since I’ve worn 0g ear plugs and a labret for the past 14 years, but I thought “better safe than sorry.”

Hi there. I see your in the Kansas City, MO area and I live in the St Louis, MO Metro area (Illinois side).

I grew up in Rural Southern Illinois and then went into the Army where I started getting my first couple of tattoos back in 1990-91 time frame. I lived in South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia – very conservative states.

When I got out of the Army in Virginia I went to school for an IT degree and worked for such a conservative company that women couldn’t even wear pants to work. Dresses, suits with skirts and stockings at all times were required. I could not wear anything less than 3/4 length sleeves year round and couldn’t even wear capris or short sleeved shirts to happy hour or company picnic due to the conservative nature of said company.

I have since moved back to the Midwest and find Missouri and Illinois to be a LOT more open and lenient to these things. I am now working as a regional IT manager for a scrap metal company and work at the Corporate level. NO one says anything about my piercings or tattoos and I display them boldly and proudly when I wear a shirt that they would show.

@Rockysmom 64336 wrote:

I worked in retail (Express) and they said you couldn’t have visible tattoos. I saw a girl at Starbucks and she puts a band-aid over her neck tattoos every time she works.

I worked at a dessert diner and they didn’t care about tattoos. At my job now (Finance) you see some people walking about with small tattoos and no one really cares…we don’t talk to customers. If I went to a meeting I would have to cover them up because most of the salespeople I work with look pretty conservative.

I have seen visible tattoos at Juicy Couture, Tower Records (no longer around) and Nordstrom (certain depts). I guess it just depends on the place.

Unfortunately yes, alot of places do not allow visible facial piercings and tattoos. I would not get a tattoo somewhere I couldn’t hide it because I don’t want to limit my job choices.

I used to work there at Express and my manager said I couldn’t show my tattoos. I still did regardless. She was mad LOL