forced to in a poetry class.

seriously? You couldn't opt out of the assignment? I don't know if I'm OK with that.

Eh. I use forced in a loose sense. Shouldda scare quoted it. We were reading selections from a poetry anthology out loud in class, and I got passed the book to read the poem a few lines before the author used the N-word. I made the call to read it because I kind of felt trapped. I blushed SO HARD and just wanted to sink into a hole, but as some people from here pointed out, not my work so I have no right to edit it for my comfort. *shrug* It was a good lesson on the usage of charged words.

I grew up calling it a tank top and was a little shocked the first time I heard it referred to as a wife beater. (Probably sometime after I moved to Boston).

I didn't hear tramp stamp until "HIMYM" and I thought it was funny but also indicative of the sexism they often indulge on that show which I dislike. But I do think ass antlers is funny and fair game.

And I do think getting a tat down there is getting to be problematic the same way getting tribal tattoos on our bicep is problematic for guys.

Way back when getting a traditional tribal tat was unusual and beautiful and cool and then, over time, by association it became closely linked with jock/frat/douchebaggery. Context is everything, and the social context around that particular tatt is now kind of polluted.

I think the lower back tat is becoming problematic, in the same way I think the neck tat is a problem. It's kind of a "Woo Girl" (to reference HIMYM) thing to do now, just as getting a dolphin tattoo on your ankle, or a butterfly on your breast became a cliche. It's a cliched tat choice now. Cliches happen through cultural association and context and that's what's happened with those tats and those places.

Yeah, you can't pick your ink for anyone else -- for good reasons or bad. If its your own choice and reasons it'll still be lovely to you regardless of how society marches on.

just as getting a dolphin tattoo on your ankle, or a butterfly on your breast became a cliche.

laffs and laffs cause she effed that one up and got the dolphin on the boob and the butterfly onthe ankle.

Ah ... the 90's ...

in the same way I think the neck tat is a problem.

Whoa buddy my dad is gonna CUT you!!!

Because he's a badass with a neck tattoo, so he can do whatever he wants. Like a ninja.

(No, actually, I remain in a state of bogglement about the placement of his tattoo, but the man is 68 years old, survived 5 heart attacks and a quadruple bypass, and his younger brother recently died. I figure he's earned the right to get a tattoo wherever he wants.)

(And it's given my brother and I something to laugh about forEVER.)

(Also, if it had been my *mom* getting a tattoo, it would have been a goddamn garden gnome, so I think my dad's tat wins. Barely.)

Trifecta:

I'm still sad I couldn't talk my dad into getting a tattoo of a banana.

Now I am going to WASH ALL THE DISHES.

Now I am going to WASH ALL THE DISHES.

It's gonna be a Lutheran Massacreee!

Also, if it had been my *mom* getting a tattoo, it would have been a goddamn garden gnome, so I think my dad's tat wins.

Perhaps it would protect her when the garden gnomes begin their war on humanity.