That's why I won't get my belly button area tattoo until AFTER I get the tummy tuck :D I haven't quite settled on a design but I know that it will commemorate the two lives that I brought into this world and the two that didn't make it.

i think the thought in this is beautiful. This is when tattoos make sense to me, when they actually truly represent something very meaningful that you're not going to consider to be any less meaningful.

I don't know if tattoos are for me, and I'm not in a social sorority yet (yay fall recruitment) but I think the DG anchor, small (no bigger than an inch) and sort of angled on the outside of a foot could be really cute

Meaning is important, but again, I'm old enough to know that much of what I thought would always be meaningful to me when I was in my 20s just isn't that meaningful -- or not meaningful in the same way -- 20 years later. Like I said, ask anyone who's had a tattoo of a significant other's name when that other isn't so significant anymore.

You and your husband like your tattoos. That's really all that matters.

I have an elephant with DST coming out his trunk and OOO-OOOP underneath. My roommate has a Z PHI B with 5 stars and 1920 at the bottom. I like my tatt and I like hers also. My brother has a sphinx and ape on both arms.

I am confused as to why women seem to not only want to get tatoos but then vigorously defend their action in getting it or them. I hardly think it is either inaccurate or inappropriate to recognize that women are far more conscious of and concerned with fashion trends and messages sent via appearances. Since tatoos have been around for gazillions of years and since they have traditionally been viewed, in Western culture, as the domain of pond life bottom feeders I find it curious as to why a fad which leaves permanent marking on one's body would hold such appeal. Based on centuries of adverse opinion of and reaction to tatoos I can't understand why women would want to permanently mark themselves considering that the current popularity of tatoos will surely become passe and out of fashion within a few years. Whether one likes it or not tatoos are not viewed with favor in professional circles and in some social settings they are not tolerated. Teen aged rebellion is fine when one is a high school kid but by the time you have become a college woman it seems to run contraty to the the general sense of realistic maturity expected and it doesn't seem to fit within the what your own organizations expect of ladies in their conduct and appearance. Looking like a gang of tatooed biker chicks never struck me as what a sorority woman aspired to (and yes, any tatoo places you more or less in that unfortunate circumstance). Having been out in the world for a while now I have seen just how deeply this prejudice runs. Maybe this is a bit inappropriate, but I always believed that women were far more savvy about the nuances of how one presents oneself.
Now, from the other half of the human species, as an undergrad in my house it was the kiss of death to have a tatoo. We met a few guys from other chapters who had them and it did not sit easy with us. We saw that as the sure sign of a candidate for a bottom tier house or life as a GDI.

I hope it is discreet.

almost every girl in my chapter has our letter tattooed somewhere on her... so i dont think that it is forbidden to have the letters on you...

Or your chapter is unaware of the rules...:rolleyes:

I'm putting bets on Texas State chapter.

Exalt

I have to disagree with both of you. ANYTHING can be tasteful or tasteless. Nothing is by definition all good or all bad.

For example, supposedly, being an unwed teenage mother is bad right? What if that mother was legally married (18 or 19 years old) when she got pregnant but is now a widow because her husband was killed in the war in Iraq? Immediately, this person is transformed into a law-abiding, patriotic citizen, right?

Give me a break, holier-than-thou :rolleyes:

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If a young woman was legally married and her husband was killed in Iraq that would make her a widow, NOT an unwed mother.

If a young woman found herself pregnant by a man she loved and he failed to stand by her then I would look down on him, not her.

I would argue that there are some things which are of their very essence good or bad. If you think about it for a moment I am sure you can come up with quite a few. However, this has little or nothing to do with tatoos. My question was about why, not about good or evil. My observations over the past several years lead me to conclude that tatoos add extra baggage to those who have them and send a message that does not play well in professional and other circles.
I don't think pointing out a simple fact of reality is being holier-than-thou. Rather, I think this falls under my original question about the lemming-like following of a transitory fad and then the predictable need to defend this action. Knee jerk defensiveness suggests a need to justify a questionable action. "Methinks the lady doth protest too much"!

I am sorry if you think I am being holier-than-thou. My purpose was to present my observations and experiences, identify the simple fact that tatoos are viewed rather negatively in professional circles, and to ask why their current popularity particularly among women who are arguably much more savvy about appearances and the images they project.

It's not being holier-than-thou. It's being realistic.

I think the acceptance of tatts by others depends on several factors, including the region you live in and location of the tattoo. I know MANY bankers, lawyers, doctors, professors and teachers, real estate professionals, ad men, corporate and agency PR people, etc. etc. that have tattoos...but you'd never know it until you go out to happy hour with them one night, or they wear shoes that don't-quite-cover the top of their foot. Tattoos aren't for me, and I think young people who get big ones in places not covered up by clothing are crazy, but I don't label everyone who gets one as trashy. I know too many tatted people from all walks of life to be able to do that.

Gauges in the ears, now that's something I think is NUTS!

It is? This is the first I've heard of this rule.

A few sisters in my chapter had tiny crescent moons tattooed on their ankles.