Arkansas State Legislature Passes Vague Bill Limiting Tattooing and Piercing

[SenorDingDong]

Arkansas state legislature passes bill to ban certain body modifications, tattoo procedures - Alternative Press

Arkansas Passes a Bill That Cracks Down On People With Tattoos, Piercings, and Body Art


What are your guys thoughts on this? I don't see enough information to say much, but I don't believe any professional tattooing or piercing should be banned, as long as the procedures are safe.

 

[Captain Butterscotch]

The commentary I heard was that it was more about deterring unlicensed amateurs from ....ing up their shit or someone else's stuff, which I am in full agreement with.

However I see tattoos/peircings/implants as personal expression and as such they shouldn't be outright banned.

 

[vilk]

Slightly unrelated, but in Japan, people with tattoos are not allowed to use pools/ water parks/ hot springs and it pisses me off to no end. I live across the street from a gym with a huge awesome pool, costs 8 bucks to get in and I'm not allowed.

OT: Since when are tattoos 'untraditional'? People have been tattooing themselves since some pre-historic dude figured it out. My great great grandpa had a huge chestpiece of a ship. I figured stuff our great great grandpas did ought be considered traditional.

 

[celticelk]

In its final form, this bill seems to only ban outright subdermal implants, which is a pretty small group of mods (and which, as the first article points out, are already regulated as invasive surgery by the feds) and additionally regulates (without banning) scarification. I don't really have a problem with health and safety regs for body mods, but I'm not too keen on bans, even though I don't think a subdermal is something I'd ever consider myself.

 

[celticelk]

Slightly unrelated, but in Japan, people with tattoos are not allowed to use pools/ water parks/ hot springs and it pisses me off to no end. I live across the street from a gym with a huge awesome pool, costs 8 bucks to get in and I'm not allowed.

OT: Since when are tattoos 'untraditional'? People have been tattooing themselves since some pre-historic dude figured it out. My great great grandpa had a huge chestpiece of a ship. I figured stuff our great great grandpas did ought be considered traditional.

Tattoo norms are not uniform across time and space. In the mid-90s, when I got my first ink, tattooing was only just emerging from several decades (at least) of "sailors, outlaws, and loose women" ghettoization. Even five years ago, restaurants in my (liberal Midwestern university) home town were still asking servers to cover their tattoos when they were on the job. In Japan, tattoos are still strongly associated with the Yakuza, which generates severe social disapproval.

 

[Dawn of the Shred]

Im from Arkansas and this just pisses me off! I get looks all the time in the small towns around where i live. But thats just how it is but it is getting better. I took my earings out and cut my hair for locks of love but i still get judged. Just because of tattoos

 

[Jakke]

Well, I can't see this passing the supreme court, as any lawyer worth his salt would mount this as a case regarding freedom of expression (especially tattoos and scarification).

Now, this might be just my prejudices speaking, but isn't there a large degree of biblical literalism in Arkansas?
Isn't the mainstream interpretation in fundamentalist christianity that the mark of the beast will come in the shape of a tattoo, or a micro chip (or, may I say subdermal implant instead?)? See where I'm going with this*?

Quickly! To my Glen Beck-esque whiteboard!


*And by all means, I would love to hear from people from the lovely state of Arkansas if this might a be a somewhat reasonable idea.

 

[Watty]

Quickly! To my Glen Beck-esque whiteboard!

The voice in my head that "read" this was ....ing hilarious, thank you for the comic relief...