On October 30th, 2008, USA Today ran this article. It basically outlines how school districts and counties across the United States are imposing rules and regulations on employees regarding tattoos.
Bountiful, Utah passed a law this past August banning new city employees for rocking any visible tattoos. Tattoos that are seen on the head, face, neck and hands are now officially banned and anyone seeking work for the city who is sporting art in these areas will not be hired.
The Joplin School Board in Missouri voted mid-October on whether or not visible tattoos were appropriate for its teachers. The vote determined that no, tattoos were not appropriate and next year there will be no room in the school board for teachers with them.
The Pasco County School Board, Florida, decreed that its teachers be free of visible tattoos that are “offensive to community standards.” School principals are given free reign in determining what exactly “offensive to community standards” means when assessing their school’s teachers.
Jeff Flowers, a member of the Joplin School Board was quoted in the Joplin Globe as saying, “There’s a stigma associated with tattoos and it’s not a good stigma.”
This is how I see it: The school boards have decided to reaffirm a supposed negative stigma by refusing to support its qualified professionals because of choices these individuals made in exercising their personal rights and free will in regards to their own bodies. Instead of recognizing that tattooing has become a generally accepted form of artistic self-expression – instead of recognizing that tattoos are no longer things borne by sailors, convicts, gang members etc., etc., etc., and that regular Joes, soccer moms, and even grandparents are getting tattoos nowadays – these school boards and cities have decided to perpetuate their ridiculous outdated stigmas when they should be creating environments that are modern, tolerant, open-minded, progressive and free from discrimination.
USA Today quoted Steve Tufts, president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City as saying, “We don’t allow discrimination based on skin color, yet we came up with a policy that discriminated against people with color on their skin.”
I whole-heartedly, fully agree. We need to move forward, not backward. These ridiculous policies are severely outdated and, in my opinion, embarrassing. I think it’s sad that the close-minded mentality of a few devolved individuals means that truly good, decent, qualified, hardworking people will be legally barred from certain types of employment.
Personally, I want my kids to have teachers like the University of New Mexico public speaking teacher Bruce Potts (that’s him in the photo above), with tattoos and piercings. I want my kids exposed to all kinds of people so they grow up to be worldly and accepting of people of all sizes, colors and creeds. I want my kids to know that different doesn’t mean bad and that white-bread conservatism doesn’t mean good.
Tags: bruce potts, laws, News, Opinion, Workforce
November 13th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
First let me say that I really appreciate what you bring to this website Terilyn, but I’d like to play a little devil’s advocate for a minute. When talking about the workplace people frequently have the way they dress dictated to them, either being forced to wear a uniform or adhere to a particular dress code. This is a form of completely legal discrimination that a great many people have grown accustomed to. In other words, we have always been told how to look and judged if we choose to look ‘different’. My take on this state of affairs is that not only is this the way things are, but I’m not entirely convinced they should change. Without delving into first-year sociology, I have to point out that tattoo has always existed on the outskirts of accepted appearance, that in fact the reason we get tattooed is partially because of this and that if it were one day to become the norm or even socially ambivalent to display body art that we would, in short, be fucked. Part of the decision to get a tattoo has this risk of discrimination attached to it. That’s why I try to educate people who are perhaps overly concerned about this discrimination and refuse to do hand/neck/facial tattoos unless the person already has a high degree of coverage or they’re a felon (in which case they’re ALREADY being unfairly discriminated against and a little thing like a full face tribal isn’t gonna screw them anymore.) Also, Mr. Potts is a college professor and that decries a certain level of training that can surpass this entry-level discrimination. I tattoo a chemical engineer that looks like a walking paint-by-number but nobody cares because he has SKILLS! That being said, I totally agree with you, it sucks to be judged (especially for a job) on the basis of appearance (like that time I applied to Hooters for the server position and my balls kept falling out of those little shorts) but EVERYONE does it to some degree. It’s a form of psychological defense mechanism programmed into us through evolution and we can’t stop it, we can only be aware of it and try to cope. Also, I take solace in the fact that I have the personal strength of character to act, without first consenting ’society’, to determine my own destiny. I don’t condone discrimination, I don’t revel in it either, but somehow I think it’s necessary, if only to serve as a way to separate me from the squares. Love ya, mean it.
Wildo.