Will a New Tattoo Become Career Suicide?
I'm a young female lawyer at a large law firm, and I have been planning for some time to get a large tattoo around my left wrist. I mentioned this to a male colleague, and he lectured me and told me the tattoo would kill my career. Where's the line?
Your colleague speaks the truth. Although tattoos have become ever-present in American society - studies have found that nearly 25 percent of adults have a tattoo, including almost half of those aged 25 to 35 - prominent tattoos remain taboo in the white-collar world.
The issue of employers who discriminate against those with body art is just starting to shake itself out in the legal system. Several cities have passed laws banning such discrimination, but a member of the "Church of Body Modification" recently lost a lawsuit against Costco, the national wholesale club, that required her to remove a facial piercing.
Regardless of what the courts have to say, the fact remains that corporate America will frown on body art for years to come. If you choose to get a prominent tattoo, it's at your own peril.
Dr. Rox Anderson, a dermatologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, is one of the world's foremost experts in the science of tattoo removal. According to Anderson, one in five people with a tattoo want to get it removed, and he said the overwhelming reason patients undergo the procedure is because it's "no longer what they want to express to the world."
Your colleague is simply making the point that body art - however much you may like it - may not leave the right impression in a professional environment.
It's your body. You can do whatever you like to it. But you woke up this morning to make money. You dress for success. A tattoo poking out from under your sleeve at a board meeting will stick out like sweat pants at the prom. If you're going to get inked, keep it somewhere the sun doesn't shine.Have a workplace-ethics dilemma? Ask it here, or email wherestheline@gmail.com.