in the skin
Apr. 24th, 2022 07:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
homoneuroticThere is a deeply pure, unadulterated joy in my chest today. Looking at my new tattoo, I know I've made the right decision in getting it. I keep staring at my leg, imagining dotting the rest of it with other pieces. I think of myself with an entire leg of tattoos, and feel giddy. It feels like my body was handed to me as a blank canvas, and I finally get to make something of it. A sentiment which I'm sure will not go over easily with my parents. I insisted that today would not be dedicated to thinking about their reaction. I already wasted enough of my joy fretting over it. But now that I've settled into contentment with my piece, I can't help but try drafting up a piece to address them. I'm not sure how to deliver the news. In person? I rarely see them to begin with, save for holidays, but with my birthday fast approaching there will be a time shortly. I've also considered sending them a letter, but that might prove to be a means of ripping off the bandage inch by inch.
In the interest of gauging tactics used by others, I've been googling "how to tell my parents I've gotten a tattoo". Most of the results fall into one of two categories - people under eighteen still living with their parents, and people who only plan on getting a single tattoo. I am neither of these things. I want to be heavily tattooed. I am an autonomous adult. I vaguely rely on my parents for financial support - they pick up my car insurance and phone bills, which is incredibly kind - but I'm not sure if that gives them enough stock to say what I can and can't have on my own body. Actually, scratch that. It absolutely doesn't.
I want to evoke care and respect for them while still maintaining that I will make my own decisions about my body. That their concerns come from a place of love, but it will ultimately be me suffering the consequences should any come, not them. That telling them to begin with is a sign of trust. That people already think less of me from seeing my dykey hair and clothes, not to mention the whole-ass butch girlfriend I'm holding hands with in public - the tattoos pale in comparison to that kind of judgement.
Much to think about.
In the interest of gauging tactics used by others, I've been googling "how to tell my parents I've gotten a tattoo". Most of the results fall into one of two categories - people under eighteen still living with their parents, and people who only plan on getting a single tattoo. I am neither of these things. I want to be heavily tattooed. I am an autonomous adult. I vaguely rely on my parents for financial support - they pick up my car insurance and phone bills, which is incredibly kind - but I'm not sure if that gives them enough stock to say what I can and can't have on my own body. Actually, scratch that. It absolutely doesn't.
I want to evoke care and respect for them while still maintaining that I will make my own decisions about my body. That their concerns come from a place of love, but it will ultimately be me suffering the consequences should any come, not them. That telling them to begin with is a sign of trust. That people already think less of me from seeing my dykey hair and clothes, not to mention the whole-ass butch girlfriend I'm holding hands with in public - the tattoos pale in comparison to that kind of judgement.
Much to think about.
