As I turn my head from their judgmental selves, I can still hear the criticism. I hear them calling me a piece of trash, an unsuccessful individual and sometimes I even hear them spit out a derogatory term such as them calling me a slut. I can feel their eyes like heat traveling from my toes back up to my head. I can especially feel it get hotter as they stop on one of my markings to study what it is or why I have it. I see their lips turn into a frown as they make a scowling face like I am covered in garbage from a local dumpster. It may not play out exactly in this way all of the time, but these are things that I tend to go through in a social setting only because I have tattoos.

While I wish I could say this has no effect on me, it does. There are many things I feel in these situations and no matter how used I get to this. It is upright rude and hurtful to be discriminated based upon something I have superficially. In scenarios like the one I just mentioned, I tend to feel ashamed, but mostly I feel angry. I feel beside myself for even allowing someone to make me feel upset about the things I chose to have on my body. After all, it is my choice and in this world everyone is into freedom of choice over the human body, right? Apparently, people are only allowed to have that freedom when they aren't inked up with tattoos. What irks me most is, people judge me like the cover of a book when they have not once given me a chance to speak to them. They have no idea who I am, where I am from, what I do for a living, or what I like. I am much more than a woman with tattoos. I am a successful nursing student, I have a job and I am beyond caring on the inside, and I am intelligent. But, those who judge me don't even deserve to know half of that

.

If you have tattoos I'm sure you have experienced similar scenarios and felt the same. Here's what I want you to remember. Tattoos are art. It's as if your body is a journal and ink was created for you to write your story. Having tattoos does not mean you lack respect, mean you had a rough childhood, are a "tough guy", have little success, or that God is disgusted by you. It simply means that you are expressing yourself, allowing people to see your freedom, showing that you have individuality, and that you are trying to create beauty for yourself.

Therefore, the next time you are thrown into one of these situations I challenge you to smile and be the most polite person you can be. Kill them with your kindness. For those of you who have your shitty bias upon our art, there are many things I want to bring to your attention. Most importantly, I would like to say our tattoos affect nothing about us and our personalities, however they speak volumes about you and the way you throw your biased morals our way. Keep in mind, tattooed people don't care if you are not tattooed. We could just as easily discriminate your unmarked body the exact same way you do ours. Quit judging a book by it's cover for we could actually be the nicest people you will ever meet..