I've had tattoos since I was 18 yet they were in places that weren't easily seen. As soon as I started to get more visible tattoos, I started getting told by current coworkers and even friends that they would prevent my job opportunities. The fact that you even still feel this way is why some places do discriminate against visible tattoos. This mindset is just feeding into something that should have died out years ago.

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First off, having this mindset feeds into the idea that people like me with visible tattoos are less professional and are taken less seriously. Why? I can understand if someone had racist tattoos because I wouldn't want that representing my company either, but to say that they are "unattractive" is ridiculous. Attractiveness is purely opinionated and is ridiculous to not hire someone based off of something as superficial as that. Would you prevent someone from getting a job because they didn't have perfectly straight teeth or stunning makeup? I didn't think so. Next.

Photo by Thiago Barletta

The United States has over 20,000 tattoo shops and 45 million people in the United States alone have tattoos, so why is there even a bias? Admittedly, the bias is quickly dying yet enough of it still remains. In an interview with Student Edge, the director of Australia's Recruitment Agency even admitted that when it comes to the tattoo bias he didn't "know where it really comes from." The only way to end the bias against tattoos is to start with each and every one of us.

Photo by Tyler Nix

My tattoos don't affect how well I can do my job. They don't hurt anyone. They don't have any racially charged or offensive images. Who are you to tell me my job opportunities are limited? Who are you to judge my entire self-worth based off of something that makes me so incredibly happy?