there’s a tattoo on my face. most of my social media followers will know this by now. recently, i got a tattoo on my face. i’m very happy with this tattoo. it vastly exceeds the expectations i had for it (which admittedly were few). i haven’t noticed if staring has increased or not (i’m a non-stealth tranny, ppl always stare) – but i also often wear my hood up so its not that visible.

in any case, facial tattoos are still one of those things that aren’t very common.

most ppl’s concerns likely revolve around issues of employability and, yeah, if i weren’t already unemployable, i probably wouldn’t have gotten a tattoo right on my face. i mean. until i started getting cultural/spiritual tattoos, i ensured all of my tattoos could be hidden so that could be respectable and professional as needed.

but yeah. i’ve talked about it before. but when u do come from a culture with a tradition of tattooing, its such an… idk, frustrating? irritating? oppressive?

like. we live in a world where white hipsters will insist they experience racism bc of their ‘skin color’ (eg tattoo sleeves). where some of the most vicious harassment i’ve got online has come whenever i mention that white ppl wouldn’t tattoo themselves if not for colonialism.

and you have Maori in new zealand who won’t get jobs when they have their traditional tattoos. this is a context wherein there is at some awareness who these ppl and why they have tattoos (i know they tattoos aren’t even close to the whole story)

so back in canada-land where while we have a huge filipino minority population, even amongst filipino there isn’t that much cultural awareness that we have a tattooing tradition. which means that outside of us? none at all.

starbucks’ dresscode (in the us) doesn’t allow visible tattoos. in canada, they’ve relaxed this rule. but not so far as to allow facial tattoos, i don’t think. now. in their online application they ask if you have any tattoos or piercings that might violate the dress code. i’d answer ‘no’.

why?

bc my facial tattoos do have both cultural and spiritual/religious significance (so do my arm ones). i’d be fine with covering the rest up bc they don’t.

now, if i were to interview with them, i’d tell them this. they wouldn’t be allowed to ask which culture or which religion (or spirituality). but if they didn’t hire me and i decided to challenge it, then i’d have to discuss it eventually.

what worries me about all of this is that while i have a valid and real case for it (and i’d probably win), is that white ppl fucking love their mythologies and it wouldn’t be hard for them to constuct one such that would allow them to also use this argument.

and it would grate.