Jack The Ripper tattoos

[Scott Nelson]

I have a lot of tattoos, and am getting quite a few more.

Can you tell us where some of them are?

[Ausgirl]

I got my tattoos long before they were as 'fashionable' as they are now. They certainly were not as acceptable on women as on men, when I got them. People found it very difficult to reconcile a well-spoken, educated and mannerly woman with tattoos, to my never ending amusement.

Sadly, I can't get any more, or even retouch the ones I have due to health reasons and the risk of infections. But I would, if I could! And bugger the haters.

That said ... I think I'd have difficulty finding a man with murder victims tattooed all over himself attractive on any level. Especially graphic, bloody ones. Ew.

I think this one is up there with my current list of favourite tattoos I've seen:

[Ausgirl]

a JtR tattoo I really like:



and a possibly JtR-era tattooed lady:

[Natasha]

Personally I would be too worried about the health hazards of getting a tat. I think some look good, and I have been tempted to get one, but just think about how they will look on old wrinkly skin. Having said that though I saw a funny tat on an old woman that said 'do not resuscitate'.

As for the ripper tats, it's not my cup of tea.

[Ausgirl]

Natasha, there's almost no health hazards.. unless you're me, with a weak lymphatic system and low immunity. And 90% of the risk for me is after-care while it's healing at home because even a small cut can put me in the hospital if I encounter the wrong random germ at the time. Which anyone else's body would just point at and laugh..

Anyway. Tattoos places these days are cleaner and more paranoid about bacteria and blood borne pathogens than the average hospital ward. You have no worries there. Unless you go to somewhere like "Filthy Agnes' Tattoo Parlour and Moonshine Emporium" and Agnes' pit bull is sleeping in the corner, there's dirt on the floor and no-one's wearing surgical gloves.

The right tattoo in the right place will age wonderfully. Mine are a bit faded now, but still look great several decades later. And the inks they use now are incredibly colourfast, I wish they were around for mine. Bad places to get tattoos are the belly (pregnancy is bad, very bad, for belly tattoos..), hips (ditto), and basically anywhere else inclined to suffer massive stretchmarks.

And hey, when I'm 75 and pruney, no-one will be interested in looking at my tattoos anyway. They're not on display to the general public (these days, anyway, as I do now and then attempt to age gracefully).

I love the clock ripper tattoo, but I wouldn't have it myself, it's very masculine. If I had to get a Ripperesque tattoo I'd get....

... you know, I'll just have to think about that a while.

[Harry D]

Never saw the appeal of tattoos. I know people attribute personal significance to them, but at the same time they're designed to attract attention. Why do you need to permanently scar your body to remember a loved one or to make an ideological statement? I actually find it a bit of a turn-off to see a beautiful woman who's disfigured her body with tattoos. 'Tramp stamps' are the worst.

[c.d.]

I got my tattoos long before they were as 'fashionable' as they are now. They certainly were not as acceptable on women as on men, when I got them. People found it very difficult to reconcile a well-spoken, educated and mannerly woman with tattoos, to my never ending amusement.

Sadly, I can't get any more, or even retouch the ones I have due to health reasons and the risk of infections. But I would, if I could! And bugger the haters.

That said ... I think I'd have difficulty finding a man with murder victims tattooed all over himself attractive on any level. Especially graphic, bloody ones. Ew.

I think this one is up there with my current list of favourite tattoos I've seen:

Well at least its subtle.

c.d.

[c.d.]

Never saw the appeal of tattoos. I know people attribute personal significance to them, but at the same time they're designed to attract attention. Why do you need to permanently scar your body to remember a loved one or to make an ideological statement? I actually find it a bit of a turn-off to see a beautiful woman who's disfigured her body with tattoos. 'Tramp stamps' are the worst.

Hello Harry,

Amen to the women thing. Not too long ago I was in a swanky hotel where there was a formal party going on, tuxedos for the men and long dresses for the women. I saw this very attractive young woman talking to a group of people. She then turned around to display a backless dress with a huge tattoo covering her whole back. My immediate reaction? WTF???

c.d.

[AlanG]

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01867/shark-tattoo-stump_1867806i.jpg

[AlanG]

love that tattoo. Its must be so meaningful

[Pcdunn]

Interesting topic and photos. I don't have any tats myself, but see them frequently on younger people. I will admit to having watched some of the tatto-based reality competition shows on television, out of an interest in the art of tattooing (it can be quite as much an art as more conventional forms). There is one shop that specializes in covering up badly-done tats with much more beautiful ones, lol.

[c.d.]

Photos of tats on people who have aged:

Warning! It ain't pretty.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/this-is-what-your-tatt-will-look-like-in-40-years-14-old-people-with-tattoos/story-fnks7u94-1226844349268

c.d.

[Natasha]

Natasha, there's almost no health hazards.. unless you're me, with a weak lymphatic system and low immunity. And 90% of the risk for me is after-care while it's healing at home because even a small cut can put me in the hospital if I encounter the wrong random germ at the time. Which anyone else's body would just point at and laugh..

Anyway. Tattoos places these days are cleaner and more paranoid about bacteria and blood borne pathogens than the average hospital ward. You have no worries there. Unless you go to somewhere like "Filthy Agnes' Tattoo Parlour and Moonshine Emporium" and Agnes' pit bull is sleeping in the corner, there's dirt on the floor and no-one's wearing surgical gloves.

The right tattoo in the right place will age wonderfully. Mine are a bit faded now, but still look great several decades later. And the inks they use now are incredibly colourfast, I wish they were around for mine. Bad places to get tattoos are the belly (pregnancy is bad, very bad, for belly tattoos..), hips (ditto), and basically anywhere else inclined to suffer massive stretchmarks.

And hey, when I'm 75 and pruney, no-one will be interested in looking at my tattoos anyway. They're not on display to the general public (these days, anyway, as I do now and then attempt to age gracefully).

I love the clock ripper tattoo, but I wouldn't have it myself, it's very masculine. If I had to get a Ripperesque tattoo I'd get....

... you know, I'll just have to think about that a while.

Hi Ausgirl,

I don't think I could bring myself to get one, I think some people suit them, they have the personality to carry them and some don't. I am one of those people who couldn't carry a tat, I look like too much of a good girl, I defo wouldn't suit a tat . Also I am very fair and my skin is one of my best asserts so I don't know if I would want to damage it (I say damage, because I may not feel so good about the tat quite early done the line).

I think it's great that people are interested enough in art to decorate their bodies if they so wish, but I'm quite happy to appreciate (or not in some cases) tattoo art on others rather than on myself.

[Errata]

Can you tell us where some of them are?

No place particularly interesting although as a young adult I got ridiculously close to getting the gates of hell tattooed on my pubic bone... lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate. I had a very wise and noble artist at the time who talked me out of it.

The first one I got is the Chinese symbol for little sister, my sister has the one for big sister, both on our left hips. That was a week after I turned 18.
I have a knot work moon on my left shoulder blade representing my depression, sort of how there are a low of new moons, but there are full ones too. A knot work star compass on my right shoulder representing the Bipolar, A dragon on my right shoulder along the top from when I finally figured out how to start to live with all this, dragons represent knowledge. I have a Tzaddik on my right elbow for my grandfather who died when I was a toddler, that's where the new ones are going on that arm (a golden butterfly for my cousin who died of breast cancer, the equation for entropy for my grandmother who had dementia, a lilac blossom for my other grandmother, and a lizard for my favorite grandfather, all memorial tattoos on that forearm). I have a blue feather I got for a guy but kept for the sentiment from Illusions by Richard Bach. I got a tree of life with Celtic like roots for being half Jewish and half Scottish on the inside of that ankle, and I got the mandala for Skandi the Slayer of Terror in a kind of weird spot above my left inner ankle so that when I cross my legs it lines up to me since I trace it when I start to have panic attacks. I have a Russian fire bird on the small of my back, and a few inches above it going up my spine is the I Ching symbol for difficulty at the beginning because I was born dead, and then the alchemical symbol for water because I drowned twice before the age of three which oddly made me love the water more than anything. More will go up that line once I finish the memorials.

No nearly naked ladies with swords, no skulls, no 8 inch naked cowboy on my inner thigh holding up his hand with the words "You need to be at least this big to ride". The only one in color is the feather, all the rest is black linework. With the exception of the Tzaddik less than an inch tall, all are hidden if I wear a t-shirt and jeans. Because I promised my mother I would wait till I was 35 to get visible tattoos and I kept that promise. She said that by 35 I would know if I was going to be working in an office where I couldn't show tattoos, and it's been proven that won't be the case. I've never ever worked in an office. So I got the Tzaddik and saved for the rest to do in one go, which will be in like three weeks. I don't forget things really ever, but things don't occur to me when they should, and there are things I have to think about or remember. Those get tattooed on me. Otherwise If someone brings it up I remember, but I don't continue to think on it once the moment is gone. It's a defensive strategy so my brain doesn't obsess on fear, but it means I effectively lose things even if I never forget them. And I don't want to do that. If it's on my torso I don't need it that often, but if it's on my limbs I do. It's my biography, not of the details of my life but of the idea that are important to me.

[Monty]

Photos of tats on people who have aged:

Warning! It ain't pretty.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/this-is-what-your-tatt-will-look-like-in-40-years-14-old-people-with-tattoos/story-fnks7u94-1226844349268

c.d.

I disagree.


Monty