My ears were pierced at the tender age of six months old. I dyed my hair blue when I was seventeen. My first tattoo, out of a total of three on my arms, was done when I was eighteen. I received two nose piercings at the age of twenty.
Since then I have gotten the usual comments such as, ‘Did it hurt?’ and ‘Wow, they’re beautiful,’ yet I have also gotten comments such as ‘I would never do that’ and ‘You know you will never be able to get a job with those.’
And when I worked for a certain company, they told me I couldn’t show my tattoos. I had to wear long sleeve shirts in the middle of summer everyday. However, to those latter comments I shrug, because I know the body modification movement is making great waves throughout the world of professionalism.
People are showing up to work with full sleeve tattoos on display or even a simple stud in their nostril. Yet, there is still a stigma in certain environments were body modification is unacceptable. Such environments include law firms, office spaces, and some educational districts.
Body modification should not be as big of a deal as it is in the workplace. The practice has a lot of positive aspects. For one, it helps a person share who they are. They may want a tattoo with a lot of meaning, or none at all. Either way it represents their personality.
Obviously, there is a limit, such as profane, racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. etc. comments and images tattooed on one’s body. That would be a line where one shouldn’t be hired as it reflects their personality and values, and no company should stand for such values. However piercings, tattoos, and weird hair colors should be allowed in the workplace for many reasons. For one, it expresses one’s individuality.
A person’s individuality is important for making them noticable and showing their personality. If a workplace does not allow you to have personality, you are no longer an individual and you lose a sense of yourself. Furthermore, body modification allows for more candidates to be interviewed for a position.
If there are ten candidates up for a position at a firm and eight of them have noticeable body modification, would you reject them even if they were fully qualified? Body modification does not take away the qualifications of one person.
Body modification has been around for ages – since Mesopotamia and old pirates wanting a representation of their conquests. It should not affect the workplace as it provides no distraction, no decrease in qualifications, and adds personality to the professionalism that already exists.
Body modification has been shown as another way for CEO’s to unlawfully judge their candidates during interviews and reject them even if they have fantastic qualifications. Body modifications do not take away from a person, they only add to them.
Emily Rubino
Opinions Editor
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