So it’s a lovely sunny Sunday morning here. I wake up, do mummy duties, clean the kitchen, have a playfight and connect head to cheek with kiddo and now sporting a bruised cheek. All good still smiling.
Then I decide to check my emails.
There’s this wee young chicka who posed a question in regards to finding a BDSM friendly tattooist to tattoo a slave register barcode. She’s young, early twenties and her Master is in his forties. People jump in and give their advice. Some of it positive and some of it a little worried that this is something that needs to be looked at more closely with some indepth thought.
A tattoo is permanent. She’s young. Maybe it’ll be a mistake. Maybe it’s totally fine.
I dunno but I have been around tattooist’s for years, hell I even got offered an apprenticeship but turned it down. I draw them for people. I consult with people and sometimes when it feels right I’ll work with someone to design something that is going to be permanently on their skin for the rest of their life. Some tattooists don’t give a flying rats ass what you get, it’s a job, it’s money. Others are artists in their own right and will sit with you and come up with some fantastical design that has depth and is something to be proud of.
What it comes down to though is personal choice. BUT if you ask a question in a public forum with open discussion be prepared to see views that don’t perhaps sit with your own. How you respond shows whether or not you can be an adult about it.
What pissed me off is I get an email asking about the moderation within the group from her Master because he wasn’t happy with the replies given, stating it wasn’t helpful at all.
Reading bewtween the lines this tells me there may well be some reservations about getting the tattoo.
He’s also not participated in the thread itself. Apparently people have been rude, judgemental (snorts … hello welcome to the world of BDSM), and plain not helpful at all ‘snikkers’.
I wanted to say suck it up buttercup. But instead responded politely but logically and bluntly.
I am not there to mother members. I’m not going to censor replies that aren’t malicious. I also don’t respond well to him jumping in my inbox and complaining about people telling her to reconsider. I don’t like Dommy people in my inbox telling me what to do just because they had their feelings hurt and their domliness questioned. If there weren’t any doubts would she have posted the question. Tattooists tattoo all sorts of fucked up shit. A BDSM barcode is nothing new. Most tattooists are not that naive and kinky tats are nothing freaky.
It’s a tattooist for christs sake.
Barcode Tattoos …. (a history lesson)
A barcode is a system of inventory control and price checking that operates by using an optical scanner to read a series of vertical lines on a product. The system was invented and first used in the 1950′s and was designed as a way to increase industrial efficiency and worker productivity. Within a very short period of time the use of barcodes became nearly ubiquitous – they were everywhere and on nearly everything. Every time you through the line up in a grocery store or go shopping in the mall, chances are your purchases were rung up by reading the bar codes on the product or the price-tag.
The use of the barcode as atattoo design is meant to be ironical, a warning that if we are not careful as a culture, we are all in danger of becoming products ourselves. A barcode tattoo is also a protest against a culture where it seems that everyone wears the same clothes, listens to the same music and uses the same products. A barcode tattoo is a statement against a culture of commodities and a celebration of diversity and the uniqueness of the individual.
Personally I think it would be stupid to get a generic barcode. Thats just fucking boring. And so not unique.
But hey thats me and instead I wrote a polite reply.
There are people in the thread who are older and have their own experiences and shared and to be quite honest it’s stuff I have heard many times before. My own mother has a tatoo she got in her early twenties that she abhors now.
Either way it’s there for life. If things turn to shit it’s going to be a reminder for the rest of your life.
So at least spend the time to put some thought into it and make it look good.
So what do you think? Is a barcode boring and generic? Is this whole Slave Register thing just stupid and silly?
Would you rather have a tattoo designed from scratch that is personal and means something special that you have contributed to?
Is he being silly?
Fuck me sideways if he thinks the replies in the thread were rude then he would probably think I was just plain awful. ‘grins’
Liras
on Jan 16th, 2011
@ 16:00:
Civil discourse seems to be anything but civil in BDSM. Goodness.
I don’t agree with tattoos gotten in homage due to a person that is not one’s offspring or beloved parents/siblings, for we change. And what is great at 20 might be tiresome at 30 or 40. Doing things to one’s skin is truly permanent. Love, be it romantic or sexual, isn’t.
But, ok. She wants one. Why would she get a plain and common tattoo, if she so desires, in honor of her bond to him? Isn’t part of the devotional stance to stand out?
No shock that you got an email from him–you might inject the needed voice of reason in her brain. Pffft.
Being almost old enough to be her Dad, you think he would be the one urging caution. Ugh.
impy
on Jan 16th, 2011
@ 21:51:
Agreed Liras. Absolutely.
I also agree that tattoos pertaining to someone close should be a sibling or a blood relative. I also have close friends who have tattoos as a reminder for passed friends. Something I am considering incorporating in my tattoo design for my end of uni milestone.
The positive thing is he replied to my ‘polite’ email this afternoon and I was very blunt that I had no wish to ‘control’ how others responded to the thread and he did see my point about ignoring the things that upset him and pointed out the fact there was some very sound and impartial advice gievn also.
But hey, ultimately they will do what they want so I don’t get why he was so uppity about a freekin thread unless there was some issue with a change of heart towards a barcode.
Meh. Silly really.
Sephani Paige
on Jan 17th, 2011
@ 02:36:
You are awful. Horrible even. You should be ashamed….ok seriously I can’t even keep a straight face while typing that
*giggle snorts*
Personally, if I ever got a barcode tat it would be something that actually rang up but then I don’t think I’d want it to be permanent yanno. But then I’m a pet, not a product
give me a cage not a barcode!
I’d rather something personal for Master and me, I have a design drawn out but I’d love to get it…detailed and drawn out by someone with more skill in that area, as I only draw people. I’ll be looking for a tat artist (or a super awesome friend) to help me with that. People should always be individual and I’ve always thought the barcode thing was in line with being a “twoo slave!”, like if you don’t have/want one then your not really submissive or something lol
my .02 cents, take it or donate it
vanimp
on Jan 17th, 2011
@ 09:55:
I just think years ago when ‘everyone’ wasn’t getting barcodes it was a cool concept. Now it seems there are thousands of ‘sheep’ getting barcodes tattooed on them.
Heh we can chat about the tattoo thing Seph
This barcode/slave register thing is becoming like that Dr.Seuss story … you don’t have a star upon thar so you must not be twuu!
viemoira
on Jan 18th, 2011
@ 03:57:
Interesting- I am searching for some specific tattoo items as I write this. They will be a huge step- extremely visible. Lots of thought. I will bpick out various ideas and sit on it for awhile until I know for sure. These tatts have been in my head for 2 years now though…
I think that is what is important is ensuring you don’t jump the gun.
And I would always want mine taylored to be original. I print ideas- get approval from Master, bring them to our artist and he puts them together and makes the modifications freehand.
On the barcode note- I do want one eventually but I want it to scan “Not for individual sale” hahahaha…
vanimp
on Jan 19th, 2011
@ 01:43:
Absolutely. If it’s a tattoo it’s for life so why rush into it? I know a few people who will form an idea, get a few drawings done or do one themselves, then sit on it for a couple years and find someone to draw it how they envision it or just simply wait until they are ready and 100%.
Hahaha loving the barcode idea
rofl too funneh.
Twat
on Jan 20th, 2011
@ 21:17:
After passing the 100K .milestone I want to take some time to record how TSR came about and what.were those ideas that sparked it… This timeline has slavery still continuing.in the Draka Empire in the 21st century including domestic slavery in Draka.homes throughout Africa Asia and parts of Europe….Its made clear that each slave is assigned a registration number by the.government which also required detailed record-keeping about each slaves.life ….In front were a driver in the grubby coverall which seemed to be the.uniform of the urban working class and an armed guard with a shaven head .both had serf-tattoos on their necks. .. Marching through Georgia Chapter 4. …..The electroprod clicked against the crucifix and rosary that hung.through the cloth tie of her sack dress.
impy
on Jan 20th, 2011
@ 22:44:
The fact that your reply has so many things in it that irk me I decided to allow it but remove your references to linking for your own benefit to a spam site.
I also renamed you ‘twat’ because quite frankly thats what your reply amounts to. It’s my personal journal space so I have that entitlement.
Most of those slaves you refer to are not slaves by choice. There are many parts of the world that still have an illegal slavery trade and I find it disgusting that you compare consensual M/s slavery with that itself.
Comparing past history and slavery in that regard is just wrong.
A small bar code will blur and become ugly, unless as you say, you reduce the number of stripes. Ask any tattooist. The point of this post was to illustrate that perhaps more thought into such a personal tattoo should take place and perhaps be more unique. Not the history of the barcode tattoo in regards to TSR.
Sheesh.