Tattoos. Always a topic to invite divisive arguments along very deep pro- and anti- lines. I’m against them on me, but take a relaxed view as to what others should do with their bodies. Knock yourselves out.

Twenty years ago their growing popularity was a hot topic in naturism, with traditionalists claiming they weren’t in the true spirit of naturism. Arguments also raged about depilation, piercings and circumcision in the pages of Health & Efficiency, the UK’s top naturist magazine, when I first became a naturist a little over 20 years ago.

Germans, oft unfairly caricatured as having ‘no sense of humour’, dispel that myth in an article from Bild, two years ago, wherein they describe tattoos as ‘an Anglo-Saxon rash’.

Given the volume of tattoos seen on the streets of the UK nowadays, who can say they’re wrong? Other European nations don’t appear to have quite the same tattoo culture as we do.

Personally, I don’t think there’s anyone born yet who looks better for having a tattoo, but as I say, it’s not my body, so why should I care? Few of them seem to be nothing more than buying into a certain trend in fashion. Sure, some will have some sort of thought put into them regarding their meaning, or tell stories about a person’s personal journey through life, but in the main, no.

The Germans are wrong, however, to some extent, in their portrayal of the English (which is what they mean by Anglo-Saxons), as it appears to be a worldwide fashion phenomenon to some degree…

German supermodel Sophia Thomalla

German soccer international Anja Mittag

The Guardian reports on a rise in tattoo removal this weekend. More and more people, apparently, are now regretting getting them. The usual response for ink fans at this point is ‘well, I won’t be getting rid of mine’, as if this somehow negates what is being reported. Of course some people are wedded to those for life. That doesn’t diminish what just might be a growing trend for their removal.

In the photos above, someone has taken the trouble to airbrush American singer Miley Cyrus’s tattoos in the bottom photo. Which image -with or without- looks more attractive to you?

I’ve brought this up because tattoos are exceptionally popular in Second Life, and there’s nowhere they’re more obvious than on SL’s nudist beaches. I’d hoped to finish a post I’m currently undertaking, about tattoo wear in SL and whether they reflect a person’s reality, or if they’re an SL extension of the wearer’s personality. I’ve run out of time this weekend, though, with the post about 3/4 complete, just as I’ve discovered that some SL avatars are, in fact, also ditching the ink in favour of blank canvas skin,so I’ll be finishing it off and posting it (as Tattoos 2) during the week. I’m always fascinated by how RL fashion and culture still manages to impact on SL fashion and culture.

Ella