“BE PROFESSIONAL.” That’s something you usually hear in the workplace, especially a corporate one.
What exactly does “be professional” mean though? Neat hair. Smart clothes. Some make-up if necessary, and most importantly, no body modifications.
What are the body modifications? Tattoos, piercings, wild colored hair, all these are frowned upon in most workplaces.
It doesn’t only happen in the workplace, though. Try to notice a person with a whole sleeve tattoo walking down the street. That person is sure to get funny looks from those passing by.
It’s sad how tattoos are frowned upon now. If you look at our history, you will see that getting inked had been a practice our forefathers for centuries. In Panay Island, we were even called “pintados” (the painted ones) by the Spaniards because most of the people had tattoos.
In the Kalinga ethnic group, the tattooing practice is being kept alive by Whang-od Oggay, the last and oldest mambabatok of the Butbut tribe.
Tattoos then had meaning. They could be status symbols or signs of good luck and protection. Some tattoos even signified the “conquests” a woman had in bed.
Tattoos are a part of our culture, so why is there so much stigma now?
You could blame it on the “conservative” influence the Spanish occupation had on us. That’s why getting inked was deemed “unprofessional” or “dirty”. This is the modern age now though and we should be smart enough to know that having a tattoo doesn’t make you a bad person.
A tattoo does not affect how you work. Here in Madrid, the school where I am assigned has two preschool teachers with visible tattoos. When I went to the hospital a few months ago the nurse who attended to me also had visible tattoos. I can say that these people perform their duties well and are very respectable.
Imagine, the country that taught us how to be conservative is more accepting of body modifications. Why can’t we be the same?
People fight for freedom of expression. Well, tattoos, piercings and the like are all forms of expression. Young people now lose job opportunities, or are afraid to try because they get judged based on their appearance. They settle for call centers (a job that is also frowned upon for some reason) because that is the only place that will accept them for who they are.
In this decade, hopefully we can be more accepting and stop the stigma of body modifications. That is because being a true professional is accepting the skills a person has without judging how they look. (angelica.panaynews@gmail.com/PN)
