XYKADEMIQZ

Tip for Tat

It’s peak insanity time in the semester (also decade), so we all need some levity. Here’s my contribution.

Blogosphere professors, do you have any visible tattoos? I am particularly interested in hearing from women and/or folks in STEM. I ask because I’ve been dreaming of getting tattoos pretty much forever, and I know this makes me a midlife-crisis cliché (“all middle-aged women get tattoos lol”), but I also mostly don’t care since my desire for coolness has gone the way of the dodo, as did my ovarian function.

However, I am worried about the perception by 1) undergraduate students and 2) colleagues, but mostly students. I am in a very male-dominated field that hasn’t grown less male dominated in my twenty years as faculty. This semester, I have five girls in a class of seventy. I am still aware that most people don’t think I have any business being where I am, in a position of professorial authority in my area. I am worried that having visible tattoos (I’m thinking inner forearm) will further label me as someone who really doesn’t fit.

Granted, this is actually a combo of gender and area: I don’t know any male faculty in my area who have visible tattoos, either, even among younger men whom students tend to admire. In the arts and humanities, I suspect there are (some? many?) faculty with tattoos, as I imagine this type of personal expression is probably more expected and accepted, by both students and faculty, than it is in STEM.

So what say you, academic blogosphere? To tat or not to tat? Any tips for tats?

xykademiqz

13 responses to “Tip for Tat”

  1. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    Interesting question. I’m in the UK and in a humanities department, so may not be comparable, but here tattoos in general have become much more mainstream. (I don’t have one, but that’s because needles and I know I would decide that whatever design I chose, I would hate a year later.) I think there’s still an element of snobbery here i.e. the only rich people with tattoos are pop stars and footballers, but that’s changing. I don’t think I’ve met many academics, male or female, with visible tattoos, but I don’t think I’d be shocked if a colleague suddenly turned up with one. Certainly students have them, and also express personality/gender identity in other ways e.g. male students with nail polish. Maybe STEM students are more conservative, not sure. I remember when having multiple piercings was also something that was considered tacky and not suitable for a job interview etc, but now it’s very common.

    I do remember when I was a PhD student, there was a woman in my department, a fairly new appointment at that, who had short hair and always wore DMs and jeans. Not that everyone else was super smart, but other women tended to dress up a bit more than jeans at least. I thought this woman was a breath of fresh air. She was very smart, very funny and I loved her ‘no fucks given’ look.

    As one of hardly any women in your department and field, you won’t win whatever you do or however you dress/look. So you might as well go with what you want, and think of being the breath of fresh air for the female student desperately looking for a role model.

  2. nicoleandmaggie Avatar
    nicoleandmaggie

    I know very few people between the ages of 22 and 30 without visible tattoos (and if you remove people whose religion is against it… I’m coming up blank among our American-born graduate students). I don’t think tattoos have the stigma they once did.

    Me: I don’t even have my ears pierced, but that’s my (probably) psychological problem. I think we have a post somewhere about my weird hangups.

  3. natalieinne Avatar
    natalieinne

    I am only an adjunct, but I do teach in the sciences. I had also long considered getting a tattoo, especially after talking to a younger faculty member (biology) who had several tattoos. For me, I just needed an excuse to go out and get one. I finally decided my tattoo would be a present to myself for graduating two homeschooled kids. I got an octopus on the inside of my wrist that’s about an inch square, just black lines. I love it, and I feel like it’s subtle enough that it won’t be the first thing people see when they meet me. Plus, I do love it and it brings me joy whenever I flip my wrist and see it.

  4. nicoleandmaggie Avatar
    nicoleandmaggie

    Also this is making me wonder if tattoos are more prevalent in the South than the Midwest, except DH’s extended Midwestern family younger than him (who are adults) is all tattooed, including his younger brother with the masters degree in engineering and said brother’s wife. Also his K-12 teacher sister and her husband. There seem to be more class divides in Gen X than among Millennials regarding tattoos. For Millennials it doesn’t seem like a class marker at all.

    I had a pair of undergraduate sisters whose entire large immediate family all got matching ankle tattoos (I think it was a squirrel?) once the youngest turned 18. (Middle class, college educated, R1.)

  5. Rheophile Avatar
    Rheophile

    I have a couple of generally non-visible tattoos (male sci prof) but don’t know many people who have visible tattoos in my field. I have long joked I planned on getting a sleeve when I get tenure, we’ll see if it happens! Carl Zimmer collected science tattoos for a while, I remember (https://carlzimmer.com/books/science-ink-tattoos-of-the-science-obsessed/) and I do know of at least one of the people featured there who is now a science prof, though I don’t know if she wears shoulder-baring clothes in the professional context.

    I think about ~30% of my generation in the US has tattoos, but science is conservative about this sort of thing. Also I think it might be different for international students – one of my students has a tattoo and a lot of their cohort were quite surprised.

  6. pyrope Avatar
    pyrope

    Tattoos are pretty common in my field (ecology) – definitely among the students and fairly normal among faculty too. I have been thinking about getting one on my forearm too! I have a non-visible one. My grad student has a whole river system on his arm (from his home watershed) and I love it.

    I totally agree with Julie – lead with your lack of fucks to give! What sort of tattoo are you thinking?

  7. sciencedino Avatar
    sciencedino

    I’m a pre-tenure STEM professor and while I don’t have tattoos (because I’m a chicken), I do have neon hair and dress strictly in purple athleisure. I started during COVID and DGAF what anyone thinks of my personal appearance. So I say if you want a tattoo, go for it! Put it on a place you can cover up with long sleeves or long pants if you want the option to not disclose.

  8. Tcon Avatar
    Tcon

    I have a tattoo on my outer ankle. I think I’m the only one in my social science department to have one that is visible. I am also in a cold place, so for weather reason I wear pants or tights that cover it when I teach, mostly. But, all summer research students and colleagues see it when I wear shorts/knee length dresses for our 3 months of warmth.

  9. pyrope Avatar
    pyrope

    I saw this article last night and it seemed relevant! https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/mar/13/think-before-you-ink-20-tips-from-tattoo-artists

  10. gasstationwithoutpumps Avatar
    gasstationwithoutpumps

    No STEM faculty with tattoos? How to say you work in the Midwest without saying you work in the Midwest.

    Tattoos are fairly common in California, though I’ve never gotten one. (I’d never be able to make up my mind about what I’d like to live with for the rest of my life.)

  11. dirtandrocks Avatar
    dirtandrocks

    I am in public health and have large visible tattoos on both of my arms. I definitely part of the cliche club and got my first one at 50 and my second a few years later. They don’t particularly stand out in my field but I would say they were a little more prevalent in the south (just moved back up North). I say go for them. I love mine and am thinking of getting my 3rd.

  12. undine Avatar
    undine

    I don’t have tattoos but am about the only person who doesn’t. Go for it!

  13. Emily Avatar
    Emily

    I think this is very field dependent! I basically never see tattoos in my field (I’m in a physics department), but they seem very common among my friends in ecology. I really can’t think of a single woman in my subfield with visible tattoos.

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