How Young is Too Young For Tattoos?

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We at BME publish a lot of content that people don’t always agree with—we’re fine with that. Body modification, constantly increasing acceptance notwithstanding, can still be a bit of a touchy subject. Now, BME sometimes finds itself in a predicament, being that we want to promote body modification and see it flourish (and therefore showcase the best the community has to offer), but we are also an archive, and that role sees us documenting content that can cast body modification in an unfavorable light in the public sphere. Such is the duality of a Web site that seeks, simultaneously, to be the voice of a community as well a news outlet covering it.

So, when we got this picture, it gave us the cold sweats. What was more important? Should we keep a lid on it because of the negative light in which it could surely cast tattooing, or should we publish it because that’s what we’ve made a commitment to do? In the end, we decided to run it, albeit with any distinguishing features obscured, as you can see above. Hopefully, if nothing else, it’ll spark some intelligent discussion and we won’t be proven foolish for posting it.

Says the artist:

Okay okay we know people will probably FREAK about this but you have to accept you don’t know all the details!.. The boy grows up around tattoos, he loves them, always loved them, always wants his own – hey I know what that’s like! I did a small one his leg and he took it pretty good, strong kid, so what the hell? Made sure he got a good long sleep and had a big breakfast, and had a big bottle of warm milk to relax him before laying down for the tattoo (and some during too). He’s a champ!!! It’s something to grow up with and remember, and if dont “approve” then that’s your problem I guess.

… discuss.

109 thoughts on “How Young is Too Young For Tattoos?”

  4. Mmm tasty April Fool’s joke. I wonder how many people will go off their rocker before realizing…..

  6. Funny, tho that is really good photoshop, the tattoo is still just a little too sharp

  8. I’d say the kid is a wimp for getting such a small tattoo!!!!

    Hahaha! Good April fools guys!

  9. sorry guys, that wasnt a funny april fools. i knew it was fake before i even read the text. try harder next year!

  11. haha man until i read the comments i thought this was 100% for real…
    i was about to go on this long spill about how that tattoo will look all stretched and gross when he get older…
    you got me…good one…

  16. Another one of those creeping bar stories
    Baby’s in a bar having a couple of drinks and BAM! he wakes up with a big Koi fish on him

  17. next year you should tattoo a child for REAL…
    you had me untill i read comments aswell aha, im around photoshop all the time, asif i didnt notice 🙂

  20. I fell for it completely. I didn’t even think to look at the photo closely. I just went right to the description for some justification. XD

  21. Man.. I fell for it! There are retards all over this planet so it didn’t chock me to much but I’m happy it’s a joke =)

  26. this is obviously photoshopped…I mean, do you really expect us to believe that the artist’s face is really a jumbled mass of pixels? please.

  27. I thought the tattoo was one of those really detailed transfers at first, then I read the description and 100% fell for it. Go me.

  30. man, that baby is relaxed! But yeah, stretching and whatnot. although How young is too young for tattoos?

  31. I was totally ready to explode, until i looked at the colors!

    But great job guys! Got me a bit worked up for a couple of mins.
    Happy April Fool’s!

  33. for me – its like piercings… i dont give a damn if its a lobe or labret, anything! U must want it, it must be at your will – not because u r being owned by ur parents
    the thing i mean is that i accept everything. i dont accept any form of violence, like piercing ur kid’s ears or …cutting parts of its penis.

  34. Har-di-har-har-har. Ive been had. Ive always been terrible at calling photoshops though (and never been all that bright), dont feel to proud of yourself! lol

  35. if it was real least it wouldnt be a shit tattoo like most legally aged people get 😛

  38. Is it wrong that I immediately thought of “Petunia” from the Adventures of Pete and Pete? Anyways, totally got me. Didn’t even notice the PS until it was pointed out, haha.

  39. To funny!
    Can you imagine what that shit will look like when hes 5?!?! hahahah

  44. Damn, got me good!
    I’ve been telling myself all day not to get caught by any of these, but this actually freaked me out for a minute.
    Happy April Fool’s, bloggers.

  45. Holy hell on earth, that scared the shit out of me.

    I completely forgot what the date was, it was good to me 😛

  50. haha holy shit, I almost died when I saw that.

    Good thing it’s not real. PHEW..

  53. Shat a brick… realized it was april fools day…. wow….. does look fake now that the shok is over.

  54. hahaha, oh man. that is a good good prank. i skimmed by it this morning and thought, whoa there are ganna be some seriously pissed of people.

    god damn you April Fools.

    🙂

  56. I WAS going to say, Hes going to be fucked when hes older. Its going to cover half his body. Till i realized it was april fools day.

  57. Jeez this is weak, is that the best you could do Jordan considering the phenomenal “April Fools” posts your predecessor did? Step it up a bit next year pal. I can’t believe that any of you were fooled by this.

  58. I call shenanigans.

    Definitely a ‘shop. The pixels on the artist’s face are ALL wrong… Tattoo on the-

    HOLY SHIT THAT’S A BABY!!!!

    What are you people doing to children here? I can’t wait to tell my pastor about this- he always loves talking about how tattoos are destroying the world’s population, and now here you people go putting tattoos on small, innocent children that cannot make coherent decisions for themselves!!!

    You are all sick, sick people. I look forward to seeing you all burn in Hell for eternity for this abomination.

  64. I fell for it too till I saw the comments! I didn’t really look at the picture just read the discription for the deets! LOL
    Very good!
    It’s my parents 38th wedding anniversary today!

  65. Next time photoshop a photo of an actual tattooed child (there are a few from the early 1900′s – tattooed families that appeared with circuses) to make it look modern and really fool / piss off people.

  69. Sorry, but (1) not enough redness/swelling/ink smears (which would be present with a REAL ‘in progress’ tattoo) to be realistic, and (2) for a child that age to be THAT relaxed during a tattoo (these things hurt a bit, y’know?) would be pretty damn near impossible. If I was getting MY chest tattooed, I’d be tied up in knots and begging for mercy, not lying there all calm and happy.

  71. Oh yeah I sooo fell for it. I actually sat here and my heart started pounding, I was PRAYING it wasn’t real. I knew something was fishy though by the kids face. I mean, tattoos don’t tickle. I wouldn’t KNOW, but so I’ve heard :]

  72. People are saying they weren’t fooled by this picture at all, i’m suprised and I guess gullible and stupid, because I feel for this until I read the comments, and I still think it looks real haha.

  73. Let’s talk about how long it took me to remember that today is April 1st.

    go me.

  74. Last night, I happened to remember a few of the April Fool’s jokes I’ve seen here in previous years, and thought, “Not gonna get me this time. I remember what date it is!”

    …lo and behold, by the time today rolled around, I’d forgotten about the date completely.
    Totally got me. :/

  81. I honestly believed this until I saw the comments, although in hindsight, his nipple is quite out of place.

  82. So I went through a few change overs

    First I was like thats not real, its too bright

    Then I read it and thought wow maybe

    Then I was trying to make sense that a child that old could talk, because I would have been a little ok if the kid had really asked for it, but I’ve worked with kids my whole life and that baby looks too young to talk

    Then I saw the comments and remembered it had been april 1st

    yall got me, well done

  85. lulz. If I were a little kid getting a tattoo, I’d get something more little kid-ish. Like, a cartoon character or a super hero I thought was the shit.

  86. I can’t belive anyone would fall of that, its terrible!

    I’m sorry but if you couldn’t keep up to the standards set by Shanon then maybe you shouldn’t have bothered at all.

    Its was obvious from the pic that it was photoshopped, so before even reading the text anyone with common sense knows its fake.

    The amount of time and effort Shanon used to put into the April fools pranks to make them believable has almost been

  89. I’m slightly amazed that this image was published, and that the response has been so timid. This site is public and anyone can see this – including the police in the UK who love prosecuting anyone who has anything to do with abusing children. The law here does not distinguish between real images and created images that portray that sort of stuff, nor does it cease to be applied outside UK borders. I think it would take a jury of UK citizens less than 5 minutes to decide that publication of this image constitutes a criminal offence here. Personally I’m sad at what has happened to this media outlet. It is indeed the role of the news media to try to clarify the boundaries by pushing on them all the time. But basic journalistic competence requires a basic understanding of the difference between pushing the boundaries and knowing what is definitely on the other side of them and not part of the debate. The April 1st thing is no excuse. The world is not flat, and just because it is pre-midday on April Fools where the modblog editor might happen to be, it almost certainly isn’t everywhere else.
    If this signals the tone of the new BME, then my hope is that it also signals the beginning of its end.

  90. I had some rage built up in me! I left the site to do other things, my friend and I started getting in a discussion over it. Analyzing every detail. Then finally after thinking and talking about it for about an hour, I realized it was April 1st.

    Rage.
    lol.

  91. Shannon was better at Photoshop. :p

    Good one anyway…. not that my comment will make it through ‘moderation’.

  94. My favorite April 1st post was the people with alien faces. that had me going for quite some time

  95. This image was posted on the site last week when they uploaded photos….. Nothing will ever compare to Love at First Bite, so don’t even try.

  98. Yeah, thanks to all the people who had to piss on the parade and ruin the fun.
    We all get that it was a hoax, no need to rub noses in it.

  99. Fuck you guys, I did not recognize it for the april 1st joke and I was believing it.
    You wasted my dream.

  100. …this is worse than kim kardashians “OMG I got a tattoo” april fools joke….lame sauce!

    and it’s a shop – I can tell from the pixels and having seen a lot of shops in my time. lol.

  102. Indeed they cannot do anything like that the best way it he is that the baby was deciding for the same one !

  107. I’m rather disappointed that anyone believed this load. It doesn’t look legit. It doesn’t sound anything near truth.

    come on people.

  108. I was looking for this year’s April Fool’s post to see how it squared up to the previous ones. Lame. Put more effort into it next year. I can’t believe people fell for this, I agree with #86.

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