At A Glance
Author	Marisa
Contact	[email protected]
IAM	FREE
When	N/A

I wish I was an artist.
I wish I was a web wizard.
I wish I was able to do tricks with my genitals and get paid for it.

But instead, the gods have limited my gifts to legal reasoning and naturally curly red hair.

My limitations in mind, I now face a major decision that is not limited to just lawyers: how far can I go with my body modifications and still make a living?

My tattoos consist of a full back piece, two half sleeves, a finger tattoo, and a discrete patchwork piece on my hip. My piercings, including genital, have been removed. So in contrast to cock-splitters, tattooed faces, and lizardmen (respect to Erik), I'm not "extreme" by BME standards.

But in the context of the seedy underbelly of corporate players, I am a Freak.

When I peel off my suit jacket on a stuffy commuter train platform to reveal a sleeveless shirt baring tattooed arms, the heat of the stares rivals a supernova, compared to when I flash ink in a Ramones tank top and jeans. It just doesn't compute for people:

Punk gear + tattoos = normal.
Suit + tattoos = schizophrenic.

While it can be sexy and alluring to feel like a double agent with the Mark of Cain under a Marc Jacob's suit, the appeal quickly wears off when your body mods are factors in professional decisions. When a sweaty Band-Aid peels off a finger tattoo in the middle of a presentation and the audience spends the rest of the time staring at your hand rather than listening to your work, will that be a factor in deciding whether you get to make another presentation in the future? Yes. Will there be times when you are not invited to a client lunch for fear that you will reveal that your partner is a tattooist and not a CEO when the conversation turns personal? Yes. Will you be kept from certain work that may appear to conflict with your "radical views"? Yes.

Then why bother? Because I have a right to be modified and choose any job I please if I follow the rules of professional conduct that go with the job. I should not be relegated to a profession that fits an easily digestible category for what is appropriate of a tattooed person, if I am willing to compromise and keep the ink covered in the workplace.

Society needs to categorize to easily absorb information. It is done in law firms. It is done on BME. We do it to seek the comfort of like-minded people. We do it for fear of those not like us. Are you part of the "Big Lobe Mafia"? Are you a pierced straightedge vegan? Or do you just a have a small butterfly tattoo and like anal sex?

If we, the modified, are radical -- if we are truly "cultural revolutionaries" -- then we can start evolving and accept those who don't fit into our little box. We might just learn something in the process.

For me, a girl with a small butterfly tattoo will get the same respect as someone with a full Japanese body suit; a eunuch will receive equal attention from me as a man with balls the size of watermelons; and breast implants will be regarded the same as metal forehead implants. It is my hope that tattooed redheaded lawyers will be received in the same light by modified anarchists as well as buttoned down capitalists.

With this hope, and after an extensive barrage of words, I return to my initial question with a decision on how far I will go with my body modifications. How can I fulfill my need to express myself through my skin and still operate in a corporate environment? Will I be looked down on by the modified community in limiting myself for mainstream acceptance? And most importantly, what the hell will I wear to the company BBQ?!

I have decided that I will extend my arm tattoos to the wrist and hope that my work overshadows any ink that peeks through my suit. Perhaps I have to work harder. I will have to suffer by wearing long sleeves in the sweltering heat. I will also not take the old adage, "Roll up your shirtsleeves and get to work" seriously.

I will get my feet and ankles handpoked -- a long-term obsession of mine -- and replace all work skirts with pants, depriving co-workers of the sight of my finely-toned calves.

I will not continue my shoulder tattoos up to my neck nor get a facial tattoo at present. I have to be reasonable in what I hope for, and ink on a litigator's face will not hold up in court just yet.

In any decision, I will look to the BME community for acceptance and hope that we can change society and ourselves a little at a time.

I thank you for the forum and allowing me to flesh out these issues before a jury of my peers.