Thin Privilege is not having to be concerned about whether you will be more harshly judged for getting or having tattoos than anyone else. Thin Privilege is being able to find actual references to placement of tattoos on certain areas of the body that are relevant to your body type. Thin Privilege is not having to be concerned that an artist will decline working on you, or not enjoy working on you due to your size/shape.

It’s frightening how many forums have shaming topics in regards to fat people, and even more often, fat women with tattoos. It’s even more frightening how many of these people are saying they’re tattoo artists. Regardless of the quality of their work or whether or not I would want to be tattooed by them specifically, it’s disheartening to read things like ‘Fat people shouldn’t get any part of their bodies tattooed that other people might not enjoy looking at’. ‘Fat people should only get places like wrists, ankles, necks and the like tattooed, not their chests, backs, thighs, hips, etc’. ‘People who are fat and have tattoos look stupid, especially women, in comparison to a person of “normal girth and proportion”.’ ‘Why don’t people lose weight before getting tattooed?’

Weight gain/loss will affect tattoos in varying degrees to many factors, however, so will many other things such as tanning, ageing, pregnancy… And it makes zero sense to lose weight simply to get a tattoo, because it’s likely you will not be able to maintain that weight long-term.

Then there are the claims that fat people are harder to do work on due to skin ‘quality’ which I’m assuming to mean thickness, elasticity, scars, stretchmarks, etc. and that an alarming number of artists will either refuse to do the work, or complain about it later. I understand that there is validity in those statements to a degree, different kinds of skin is harder to work with, but this isn’t something exclusive to fat people. Older people, mothers, people of color, people who tan frequently… all of these people have different skin types and conditions that could be harder to work on. Fat people are the ones I hear being bitched about the most.

Thin Privilege is being able to get a tattoo and have your concerns centered primarily on finding a talented artist to do it - not how you will be treated before, during, and after receiving that tattoo due to your body.

Mod note: I have 2 tattoos, one of them takes up my entire upper back. You can see photos of my back here. I searched for a long time to find an artist to work with not only because of the style she uses, she has a fine art background, but also someone who I felt comfortable with. The first tattoo I got was from a guy who was rude the entire time he was tattooing me. Any artist worth their shit will be helpful and want to make sure you have a good time getting tattooed.

This is a good example of the intersection between gender and fat.

-FBP