That being said, you do sometimes get reminded that you stand out like a sore thumb. There are situations where I have to hide them for my own sanity. I am from the Middle East and I sometimes go to parties held by people from back home. I hide them because I hate being asked ‘What does this mean?’ over and over again. And there isn’t an answer – I was just drunk and with my friends in a hotel room and we decided to get a tattoo done. Or we were on holiday and we drank shitloads of mescal. And the follow up, ‘Why would you do that to your body if it doesn’t mean anything?’ is exhausting. It’s like how I choose to tell people that I’m from the Middle East: I suss out the situation and often I actually don’t want the headache of trying to explain my culture to you. It’s the same thing with tattoo culture – I’m not going to sit there and educate you on my time.