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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   4490 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 16, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Face tattoos signify a rather fundamental disengagement with the norms of greater society such that I can't imagine becoming great buddies with anyone who has one. This is true to a lesser degree of full sleeves, etc. This is true in or out of Japan.

I know two perfectly respectable doctors with full sleeve tats, one working in the ER and the other as a surgeon. I'd say maybe 30% of the doctors I know (+- 5 years older or younger than me) have some tattoos on them (at least visible to me) including yours truly, though mine isn't really on display until the shirt comes off.

Then again, I'm lacking the inclination to ink up all of my skin, and as an eventual psychiatrist, I'm expected to be the model of sobriety and decorum, though no doubt going for a more outré aesthetic probably appeals greatly to some of the regulars.

Interesting. I hate tats but it's a personal thing and I hesitate to make grand generalizations. Or, I don't hesitate, I make them, but I realize that's what they are.

Let me guess: Caduceus?

Gross stereotyping and oversimplification time:

Historically in the U.S. each specialty has had somewhat of a character (less so now with the way social justice has infected and homogenized the pipeline. Surgeons are conservative and would never get a tattoo. Lots of psychiatrists have them but only in places where they could be covered in hidden from patients. Pediatrics would have typical girl tattoos. Orthos are bros, and therefore never have tattoos, but ED docs are a very different kind of bro (outdoorsy, Colorado types) and often have tattoos up to and including full sleeves.

If you're interested in making generalizations then you might actually be reassured by an ED doc with visible tats because it means they are conforming to the stereotypes and norms of their speciality and therefore have a higher chance of being a good doctor lol.

Interesting! Thanks for the insight.

Nope. Though I suppose that is a justified stereotype, given that I was/am seriously considering getting a tat that has one in it. Though I've ended up leaning a different way again, I'm not one to get a tattoo done unless it speaks to me, and I'm confident I want it for life (being dark skinned makes laser tattoo removal a no-go).

For what it's worth, I don't know any doctors with Caduceus tats, though to be fair we ought to be using the Staff of Asclepius instead. Then again, that war for the public consciousness was lost a while back.

Gonna leave it a mystery are we? I can keep guessing....

I've already irrevocably sprinkled hundreds of tidbits of personally identifiable information on the internet, forgive me for not putting something that could literally be used for picking me out of a crowd there too haha.

But if you can get it in 3 guesses without cheating by being exceedingly vague, I'll reward your efforts by DMing you the answer ;)

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