it’s so dumb that piercings and tattoos can impact your ability to find a job. employers shouldn’t be allowed to discriminate based on gender, race, sexual orientation, or level of punk-rockness
If you were about to have a surgery done, would you feel comfortable if she/he had gages and tattoos all over their face?
I mean presumably they went to medical school I literally would not give a single shit what they decided to put on their face
My first major surgery was done by a clean cut, gorgeous man with a French accent.
Didn’t stop him from fucking up my surgery and losing his license to practice here because he liked to do cocaine before surgery.
Its almost like how someone looks doesn’t dictate their qualifications.
My old doctor (now retired) looked like a cross between a Hells Angel and a skinny Santa Claus, wore overalls instead of a lab coat, and swore like a sailor. He also LISTENED to me and worked out treatments with me that he made sure I was comfortable with. On the other hand, I’ve had doctors who looked like they came from central casting treat me like an afterthought, ignore everything I said, and end up putting me in MORE pain instead of helping.
So yeah. Don’t care if my doctor walks in wearing a biker jacket, facial piercings, and has “eat the rich” tattooed on their neck. All I care about is if they know their shit, show compassion, and treat me like a person.
I would totally be more comfortable to be operated on by a person with tattoos and piercings because it means less of a chance that daddy just financed this person’s medical degree and bought them a position with a sizeable donation.
I would also feel safer — with the note that this is dependent on the tattoo art — with pierced and tattooed people because they are far more likely to be in some way adjacent to a group I am part of. It’s not like all queer people have tats, nor do all goths, etc, etc., but the type of person that tends to get tattoos (excepting the ones who get Nazi imagery or something similarly despicable) is less likely to be freaked out by who I am. I don’t expect them to necessarily be knowledgeable but my experience (at least with other medical professionals like nurses, APRNs, and PAs who have had tattoos that weren’t always covered up is that they were way more accepting and compassionate. Obviously, that’s anedcata, not data, but since I don’t think anybody’s done a study on this yet, that’s what I’ve got to draw on.
(If someone has done a study on this, please do inform me. I would be fascinated to check that out.)
If someone looks absolutely wildly outlandish and is still in a position of some authority in a hospital (i.e. a surgeon) I’m going to assume they not only know what they are doing, but are extraordinarily good at it.
