To tat or not to tat?

It's just one day before the 2014 Fifa World Cup kicks off in Brazil and the excitement is certainly starting to mount. 

 

I must say though, like the Olympics, I try and approach the sporting companion with an arms length of attachment as I know to well the huge echoey space they leave behind when it's all over. 

 

The comforting backdrop of pitch side commentary is the best scene for a snuggle night on the couch next to the one I love cheering for the cute boys while they chase down the round. 

 

It was just yesterday I was commenting on how after watching a doccie on David Beckham and how he had transcended just being a world-class soccer player and was now an A lister and for years has been setting men free to explore their metrosexual self through different hair styles, fashion and of course tattoos. 

 

It was reported that a few if not many of the England squad have had ink done ahead of the World Cup. 

 

 

British writer and columnist Sarah Vine has some strong opinions on the matter.  

 

"Also, please can we stop calling them body art. They’re not. What they are is the British obsession with class made flesh," she comments in her recent column.

 

"When I was [England midfielder] Ross Barkley's age, tattoos were the preserve of sailors, Hell’s Angels and ex-cons. Then, in the mid-90's, they began appearing on the well-heeled ankles of the hipper scions of the middle classes," she adds.

 

"It was all part of that embarrassing ‘mockney’ trend, where middle class kids decided to stop trying to be posh and hang out instead among the common people.

 

"And so they practised their glottal stops and got tattoos: risque, dangerous, a new way to rebel.

 

"These footballers’ tattoos are a similar thing, only in reverse. They are a way for young men who feel disorientated by their huge pay-packets and lavish lifestyles to anchor themselves to what they still consider to be their class."

 

"But — and this applies especially to women — there’s a darker side to this tattoo obsession. Designs of such ugliness they seem almost like a form of self-harm,"she concludes.

 

Me personally, I think it's drop dead sexy but Sarah Vine on the other hand thinks tattoos are self harm.

 

Do you think tattoos are self-harm or self-expression?