<div class="fr-view"><p>In November, I attended a social gathering for students studying law who were from disadvantaged backgrounds. I will not name the organiser of this event, but I thought I had found an event that would help me reach out in the legal field and also help my social anxiety. Unfortunately, I was very wrong about the encounter I had during this event.</p>
<p>I had travelled to London for this event, and I was already nervous, but I went ahead and entered the building. I was dressed formally, and I also had my coat on, which covered my arms. Due to my anxiety, my hand was hidden in my pockets. I was welcomed by the receptionists and treated wonderfully. When others arrived, conversations started flowing, and my anxiety started to calm. I was hopeful that I would be able to make some connections that night and improve my networking.</p>
<p>After chatting for a while we were all brought from the reception into a networking area, where we had the choice to remove our coats and hang them up. I didn&#8217;t think twice as I wanted to be more comfortable, so I hung my coat up and went to sign in to the event.</p>
<p>When I went to sign in the lady taking everyone&#8217;s names looked at me with fear, I was trying to understand why. I had no idea. So I shrugged it off and carried on to get some coffee and socialise. When I had my coffee I tried to talk to some of the other people that were there and I was unacknowledged. Again, I still had no clue as to why, so I just carried on trying.</p>
<p>After trying for about ten minutes, I just stood at the side of the room and waited until we were called into the presentation. It was then I realised that most of the people who attended were looking at the tattoos on my arms and look disgusted by them.</p>
<p>Only one person spoke to me and they were lovely to talk to, they made me feel very comfortable about being there, regardless of what everyone else made me feel. They commented on my tattoos without any judgement as they stated that they wished they could have some but, they couldn&#8217;t because of their religion. They were the only person who was happy to talk to me and didn&#8217;t judge me on how I looked.</p>
<p>Not long after the presentation that was happening, I had to leave as I was made to feel very uncomfortable. Quite a few people were looking at my arms and whispering and making visual comments. When I left the presentation the security guard that was working apologised on everyone&#8217;s behalf, he could see how upset I was by this and how uncomfortable I felt. He didn&#8217;t blame me for leaving early. He said that I needed to do what was best for myself and I did.</p>
<p>I do not have violent tattoos; I have cartoony tattoos of characters such as anime, films and writing. I cannot understand how there is still a taboo about tattoos. I am a very open and characteristic person. I like to express myself with art as it is a healing property for me. Like it is for most people, I should not be judged just because I have ink. Nobody should!</p>
<p>I want to be able to change this taboo in the Law Industry and make it normal, those of us who have tattoos are not scary or intimidating. I understand that it does come across that way to some people because of criminal offenders and the meanings that some of their tattoos have from being in prison. But, I do believe that you can still be a professional in your industry as well as show your true self.</p>
<p> ;</p>
<div id="zfWrap">
		
 </div>



</div>
Share
Read more