November 21, 2009
Published: 30 Aug 09 09:12 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/21770/20090830/
Dictionary tool Double click on a word to get a translation
Two women were turned away from a Malmö night club because of their ink. Club management defended the policy, saying that tattoos were "distasteful".
External link: Kvällsposten article, with pictures »
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
A male high school teacher in Skövde, western Sweden, has been arrested and charged with a string of sexual offences including child rape. READ »
Liberal party leader Jan Björklund has rallied members during a speech at the party conference in Växjö calling for lower taxes, developments in nuclear power production and for Sweden to adopt the euro as its currency. READ (9 COMMENTS) »
Two sisters are claiming damages from a firm of funeral directors after their father's coffin was plunged ungracefully into a grave by undertakers unsteady on their feet. READ »
Two North Korean diplomats are being held on suspicion of trying to smuggle 230,000 cigarettes from Russia into Sweden. READ (11 COMMENTS) »
Local politicians who previously voiced their disapproval at a move to house asylum seeker children in Vellinge look set to sign an agreement to invite more children to reside in the municipality in the future. READ (15 COMMENTS) »
A Liberal Party proposal to make English language learning obligatory in schools from the first grade has been slammed by members of the Swedish Academy who view it as an "unnecessary reinforcement of the status of English.” READ (48 COMMENTS) »
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has announced that Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy will be the first permanent President of the European Council following negotiations in Brussels on Thursday evening. READ (20 COMMENTS) »
A heavily pregnant young woman was raped in her home on the outskirts of Stockholm late on Thursday afternoon. READ »
Happy name day to me. No, not Blatte Day (yet) »
"Hey all you Elizabeths out there. Today (November 19 if you’re reading another day) is our name day. Happy Elizabeth Day. (Or Elisabeth or Elisabet as you are more likely to be if you are Swedish) So what’s a name day (if you haven’t already clicked on the Wiki link), it’s “a tradition in many countries..." READ »
Jobs - in Sweden, in English
Get your career on track with our job listings from Sweden's top employers.
Property - renting or buying in Sweden
Navigating the minefield of renting or buying an apartment or house in Sweden.
Weather
"There is no bad weather, just bad clothes," say the Swedes. Here's the forecast for everyone else.
Introducing...
Every week The Local serves up a spicy helping of Swedish celebrity for your delectation.
Stockholm Syndrome
Tales of crazy Swedish classes, hamfisted attempts to understand - and explain - real Swedes, and varied experiences of fellow foreigners gathered for your amusement.
Register now for:
> Free use of noticeboard
> Special discounts
> Weekly news roundup
> Unlimited use of discuss
69 jobs in Sweden, in English
21 new jobs this week
0 new jobs today
Your comments about this article:
Used to be the case, but I doubt anymore.
Personally I dont have any tattoos, but i feel some look really good while others...bleh, then again art is subjective. Some can be downright distasteful though, i saw a guy having a tattoo of the devil sodomizing a girl... not something i want to see when out drinking a beer, having some chips and chatting up women.
What about "free country" and "tolerance" and bla bla bla
@beynch: Do you live in Sweden or on the moon! 13 years old girls now have tattoos, and putting a tattoo doesnt show you are disinterested in your work, it just shows nothing! or we should be work slaves from now on?
I personally doesn't have tattoos, but see no problem with them at all, any person at some point in time would think to put on a tattoo, and if a bar would ban me from entering it if i did so, so i would probably break a leg from now!
Ever watch TV or read the news? Tattoos are not only hugely popular among the masses, they have become socially acceptable all over Europe since the Eighties of the last century.
Also, even if not well done technically, depictions of flowers hardly can be looked down upon as something revolting.
So, literally the color of the skin has become the criterion for denying access in this case? I remember this is called racism.
Grotesque.
>>>WHITE TRASH
It is not discrimation because tattoos are a personal choice not something you are born with. It has more to do with the women's clothing choices. If they had worn somthing to keep the tattoos covered then there wouldn't have been any problems. I own my own business and would not hire someone for a sales position if they have more than one or two small visible tattos.
I can't belive how narrow minded people still can be in this day and age.
This article has really shone a light on the prejudice still found in the nooks of this society.
Querist - how dare you sterotype us as ' white trash' do you have any idea how innacurate and disrespectful that is?
I myself have many tattoos and i also work in a tattoo studio (following my dream). We see people come in from all levels of society, and with all kinds of jobs and positions. I myself worked for many years as a manager for a major credit card company in the UK, despite my many tattoos. Just because us tattooed people decide to get something permanent put onto our skins does not mean we live or have lived a certain lifestyle.
As for the slurs on 'prison tattoos' most of the tattoos people are getting today are miles from the old klichés of gang signs and crude artwork hacked in with an old pen and a needle. today's tattoo artist are a growing community of very talented artists who make a living of their art, much like some would sell a canvas at a gallery.
People get tattooed for an array of different reasons, it could be to commemorate the passing of a loved one, mark a certain period of ther life or simply to enhance and beautify a part of their body. Of course some people do make poor decitions, but it is their decition to make and we have no buisness judging them by it.
I urge you all to come to the Malmö tattoo expo at the begining of October in hope that it will really enlighten you on todays tattoo culture. It's big it's beautiful and its out there!
There is no accounting for taste.
The women's thing started with a little tattoo on the ankle, and migrated to the calf, and creeped up to the back and over to the shoulders, and now they cover themselves with them and wonder why they cannot get into establishments that require some semblence of decorum, common sense, and, yes, taste.
Fashion and fads come and go, tattoos are permanent.
Good taste never goes out of fashion.
its not a leftist opinion to say that evaluating a person by his choice of look is discriminant, its an clear as the light of sun for an educated free human. Its just the hypocrisy of the night club which disturbs me, I don't believe that they will turn down a famous singer with a tattoo, or a friend! If the dress code of a person is his/her tattoos, then we are back to the stupidity of our kliches which consumed a lot of social isolation and hatred to break free from.
The conservative ideas people like in this post have, is the reason driving the new young generations to exaggerate their actions in every way possible to break free from the prejudice of other people. Tell a teenager spitting in the street means you are a "white trash" you will see all teenagers spitting in the street just to prove you wrong, and at the end, whom to blame? only you.
b) thats just funny
I am a priest and I have tattoos. I have kids, 2 out of 4 have tattoos, one is a lawyer graduate the other is a computer tech. Neither are jail timers.
Tattoos can, and in this day often, are a art form where the skin this the canvas. As with any art it can be used in a poor way (such as tagging with paint).
But by no means does a tattoo need to mean lawlessness, it may not be a great artwork however.
There is sooo much more going on in the world, we should all stop picking on each other or the whole world may end up like Nazi Germany!!
Its INK not Anthrax, let them in to the club..........
When I got it, my mother condemned it, like some people on here do, and said that it belongs to the uneducated, low classes. But as I said, I don't have anything against them.
He was in good company as in these days quite a few bluebloods sported tattoos, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York (they even traveled to Japan for these authentic artworks), King Edward VII, Tsar Nikolaus, the Sultan of Johore, Danish Princes Christian and Karl, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, King George of England, Prince Christian-Viktor of Denmark, Princess Chiay, the King of Greece, Prince Heinrich of Prussia, Prince Waldemar of Denmark, Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, to name just a few.
People with good sense and good taste eschew tattoos, and that has nothing to do with inhibiting the proclivities of the current generation of youth.
What this is called is common sense. Judging by the comments to the contrary, not much of that exists today.
Actually I have a swastika tattoo...but its not a nazi swastika...its a hindu swastika. But I never had any problem with anyone getting offended by it!
bodys that god gave us in perfect condition"? does that mean its ok for people born with missing legs or arms, or birthmarks on there faces, or skin problems, you mean those perfect conditions? they can get tattoos?
how about not judging people for having a flower tattoo or whatever they want and try seeing someone for who they are, like we teach our children!!!
Beynch and lingonberrie, your statements are plain discriminatory. To comfort you, here are some famous people you might like who were not tattooed: Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong.
Who are you to impose your "good taste" upon society?
The nightclub is private property, do not get this confused with "public buildings". The owner has 100% right to choose who he lets in or not. If he doesn't want people with gangster tattoos, then great for him, it is 100% his choice. If he didn't have THAT right, then we would be living in a communist state. Where the government tells you who you should let into your own private club, home etc.
However a club/bar/pub can decide on the image they want to portray and if they don't want to see guests looking a certain way then they don't have to let them in.
Get your facts straight!
An owner of a nightclub does not have unlimited rights to refuse anyone admittance.
For instance it is illegal in Sweden to refuse anyone based on race, sexual preference, religion, physical handicaps or indeed physical appearence.
The issue in this case has to be to determine wherther or not a tattoo is to be considered a physical attribute or a cosmetic addition. Might seem easy at first as the tattoo has (presumably) been added voluntarily and therefore is to be regarded as a cosmetic addition.
This point of view however does not take into consideration that a tattoo is permanent, and a person goes through many stages in a lifetime. The choices we make at one stage might not make much sense later in life, but they may be irreversible. Does that mean a person should accept exclusion from social forums and work? I can't see why.
And Plowbridge: If a Nightcub owner wants to portray his club in a certain way, surely it's better to attract a one type of crowd than to exclude another.
Jennie shows good taste. So, where does that put the rest of you who make excuses for the flagrant and blatant display of tattoos, specifically women, when a porn star shows more good taste than you?
Her tattoo is only an adjunct to her role in porn, much like a business signature. Otherwise, she has more sense than to mar her physical beauty with trash. She is a well-paid professional model, as well.
I admire her for her good taste, and for what she does in a porn business in public rather than what the married royals do in secret or among those, many, who flaunt their adultery, royalty or not. There is another name for married women who do this, but single women, like Jennie, do not have that name.
"My" standards of taste and good sense are not unique to me but shared by the hundreds of millions who prefer to display their strengths in other ways, rather than to mindlessly flaunt them.
Tattoos are an aberration in western "civilized" cultures whereas that practice is entirely acceptable in other indigenous cultures.
lingonberrie, your knowledge of the history of tattooing seems a bit sketchy.
The tattoo has been a practice already since very early times in Europe (yes, the Western world). Italian Ötzi, pre-historic iceman, was tattooed. Members of the ancient Scottish Pict people were tattooed in certain patterns which scientists and historians believe were the forerunners to the tartan patterns. There are written hints which scholars interpret that the apostle Paul of the christian bible wore a tattoo; even the christian bible mentioned the practice of tattooing several times, even though as something not to be done because it was seen as something "pagan" which jew-christians were not supposed to do. Obviously there has been a religious background for tattooing in the old ages already. Different popes presumed to ban tattooing; even though, since these earliest times, coptic christians in egypt still sport tattoos of christian symbols.
For your information, God does not exist. You are in the 21st century. Wake up. Do you also believe in Santa/Father Christmas? Probably.
Unbelievable.
Shame on Swing for discrmmination! I will never go there again.
I don't like tatts and would never have one but each to their own!
Having a tatt has not stopped me hiring someone but I don't think they do anything to a body - male or female!!
I grew up in a Naval City so always associate tatts with Sailors and likewise the girls who dated them got tatts! I nursed in this same city so saw lots of people in the skin clinic with skin infections, or disasters after trying to remove the ex girlfriends/boyfriends name from their arms.