Hi!!!

[SailorClaire]

Hi everyone hows it going? Im Claire and love tattoos, anything retro or vintage, old movies, and music that rocks. I am also currently studying for my masters degree, in which I have decided to focus my thesis on tattoos, gender and the body. I will be using the forum on this site to interview you guys on your opinions of your tattoos!

So if you would like to take part please take a look at my my forthcoming forum thread and all the information you need will be on that!!

[else]

I will be using the forum on this site to interview you guys on your opinions of your tattoos!

Maybe I'm just sensitive to stuff, but it seems a bit presumptuous... shouldn't it be phrased in the form of a question? Something like "Hi, blah, blah, blah... I would like to use this forum to interview you guys on your opinions of your tattoos. Is that ok?"

[Graeme]

I hope you find this place interesting beyond your research interests, good luck with those, and welcome.

[SailorClaire]

do you know what, thats a good point! ok then lets start again. Hi all! I would like to use this forum that you have chosen to discuss your tattoos online in to interview you on your opinions of them. Is that ok?

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and thank you graeme im sure i will!

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Ok so heres the study information for those interested!

I am studying for my Masters degree at the moment and as part of the course I have to do an original study on a topic of my choice. I decided to look at the tattooed body, a personal as well as an academic interest for me!

The focus of my research will be on the experiences and societies perceptions of tattooed women, and how these may differ from those of tattooed men.

This project aims to further understanding of women’s experiences of being tattooed and will answer questions such as:

Do women challenge typical gender norms through the practice of tattooing? Or are they creating a new way to express femininity?

Is the tattooed female body considered rebellious within society? What makes it rebellious?

Are the experiences and perceptions within society of the tattooed male body any different to those of the tattooed female body? If so why are they different?

I will be using this forum to conduct my research by posting questions on this thread every few days!

PLEASE KEEP READING IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PART!!!! IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!!!!

What is required from you?

You will be invited to take part in an online focus group on the discussion forum site you are currently a member of, in which you will be discussing issues with other members and me regarding your tattoos, your experiences of being tattooed, your thoughts on the reactions to your tattoos within society, your own perceptions of your tattooed body as well as anything else to do with tattoos and body modifications that you feel is important within the discussion.Please do not hesitate to discuss these issues using anecdotes and stories of your experiences.

Your responses will be available on the internet for other members, in the same way any other posts and forum threads on the site are available, however, if you do not want other members to view your response, then it is perfectly fine for you to private message me with your answers rather than post them within the thread. I will be keeping a record of your responses on my personal computer and they will be used in the subsequent write up of the study.

Place and duration of focus group:

The focus group will take place online in the chosen discussion forum site over a suggested timeline of 2 months. This will allow adequate time for me to post questions and to receive responses. I will aim to put up a new question every other day to allow time for you to respond. Therefore I suggest that if you want to take part throughout the whole discussion, you should check the thread every other day for new questions.

Consent and right to withdraw:

You are free to withdraw participation at any point. Participation is completely voluntary. Even during the course of the discussion, if you wish to withdraw or wish not to answer a particular question or questions, you are free to do so.

Also I am aware of the nature of online discussion forums, and that some people may only want to post once on a thread, therefore you will not be expected to keep on posting, and may respond as often or as little as you like.

If you would like to discontinue your posts on the thread you are free to do so and do not need to contact me to inform me of your decision to do this. However, if you would like your previous posts withdrawn from the project, then you would need to contact me with your username so I can remove your responses from my notes, but I cannot guarantee I can remove them from the website (this depends on the website and their terms and conditions on posting and removal of posts). If you do wish to withdraw your responses, please inform me by May 2013 at the latest. This will give me time to remove your results before my final write up of the project.

Data storage:

The raw data will not be passed on to anyone in future for personal use of any kind. I, Claire Beale, the only investigator in this study, shall be responsible for the information when the study is over. I will ensure that it is stored safely in its original format and in accordance with the University of Birmingham’s Codes of Practice for Research.

Confidentiality:

Due to the interviews being conducted through an internet discussion forum, it is likely you will use a user-name or nick-name rather than your real name, meaning that your identity is anonymous to an extent, but most forums require a real name to sign up and/or create a profile, so you will be traceable, and therefore not completely anonymous. I will however assign each participant an ID code for the write up of this study, so you will not be identifiable and therefore your responses will remain confidential if mentioned.

Right to information:

If you so wish you will be given a chance to check your data. If you have requested to be anonymous, you can ensure that nothing is included which may identify you. Also, a summary of the research will be made available to the participants, as well as a copy of any publications resulting from the research, if desired.

Further queries:

If you have any other questions and require further clarification, please email me: [email protected]. I will be happy to answer any questions. Also feel free to email my supervisors if you would like to discuss anything with them:

Dr Charlotte Ross

[email protected]

Dr Emma Foster

[email protected]

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heres the first set of questions if you would like to take part-

What is your age, sex, location, ethnicity and sexual orientation?

What tattoo/s do you have? Why did you choose that particular design? Does it have a particular meaning for you? Was your choice of tattoo affected by current trends in tattooing at all? If so was there a reason for this? If not, why?

Where are the tattoo/s on your body? What was the reason behind the placement of your tattoo/s? If so why? (If there is one as mentioned above).

next set of questions will be posted on monday! will also get some photos up of my tattoos to share with you all x

[Valerie Vargas]

Sorry to be so rude as to not read all of that but basically you signed up to take take take and not give back to the forum? Do you even have tattoos? This seems pretty one sided from where I'm standing...

[Delicious]

Well @SailorClaire, you could have asked us before you just threw down what you'd be doing. Im sure if you participated in this forum beyond what you can gain from it (your thesis paper), many of the women on here wouldn't mind participating.

If you love tattoos, then participate in the threads on the forum... Im sure that we'd love the input.

its always better to give as much as you take away

[Stewart Robson]

@SailorClaire Matt Lodder beat you to it by a few years. My opinion of this subject aside, I presume you've read The Post Modified Body?

I skimmed your proposal and read the first questions. I must say, I'm not impressed. You won't get any further insight or information than a Daily Mail article or any of the tattoo books you can buy in HMV.

Here's my opinion: When it comes to tattoos (and probably other areas of life), anything online is very far from the reality of the situation. Speak to real people in the real world and get a more honest view of what you're writing about.

I don't know why I keep saying this to academics, they rarely listen...

[gougetheeyes]

@SailorClaire has figured out the fastest way to get the mods' attention! Even faster than spam. This should go in the study.

[Graeme]

@SailorClaire Matt Lodder beat you to it by a few years. My opinion of this subject aside, I presume you've read The Post Modified Body?

I skimmed your proposal and read the first questions. I must say, I'm not impressed. You won't get any further insight or information than a Daily Mail article or any of the tattoo books you can buy in HMV.

Here's my opinion: When it comes to tattoos (and probably other areas of life), anything online is very far from the reality of the situation. Speak to real people in the real world and get a more honest view of what you're writing about.

I don't know why I keep saying this to academics, they rarely listen...

I don't know when Matt Lodder wrote that, but Margot Mifflin's Bodies of Subversion covers a lot of this very well, and there's a new edition of it coming out in the next couple of months.

[Lochlan]

@SailorClaire welcome and think you just got your Community Research 101 course on going into a community todo research without doing research ahead of time and how that can backfire therefore excluding you from being able todo actual research. Consider it a gift very few grad schools could teach their students. A researcher needs to be more humble. The only thing we know is nothing and we are always students. There is no master!

Unfortunately this hierarchical thought process that grad schools give their students who are accepted and/or graduate is historically how many researchers have tried todo research and it is almost like colonialism thus leaving a bad after taste on the community long after the researcher has left the community...i.e. what did the community actually gain from partaking? Or, how factual is this researchers work if they didn't actually enter the community? Amongst many other things, any good person questioning your thesis would ask then leaving your research irrelevant. Or even worse drawing a BS (yes that is a clinical term, haha) research study that influences others who care not to actually learn about a topic or community, i.e. mainstream news or books. These are thoughts to help you better defend your thesis when the time comes.

As a professional who does lots of work in communities and research internationally your pitch to do the research is what I fight not to do. May I suggest a book for you? Research Methods for Community Change; A Project-Based Approach by Randy Stoecker. I am just one of many people who work with many exploited populations so I write this as a polite offering.

Lastly, as was suggested by many LSTers take a look around the site and I think you will find lots of good pre-research to your research....consider it a Lit Review. I had one of my old staff actually join the site for her thesis on Tattooed Professional Women in Social Work and she got some impressive results from LSTers. So check out that search feature and put it to use and maybe reintroduce yourself and maybe the community will re-welcome you.

LSTers, thank you for voicing your concerns politely and offering constructive criticism so this site is not exploited!!! As well as an opportunity to teach the ones who unfortunately get into positions to teach about others when they are not a part of the other and/or truly know about the other(s)

EDIT: oh yeah as one of the site owners you may want to contact us first or if you're trying this on other forums as well the mods.....