Women Make Fun Of A Man's 'Embarrassing' Reaction To Getting A Leg Tattoo
While some may have believed his reaction was dramatic, there is no denying that getting a tattoo hurts.
South_agency from Getty Images Signature / Canva Pro A video of a man getting a tattoo on his calf has resulted in teasing from countless people, mostly women, claiming that they “never” would have reacted the way he did while he was getting inked.
Despite some of them having no tattoos themselves, many of these women insisted that it doesn’t hurt “that bad” and have endlessly mocked the man for expressing his pain so outwardly.
The video depicts a man getting a tattoo on the back of his calf as he squirms and tightly grips the chair in obvious pain.
In the video that has been viewed a whopping 16.3 million times, the tattoo artist (@metitatto1) applied the vibrating tattoo machine to the back of a client’s calf as he traced the outline of the tattoo.
The client, meanwhile, did not hold back on expressing his pain over the process. He was gripping onto the tattoo chair for dear life, rocking back and forth, as his toes curled in response to the agony. He was also holding a rag, which he shoved into his mouth to muffle his screams.
Although the experience was obviously not a pleasant one for the man, at the end of the video, he showed off the epic result that certainly looked like it was worth it!
But even though he powered through until the end of his tattoo, most people labeled him as “weak” and “dramatic,” due to his strong reactions to the inking process.
Many people, mostly women, ridiculed the man, claiming they would never have reacted the same way if they were getting tattooed.
“Oh please, that’s just embarrassing,” one TikTok user commented on the man’s reaction. “Dude has zero pain tolerance,” another wrote.
Others believed that if the man reacted the way he did over getting a tattoo, he certainly could not handle other types of physical pain. “This man could not survive a single period let alone PMS,” one woman responded in a video of her own.
Others claimed to have reacted much more calmly than the man in the video did. “Is that for real? I legit almost fell asleep getting my last tattoo,” another woman said in her video.
However, there were others who came to the man’s defense regarding how he acted while getting his tattoo.
One woman, who has a calf tattoo herself, claimed that it was her "most painful" tattoo she received.
While she sympathized with the man’s pain, she points out that she was “conditioned” to tuck it away during the experience as a woman. “I laid there like a [expletive] zombie, and dissociated for two and a half hours,” she says.
Still, she encouraged the man to “get it together” for future tattoos.
When it comes to tattoo pain, it can be an unpleasant ordeal, but according to tattoo artists, it is not an unbearable pain that you will be unable to handle.
“As far as pain is concerned, I wouldn't really say it's not going to be anything extraordinary that you can't handle," Brian Keith Thompson, the proprietor and Chief Piercing Officer of Body Electric Tattoo, told Byrdie.
However, there is no denying the fact that there is some pain involved. Some compare the pain to being scratched by a cat. Others say it feels like someone is holding a burning match against your skin.
It all depends on what one’s personal tolerance is, and that will be different for everyone.
Photo: antoniodiaz / Shutterstock
Factors that contribute to how painful a tattoo can be include, the placement of the tattoo (bony areas including the feet, fingers, ribcage, and spine are more tender), the tattoo artist’s skills, and the needles that are used.
A survey conducted by Removery found that respondents who had tattoos on their calves noted that it was one of their most painful tattoo experiences. The back of the calf tends to be more painful than the front or the side since the back contains more nerve endings.
“I have a white bronco on my calf; it hurt. There is nothing more to say,” a man named Trent from Austin, Texas responded to the survey. “Compared to my bicep, it was worse.”
While some people may brag that they fell asleep or could hold a conversation while getting tattooed, not everyone’s experience will look like that — and that’s okay.
The man depicted in the video does not deserve to be ridiculed and endlessly mocked for how he handled the pain while getting a tattoo. Instead, he deserves praise for unapologetically demonstrating his vulnerability, and for showing people that getting a tattoo is not all sunshine and rainbows.
Unfortunately, most men are reluctant to show their pain due to societal expectations that have been imposed on them. Some may fear that their masculinity will be questioned and that people will perceive them negatively as many did while watching the man in the video.
How can we expect men to be more open and vulnerable with their feelings and pain when they are branded as weak and dramatic when they display emotions in response to their pain?
Unless we are the ones getting the tattoo, we have no right to declare that it “doesn’t hurt that bad.” The pain you feel while getting tattooed is nobody’s pain except yours, and it is valid.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.