When Tess Morgan's son came home with a tattoo, she was griefstricken. She knew her reaction was OTT (he's 21) but it signalled a change in their relationship
This is gold this, absolute gold, the most over the top melodramatic hysterical ridiculous thing Iāve ever read
This is actually so interesting to read- itās from 2012 but its full of the same anxieties, even some of the same phrasing that many of the guardianās later pieces on transness use. really hammers home how much of the terfism that emerged in the late 10s was middle class mothers angry at a loss of control over their adult children- whether that be their bodies or their friends or their opinions- and making that everyoneās problem because they have the power to do so
He says, āIām still the same person.ā
I look at him, sitting there, my 21-year-old son. I feel Iām being interviewed for a job I donāt even want. I say, āBut youāre not. Youāre different. I will never look at you in the same way again. Itās a visceral feeling. Maybe because Iām your mother. All those years of looking after your body ā taking you to the dentist and making you drink milk and worrying about green leafy vegetables and sunscreen and cancer from mobile phones. And then you let some stranger inject ink under your skin. To me, it seems like self-mutilation. If youād lost your arm in a car accident, I would have understood. I would have done everything to make you feel better. But this ā this is desecration. And I hate it.ā
Also just the classism of her associating tattoos with āvest tops, dogs on chains, broken beer glassesā; like, just say you hate poor people
