designs, are all strategically placed on his body so that they would be covered by a t-shirt. He said people are becoming more accepting of tattoos, but the level of acceptance depends on where a person lives. In North Dakota, which is a typically very conservative area of the United States, acceptance isn’t as great as in other parts of the country. Local real estate agent Ben Schroeder looks like the typical clean-cut, clean-shaven, “catalog” guy. He wears dress clothing often due to his profession, so when clients and others find out he has tattoos, he said 99 percent of the time they give him a shocked look and say “I never thought someone like you would have tattoos.” He got his first tattoo when he was 18, and now he has been adding to a large tribal tattoo. When working in the corporate world, he made it a point to not bring up his body art. But now if the topic of tattoos comes up, he talks about it without hesitation. A common sentiment from these men was that the more awareness that is brought to people who have body art, the more acceptance there would be to move past the stereotypes.
“I always tell people that if you give them the opportunity to show you their character and the kind of person they are, they will surprise you.” — Jeremy Hartje
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