A mum who has 60 tattoos says she receives awful stares on the school run and strangers have made cruel digs about her inked body – with one person even suggesting she got pregnant after a one-night stand, simply due to her appearance.
Loki Honan couldn’t step out in public without being met with stares, whispers and raised eyebrows while carrying her son, Avalon.
Instead of being met with congratulations, the 24-year-old says people were quick to size her up, with her tattoos becoming the target of their judgment.
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At work as a barista, one customer smirked as he pointed at her bump and asked if it was an “accident”.
Loki – who at the time had been trying to conceive a baby for a year – says it was clear that he was judging her based on her appearance.
“He didn’t literally say it ‘Was a one-night stand?’ but his words and glare made me feel like that’s what he was implying – that because I have tattoos, my pregnancy must have been an accident,” she told Need To Know.
“It really caught me off guard.
“It made me feel like I was being judged based on my appearance and that my job or my tattoos provoked an entitlement from someone who thought they could share whatever assumptions they wanted.
“No one has the right to question your journey to motherhood.
“As we learn as kids, if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say it at all.”
And it isn’t the only time she has felt singled out.
The mum often receives side-eye glances in the street.
She admits these moments are especially sharp when she’s with her children, such as doing the school run or out in public with her family, which includes her one-year-old son and five-year-old stepson [not named for privacy reasons].
But she insists not every interaction has been negative.
Loki, who hails from Australia’s Sunshine Coast, said: “I have had a lot of positive experiences that don’t deserve to be overlooked.
“Once, an older lady said that seeing my stomach tattoos made her wish that she had tattoos like this when she was younger, but she was too scared to commit.
“I also had another lady ask for permission to take a photo of and make a painting of my pregnant stomach.
“She said how my self-expression ‘inspired her’ and I thought that was a lovely, beautiful thing for a stranger to say.”
Loki is proud to wear her life on her skin and wants her children to grow up in a world that values difference rather than tearing others down.
She said: “I know who I am and try not to internalise other people’s comments.
“My tattoos, my clothes, my hair – anyway, I may externally express myself – is just an additional bonus of insight into my character.
“I love to express myself in the ways that resonate with who I am.
“I carry the seasons of my life on my skin, and each tattoo marks something meaningful to me.
“I think that is beautiful.
“I don’t have control over what people comment on my tattoos.
“I only have power over my reaction and how I position these words in my own life.
“That’s what I hope to pass on to my kids, too – that difference is something to be curious about, not afraid of.
“We only get one life, so we should try our best to spend it authentically and in a way that fuels love rather than adversity.”
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