I’ve recently read many academic books on tattoos. While reading these books, I consistently get the following impression:

At least in some contexts, the stigma against tattoos that has existed in the last few decades has largely lifted.
This stigma still exists for face tattoos and tattoos very close to the face (e.g. neck tattoos).

I’m interested in #2. Do every day people think about face tattoos in a different way than tattoos in general? Are face tattoos more stigmatised than non-face tattoos?

The take-home message is that there is evidence that people still hold negative implicit attitudes towards face/neck tattoos. There is also evidence that having a face/neck tattoo can negatively affect one’s job prospects.

Zestcott et al 2017, Evidence of negative implicit attitudes toward individuals with a tattoo near the face, Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, link

samples: study 1 = 68 undergrads in Arizona; study 2 = 398 MTurk + in-person undergrads in Arizona; study 3 = 93 undergraduates in Arizona
“The present research provides evidence that people express negative implicit attitudes toward individuals with a tattoo near the face. Study 1 showed that observers hold negative associations toward individuals who exhibit a tattoo near the face, and Study 2 suggests that the expression of the negative implicit attitudes was not caused by the potential interruption of visual processing that an asymmetrical tattoo can create. Additionally, Study 3 showed that a positively valenced tattoo attenuated, but did not eliminate, the expression of implicit prejudice toward the targets with a tattoo. It appears that tattoos near the face, regardless of their content or symmetry, can trigger implicit negative evaluations of the target individual.”
“Study 3 showed that the type of tattoo that targets display near the face also attenuates the expression of negative implicit attitudes.”
“Additionally, the results of Study 2 showed that tattooed perceivers exhibited lower negative implicit attitudes than nontattooed perceivers”
“An important caveat is that […] none of the moderators examined in the current research eliminated the implicit prejudice. For instance, despite the fact that an independent sample rated the heart image significantly more positively than the tribal image, both images activated negative implicit attitudes when displayed as a tattoo, suggesting that the perceptions of the images changed when placed on the neck.”
“The cultural message imbues most people with implicit negative beliefs and feelings about tattoos that come automatically to mind and are difficult to control (Rudman, 2004; Rudman et al., 2002). Some evidence consistent with this latter speculation is present in the overall dissociation we observed between perceiver’s implicit and explicit attitudes in Study 3.”

Antonellis and Silsbee 2018, Employment Interview Screening: Time to Face the Ink, Journal of Business & Economic Policy, link

qualitative study, sample = 243 respondents who posted text replies to questions posed on a professional social networking website, the study simply analysed that text
it’s essentially a stated preferences study, which I have issues with
“A majority of the respondents 121 (50%) said that they would hire a person with a face/neck tattoo depending on the position, leading us to believe that some respondents still hold a level of bias towards individuals with tattoos on the face.”
“Research findings indicate that 20% of the participants would not hire a person with a neck/face tattoo, while 50% of the participants revealed that it would depend on the position if they would hire a person with a neck/face tattoo.”
themes found in the analysis: first impression/stigma (n = 298), visible ink (270), appropriate/acceptance (267), image/corporate culture/policy (213), tattoo location (180), neck/face/hands (170), talent/qualified/skills/ability (152), depends on job/position (148), concealed/covered up (82), offensive/polarizing/hate (68)
Male respondent: “The person has made a choice to have ink on his/her face and I am also making a choice not to hire you. Bottom line, we are all allowed to make a choice, my choice is not to hire.”
Female respondent: “Tattoos are a personal choice and a personal expression. Those two things don’t necessarily align in/with business and professional worlds.”
Female respondent: “Location, location and location matters for tattoos on your body. The tattoo on the neck or face is a big NO for me.”
Male respondent: “Decisions you make about your body in what you put in it what you cover it in and how you present it will always have an influence on how people see you.”

Jibuti 2024, Essays in Experimental Economics: Labor Market Discrimination, thesis, link

“I used a correspondence testing method to collect data and responded to 800 job advertisements in IT occupations in Germany with fictitious applications. Applications included a large size photo on the cover page with or without a neck tattoo, to signal the tattoo status of applicants. Our data suggest that applicants with visible tattoos have about a 25% lower chance of getting a callback compared to applicants without tattoos.”
“Since no evidence was found to confirm that tattooed applicants suffer from statistical discrimination, I argue that applicants with visible tattoos face taste-based discrimination. Alternatively, HR managers may exhibit hiring bias against tattooed candidates, based on their beliefs about personal characteristics of individuals with tattoos, which may be motivated by animus.”
“Despite the growing acceptance of tattoos among the wider public, employers in the banking and IT sector still see it as a hindrance to employment. The fact that a high level of discrimination is observed in both the banking and IT sector supports our argument that the discrimination is a result of a distaste for tattoos. […] even if the wider public appears to have become more tolerant of tattooed individuals, employers still seem to be less receptive to tattoos in the workplace.”
“I should highlight that our results are context specific. I do not argue that all types of tattoos would have a similar impact on employment chances in all occupations. Rather, my results are conditional on neutral tribal tattoos in the IT industry. On the other hand, given that Jibuti (2018) found the unfavorable treatment of tattooed applicants in the banking sector, one may argue that tattoos may still have a rather homogeneous impact across diverse settings.”