Ingrid Tiriana: Air NZ should lead beat of the tattoo

Tattoos are intimidating.

Well, they make people uncomfortable when in confined spaces according to Air New Zealand, which dismissed a woman from an interview for a hostess position because she had a Maori tattoo on her arm.

The airline was called hypocritical because it has a koru in its logo and has used heavily tattooed celebrities like singer Gin Wigmore and the All Blacks in its advertising campaigns. Hypocritical? Too right. Sounds like discrimination to me.

Air New Zealand justifies its stance by saying its millions of customers need to feel comfortable during flights and apparently many international passengers, particularly Asians, wouldn't be comfortable interacting with someone with visible tattoos - cultural or otherwise. I'd like to see their undoubtedly extensive research in this regard.

Other airlines have similar policies, Air New Zealand has pointed out - as if that makes it any better. All that does is make one wonder how many other employers out there are discriminating against people because they've got some ink on their arms.

Just because one person jumps over the cliff doesn't mean everyone else has to. Sometimes it takes courage to be the one to say no, I'm not following you over the cliff, I can think and make decisions for myself and I'm doing absolutely nothing wrong by deciding to not follow your lead and stay right here at the top. In fact, I'm betting that my staying at the top of the cliff will have very little bearing on how people see me or whether people will stop using my services. If anything, I might actually be considered a leader and people might like me even more than they did before because I don't discriminate and am happy to make room for anyone keen to stay at the top of the cliff with me.

Being tattooed is really quite common now - all around the world. Gang members aren't the only people who have tattoos. There are many people with tattoos who are just normal, everyday people. The likes of superstars have even made them trendy.

Heaps of sports stars have tattoos, not just cultural ones, and people all around the world still idolise them. I doubt anyone on a plane would feel intimidated if an All Black with a tattoo on his arm served them their cup of tea during a flight. Why would a friendly young woman with a cultural tattoo make them uncomfortable?

Some might say every employer has a right to decide what image they want to portray to the public or their customers but haven't we advanced? Actually, the obvious answer to that is no, sadly, we appear to still cling to age old prejudices.

Sometimes it seems the world is becoming more and more intolerant, rather than more tolerant of others.

Surely Kiwis aren't the only people accepting of cultural tattoos? I've been told by tourist operators that Asians are fascinated by Maori culture and love Maori cultural experiences. It's hard to believe they would enjoy the experience of a powhiri but be intimidated by a tattoo on the arm of a flight attendant. I could understand Air New Zealand being reluctant to take on someone with obvious gang-related, racist, obscene or offensive tattoos but a cultural tattoo falls into none of those categories.

Come on Air New Zealand, be a leader, not a follower. Showing your staff covered in nothing but body paint was okay but no, we can't have those cultural tattoos. I know which of those two makes me feel more uncomfortable.

Ingrid Tiriana is a freelance writer based in Rotorua