Aussie mum told to hide offensive tattoo
February 08, 2006
SHE claimed that no one had ever found her tattoo offensive
before.
It never bothered people at her workplace, in public or even at her
daughter's school where Ms Peta Bull sometimes helped out.
The cleaner and mother of two from Mackay, Queensland, was even
wearing a singlet which partially hid her tattoo of a naked man and
woman embracing when she boarded a Jetstar flight to Brisbane on 26
Jan.
So the 36-year-old was understandably shocked when airline crew
told her that she would have to cover up - or get off the
plane.
They handed her a jacket and said that there were children on board
and that some passengers might be offended by the tattoo, reported
the Sydney Morning Herald.
She was told to wear the jacket until she reached the
terminal.
Ms Bull said she was too shocked to argue.
'It was humiliating,' she said. 'I couldn't see the problem.
(Because of the straps of my singlet) nobody could have worked out
what the picture was. I was very embarrassed.'
Ms Bull said that cabin crew didn't seem to notice another
passenger who had a four letter word on his T-shirt and that he
hadn't been asked to cover up.
'I felt like I had been singled out,' said Ms Bull 'I have never
experienced anything like that before.'
The tattoo shows a man sitting behind a woman, who is lying back
and propped up on her elbows. He holds one arm across her breasts
and another over her private parts.
'It's not sexual,' she said.
Ms Bull tried to call the airline to complain but was told to make
a written complaint.
She said she has sent a registered letter.
Mr Cameron Murphy, president of the New South Wales Council for
Civil Liberties, said it was a censorship issue.
'I think the operators of Jetstar should be more sensible,' he
said. 'It's really an issue of freedom of expression. There's no
particular reason why something like that could cause any problem
for people.'
A Jetstar spokesman, Mr Simon Westaway, said that the company would
look into the issue when it received the letter.
'Our cabin crew aren't the social police,' he said. 'At the end of
the day the comfort of all the passengers needs to be taken into
consideration.
'Our cabin crew clearly felt that they needed to ask her to cover
up a little bit.'