DEAR ABBY: I'm a 23-year-old woman with a university degree, a fulfilling job, downtown apartment and a busy social life. I am also heavily tattooed. My tattoos bring me a great deal of happiness. I work in a field where visible tattoos are acceptable, and I'm very good at covering them when necessary.
My problem is how to politely deal with strangers who criticize my tattoos when I'm out in public. I have been told I have "ruined" myself, that I have no future, that I'll never find a husband, that I am ugly, an insult to women and trashy. I do not dress scantily and, in my opinion, these comments are uncalled for.
I usually tell people that I am affecting only myself and that I'm happy, but this usually results in scoffs or more rude remarks. Part of me wants to be rude back because I am offended. What should I say the next time I am inevitably picked on? -- INKED AND IRKED IN CALGARY, CANADA
DEAR INKED AND IRKED: I printed a letter last spring about a Canadian woman who insisted that people north of the border are nicer than people in the U.S.A. Your letter shows that's not necessarily the case. The next time someone makes an unkind remark about your body art, look the person in the eye and say, "That you would say something so hurtful to me shows you are uglier on the inside than you think I am on the outside."