"Get Your Fucking Hands Off Of Me!"

It seems that when you make your body into a piece of art the people around you begin to feel that they own you. You become public property. Others think that they can invade your space, interrupt conversations, grab and prod at you. They feel that they deserve answers to questions that they don't always have the right to ask. I've always made it a point to fight against what is seen as normal; always tried to break the molds. But I've never felt that I was on display, or that I had to justify myself to those around me. Now strangers are asking me to justify my actions and all I want to know is why I should explain myself to them. Why justify my actions to people I don't know or care about? In the midst of writing this I had a man walk up and grab my face. He was trying to tell me, in very bad English, that I should not have covered my arms in tattoos. What is it that makes people like him think they have the right to actions like that? Do they feel that I have no regard for my body, and that they don't need to either? I feel that using my skin as a canvas is one of the highest regards I can pay to my body. It almost feels like playing God: I'm making a beautiful thing even more pleasing to look at. If I believed in Creationism I would say that this is why our bodies look the way they do. We were given beautiful templates, shown what was possible, and then left to improve upon what we had. I don't, however, believe in Creationism.
There are, of course, those who understand. They are the people who walk up just to say that they think my arms are beautiful. They don't poke at them, or demand to know why. They treat my tattoos as they would any work of art they enjoy: with respect. Ultimately , these are the people who understand that I did not do this for anyone but myself. I did it because I thought it would be beautiful, and it is. I did it to be provoking, and shocking. And it seems to be. I did it because I feel that successful art, like a successful life takes a little bit of pain at times. I haven't been disappointed on any of these counts. I did not do it to become public property. So if you are one of those people who feels that someone who throws themselves into life and lives it how they want to must answer to you for their actions and desires, all I have to say is, "back off."