Makeup Artist Gordana Poljak Was Banned Entry From a Club Because of Her Tattoos
By Gillian Fuller. Photos: Courtesy of Instagram, Facebook.
In the past, tattoos were sort of, well, taboo. Now? Not so much. Tattoos are about as ubiquitous as hair dye — which is why makeup artist Gordana Poljak’s recent discrimination because of her tattoos is so unbelievable.
Poljak, who has worked with celebrities including Vanessa Hudgens, Russell Crowe and Zac Efron, went to the Coogee Pavilion in Sydney, Australia, over the weekend to celebrate a close friend’s birthday. Though she’d been to the lounge many times before, on this occasion, she says she was turned away at the door because of her neck and hand tattoos.
Poljak recalled the encounter in an interview with news.com.au, explaining: "They stopped me and said, 'I'm sorry, you can't come in,' and I said, ‘Why? I’m here often. I was here a couple weeks ago.' They said, 'Your tattoos.'"
As the makeup artist later explained on Facebook, not only had she been to the bar previously, but there were also no signs indicating a dress code of any kind. Furthermore, when she asked the doorman to produce a document defending his decision to ban her entry from the club, he was unable to, and instead told her to call the owner on Monday.
Poljak says she felt "persecuted," and "uncomfortable," adding, "My tattoos describe me, they don't define me….No person has the right to judge your attendance based on your choice of body adornment."
In her post, she urged her followers to stop frequenting the popular lounge, and demanded an apology from the club’s owner. Though Yahoo! Style reports Australian venues are allowed to deny patrons entry for any reason they see fit (provided it does not breach current anti-discrimination laws), the club’s management did issue Poljak an apology. She later posted an update to Facebook, writing, "I accept their apology and I will still continue to go support [the man] who has acted in a respectful manner to address my bad situation…I believe in forgiveness, and I will continue to show my support for the real people behind the venue."
Still, tattoo discrimination, though rare, does still happen. As Yahoo! reports, a 2015 study found that women with tattoos are perceived as more promiscuous and less selective when it comes to choosing partners than their non-inked counterparts — which, obviously, is complete BS. At the end of the day, it’s awesome that the folks at Coogee Pavilion apologized to Poljak, but in order to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again, we need to educate people on the real meaning of body art, and break down the associations and stigmas associated with tattoos.
This story originally appeared on Allure.
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