Joel Madden's Tattoos

Here is a picture of Joel Madden and his tattoos.

Joel Madden recently went to board a British Airways plane and was refused entry because of his tattoos. The staff told him that until he covered up his tattoos he wouldn't be allowed to board the plan. They claimed that his tattoos were offensive. Joel Madden says that all his tattoos are either of religious or family nature, in now way offensive at all.

I think that this story goes along with our final question regarding being able to do whatever one pleases with his/her body. Is it really fair to say that someones tattoos are offensive? What if Joel had tattoos on his face, would he be expected to cover them up or just refused access to the plane? After all we learned in this class tattoos seem to be one of the less severe things that one can do to their body, so I was surprised at this story.