Seattle
Dear Mr. Green Eyes,
You raise an excellent point, often photos and body art are obscured for privacy reasons. However, it is also a fact that sometimes they are obscured because they are not attractive.
For example, there are documented cases where the woman plainly shows her face in her photos, but her tat (or tats) is obscured. This would fall under the deception category, because clearly, if her face is shown, then privacy is not an issue, but the nasty ghetto tattoo is. I won't name names. LOL.
I also have to differ with your approach of asking first. If she feels that her body art may keep you from booking, she will downplay it, or just get defensive about it, never a good way to start a relationship. You either force her to be deceptive, or are putting down her sense of style. Always better to do your own research privately, check her reviews.
The good, objective, non-biased, non-shill reviewer (a TER reviewer) always notes how much body art the woman sports. In fact, "tattoos" is a mandatory field for a TER review. The choices are either:
None
One
A few
Many
Personally, I also add the size and style of the tats in the details of my reviews, if there is a chance of the reader being misled by the number.
As an example: Say one provider has 4 little butterflies and a "hello kitty" inked on her ankle, while another provider has one giant fire-breathing dragon that wraps around her entire body, the tail swirling into tight concentric circles around her pussy. To view her TER profile only, the first provider looks like she might be straight outta' Sturgis with "many", while the second looks like a member of a UW sorority with "one". Not so! So it's always good to elaborate on the size and style of the tats, in addition to the number.
Tattoo You! 
iceman
-- Modified on 1/17/2002 10:39:31 AM
Dear Jezzabel,
Good to know, thanks! If your TER profile shows tats, I'll correct it. My guess is since you're such a bad girl, the guy must have assumed you had some tats. 
Just as an FYI, didn't mean to sound like I was anti-tat. I think tats can be very sexy. Like all things, some are done well, others aren't, and everyone has their own opinion on what/how much they like. Personally, I never base my decision on whether to see a provider on tats/no tats, makes no difference to me (other than extremely heavy "sleeves" or such) However, I do know that there are hobbyists who avoid tats, if given the choice.
Also, I don't consider obscuring tats to be some egregious, malevolent deception, providers naturally want to put their best face forward in advertisements. It's to be expected. That's why we have review boards.
I actually have a tat on my cock. Its my GF's name Wendy. When I'm hard, it say her whole name, when I'm soft, it says WY. So there I was, in the men's room at Bumbershoot, and a Rastafarian pulls up to the urinal next to mine, whips out his cock. Naturally, as men are always curious, I took a glance down at his baby ruth bar. What do you know? WY tattooed there. I couldn't help but comment, "Hey, so your girlfriend is named Wendy too!". "No" he says. "This is 'Welcome to Jamaica Mon, have a nice day.'"
OK, ancient joke, sorry.
icemon
-- Modified on 1/18/2002 7:46:16 AM