Significance of Tattoos
In the past, tattoos were commonly thought of as trashy or bad. One would often relate them to bikers, rock and heavy metal stars, pirates, or gangsters. That has considerably changed over the years. According to Swan, "In 2003 approximately 40 million Americans reported to have at least one tattoo." Today's culture is still fascinated with tattooing. In the 1990s, tattoos were the sixth fastest growing retail behind the Internet, paging services, computer and cell phone services. 28% of adult’s ages 30-39 were tattooed and that number rose to 36 percent in the 25-29 age group. 31% of the gay, lesbian and bisexual population, regardless of age, was inked as well. Tattoos are significant because they represent and symbolize different things to many people.
Erika Aldama. (2007, Febuary 8). The History of Permanent Trend. Retrieved January 13, 2008, from http://media.www.thetraveleronline.com/media/storage/paper688/news/2007/02/08/LifeStyle/Tattoos-2706864-page2.shtml
The word tattoo is said to have two major origins- from the Polynesian word ‘ta’ which means striking something and the Tahitian word ‘tatau’ which means ‘to mark something’. The history of tattoo began over 5000 years ago. Many past cultures included tattoos in their tradition. Tattoos were used for different reasons such as communicating among spies, for criminals and slaves to be marked, culture, religious and ceremonial, or social status.
The first permanent tattoo shop in New York City was settled up in 1846 and began a tradition by tattooing military servicemen from both sides of the civil war. Samuel O'reilly invented the electric tattooing machine in 1891. O'Reilly's machine was based on the rotary technolog...
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Designboom. (2007). A Brief History of Tattoos. Retrieved January 14, 2008, from
http://www.designboom.com/history/tattoo_history.html
Karen Hudson. “Choosing Your Tattoo Design and Where to Put It”.2007 http://tattoo.about.com/cs/beginners/a/blwhatwhere.htm (December 14, 2007)
Karen Hudson. “How much do they really hurt?” 2007 http://tattoo.about.com/cs/pafterabvneck/a/090103.htm (December 14, 2007).
Love To Know. (2007). Inking and Skin Infections. Retrieved December 14, 2007 from http://tattoos.lovetoknow.com/Inking_and_Skin_Infections
Tattoo.(2008, January 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 14, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattoos
Lyle Tuttle. (2007, June 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 14, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lyle_Tuttle&oldid=140156691
Kosut, M. (2006). An Ironic Fad: The Commodification And Consumption Of Tattoos. The Journal of Popular Culture, 39(6), 1035-1048. Retrieved November 29, 2013, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5931.2006.00333.x
Society has changed in many ways over the years; at one point tattoos were considered unprofessional and disgusting to most people, but today, they are quite common amongst young adults and people who enjoy art. Parents and people of many older generations, sometimes struggle to understand why this new interest in tattoos has been able to consume American culture so quickly. Prior to this boom of interest in tattoos, there were many horror stories that surrounded the subject due to unsanitary tools used and possible diseases a person could catch if a mistake was made. Lois Desocio is one of those adults who has struggled to understand tattoos, especially since her son Alec began to fill his body with them. As Alec’s collection of body art continues
Body modifications, with the focus of tattoos, have existed in our society for centuries and the way in which it is perceived has changed somewhat over the years, yet certain dishonors still remain our modern day. Like most body modifications, tattoos are an often misunderstood form of body modification. Despite the stigmas, tattoos have become a unique object of desire to endless diverse groups of people. But are the popular assumptions of tattoos out of sync with the true meaning behind them? Further explanation and exploration of the history will reveal the social and cultural practices of tattooing and the causal connection between the mind and the tattooed body, in addition to providing answers as to why tattoos stimulate uneasiness and curiosity and create a challenge to discursive practices.
(2014). The Artification of Tattoo: Transformations within a Cultural Field. Cultural Sociology, 8(2), 142. Retrieved from http://www.galileo.usg.edu.
Gilbert, Stephen G. "Sir Joseph Banks and the First Records of Tattooing in Tahiti and New Zealand" Tattoo History: A Source Book. 2001. http://tattoos.com/jane/steve/banks.htm (20 October. 2001)
Every day, tattoos have become apart of almost everyones daily life. Wether it be simply seeing someone with some on the street, to giving hundreds of them a day. While admiring their beauty, however, many people don’t think about the history behind the practice and how they have developed over the centuries. Tattoos have been around for thousands of years. One of the earliest evidence of tattoos being practiced was from the Iceman found with tattoos from the area of the Italian and Austrian border and was carbon dated to be around 5200 years old. Matching it's time, they use long one stakes dipped in soot.
Tattooing is the art of marking the skin with indelible patterns, pictures, or legends by making pricks and inserting colored ink. The word itself has its origins in the South Pacific. The art had been referred to as pricking, scarring, or staining until explorer Captain James Cook encountered the indigenous peoples of Tahiti. (Wilkinson 6)
Tattoos and body modifications have been around for many generations. They first began in 3370 BC and were used by Europeans and Egyptians. Both tattoos and body modifications are defined as a cultural representation of self-expression and sometimes even religion. In the article “Tattoos and Piercing: Issues of Body Modification and the Workplace,” Dr. Elzweig states, “Although tattooing is not a new phenomenon, the number of people who have tattoos has increased significantly and continues to rise. Life magazine estimated in 1936 that only 10% of me American population was tattooed in whole or in part (One out of ten Americans is tattooed, 1936)” (Elweig, Peeples).
Looking back at how people perceived tattoos then and how many "normal" people have them today shows a lot about how the world has changed, specifically in mainstream society. These days one can thrown a rock and hit a tattoo shop, but why the change of heart? Why are tattoos so popular now? Holly Tuesday, a writer for "Skin & Ink" tattoo magazine and heavily tattooed person said "We all, myself included, like to think that we stand out from the crowd.
Tattoos are a waste of money, until you put a story to the art. For years’ adults have hated tattoos, and their rebellious teens loved them. Now looking around, more and more people are getting them, including elderly people. What caused this social change today?
“The impact on the world today through the history and visual reasoning behind tattoos, lead to the inquiry of personal life changing experiences.
In today’s society, over one hundred years since the days of the tattooed women in circus side shows, women who choose to tattoo themselves still meet resistance and adverse reactions. “It has been estima...
A persons’ image is vital when meeting someone for the first time. Our peers, employers, family, superiors, even strangers that you walk past can automatically judge someone, and imagine how they present themselves to the world. Tattoos have been predominantly linked with a rebellious attitude and pictured on out of control stereotypes such as rock starts, bikers, sailors, and disobedient teenagers who want nothing more than to hack off their parents. With a new coming of age generation and a step into a more lenient and liberal society these types of patrons still participate in body art but so do doctors, lawyers, or just the run of the mill house mom. Tattoos signify religious beliefs, cultural influence, or each individual’s sole style. Body art is no longer socially offensive, employers are more apt to hiring tatted hopeful applicants, parents are warming up to the idea of their children inking their body and no longer a stranger on the street with a tattoo is necessarily prejudged as a criminal or safety hazard. Tattoos have become more evolved over the years because they have become more of a socially accepted element of the general public.
Jones, Jonathan . "Tattooing: Eye Catching- but are they art?." Guardian 23 September 2011, n.
Velliquette, Anne M., Elizabeth H. Creyer, and Jeff B. Murray.(1998) “The Tattoo Renaissance: An Ethnographic Account of Symbolic Consumer Behavior.” -in NA Advances in Consumer Research. Vol. 25, eds Joseph W. Alba & J. Wesley Hutchinson, Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 461-467.