For centuries, ink on skin has been a synonym for social markers, group identity, and perpetration of traditions. Tattoos in the past were a permanent hallmark--a stamp of authenticity and a mark of permanent fidelity to a cause, a group, or to an identity. They were a loud statement of culture and belonging. They served as amulets, symbols, and religious traditions. However, nowadays, tattoos seem just the product of a capricious and vain pop culture. They seem cheap and easy souvenirs from travel adventure, bachelorette parties, and army service. They seem a symbol of individualism and capitalism.
With the advent of social media and computer industry, tattoo as shifted from being an expression of traditional culture to being an
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According to Cotter & Mirabole (2003), to address the above questions properly, we need to take into consideration “the interests of the artists, the intellectual property rights owner, and the human subject (p. 103). In other words, we need to address and resolve authorship and ownership issues. We need to define the author and the owner of the original idea, the author and the owner of the design on paper, and the author and the owner of the ink work on skin. Depending on the circumstances, the author of the idea, the author of the sketch, and the author of the ink design could be the body artist or the human canvas or both. In the same way, the owner of the idea, the owner, of the sketch on paper, and the owner of the ink on the skin could be the body artist, or the human canvas or both. Attribution of ownership and authorship of a tattoo is a very complex matter because the work of art is permanent; the canvas is human flesh, and there is “a clear distinction between a tattoo and the drawings, sketches, or other works of art upon which a tattoo is base” (Minahan, 2015, p. 1727).
For example, in the case of a Disney themed tattoo, The Walt Disney Company has a protected trademark on all the Disney images and characters. Thus, the body artist and the human canvas cannot copy, tattoo, print, publicize, or paint a Walt Disney
In conclusion, people have differing opinions about tattoos. "Tattoos: The Ultimate In Expression" is the better supported article
Tattoos have been around for quite some time now, and they have always been a symbol of belonging, cultural expression or for religion. These days, individuals choose to tattoo themselves because it is part of their lifestyle or personal image. While continuing to grow in popularity and becoming a lifestyle, people are facing issues with having visible tattoos in the workforce. Although it is a form of free expression, employers have a right to enforce certain rules about tattoos in their company because they have a public image to uphold. How you present yourself to the public is solely important, which is why tattoos should not be allowed to be seen in the workplace, since it may appear offensive or unconservative.
Traditionally, tattoos were meant for sailors, soldiers, bikers and gangs. Along with several changes in the industrialized and technological society of the twenty-first century, the standard for getting body modifications have altered as well. Everyday, people are willing to get permanently marked as an individual choice rather than the customarily perception of belonging to a certain group. Tattoo and piercing shops are not seen as “the backstreet” of the commercial civilization today, it is somewhat an expected sight in all public places. Josie Appleton in “The Body
The rising popularity of tattoos and body piercing is more than just the latest fashion craze. This type of body art has been a part of this world for thousands of years. Tattoos and piercings have served as amulets, status symbols, declarations of love, signs of religious beliefs, adornments and even forms of punishment (Smithsonian.com). In the later years (1940 – 2000) tattoos and piercings were more common among teenagers and young adults, but now, people of all ages are expressing themselves through body art. To try and understand this rise in the desire to permanently mark ones self, we must first determine the origin and history of tattoos and piercings.
Winston Churchill, President Theodore Roosevelt, and John Fetterman they all have something in common and that is tattoos. I am here to argue that tattoos can view as freedom of expression, strong Naval tradition, and more importantly no hindrance on job performance. The Marine Corps should have no restrictions on tattoos. Over the past 50 years’ tattoos have continued to grow in popularity, yet the Marine Corps wants to place restrictions on their service members; claiming their policy is design to help their service members to maintain a discipline appearance. It would be proven that tattoo is viewed as favorable by royalty and the elite.
On the most basic level, tattoos acted as a badge of social and cultural differentiation that separated the tattooed from the non-tattooed. On a deeper level, however, social and cultural homogeneity did not unite the tattooed, for the subject matter and aesthetic style of the tattoos created a fault-line that divided the classes. (Caplan, 2000, 148)
For as long as there have been people, there have been methods of distinction amongst them. Throughout the years we have discovered ways in which to express our beliefs, our ideals, and our passions. Tattooing has been one of forefront methods in expressing our humanity, or in certain cases, our lack there of. For so many, they have taken on many different representations, each with an equal level of significance. The importance found in the symbolism of tattoos and their cultural relevance has consistently been a trend found throughout history, religion, and art.
Tattooing in our world has become more common. Tattooing has become more common in the past decade, so it is not a surprise that my interviewee believes his tattoo is not as a social conflict. I began interviewing a friend of mine who is 22 years of age; he is a Caucasian, Christian, male who lives in the Boston area. He has lived all his life in the Boston area and moved to Ohio for school, but now he is currently in the medical field pursuing a job as a physician’s assistant. I want to focus on the age group that Alex is in and the medical field that he is pursuing and how he perceives this will affect him and how statistics believe this will affect him. I want to go more in depth with a religious aspect, due to the fact that my interviewee is a Christian. I want to understand the idea of tattoos from a Christian perspective, how does his religion agree with his body ink, and how does the meaning correlate to Christianity. Throughout my research, I want to understand the hatred of tattoos according to the older generation population. I want to understand the professional mindset of tattoos in the workplace according to the medical field.
The tattoo is a very old form of body modification, but in spite of that there is still a certain rejection towards those who carry them in a visible area of the body, for some it disfigures what has been created in the image and likeness of God while for others associates this with convicts or gang members mainly because they were one of the first groups to use tattoos to differentiate themselves from the rest of society. But also it is true that there is a very limited understanding about this corporal modification that could be one of the reasons why it can not be appreciated as for how it should be. However, modern society reflects the current popularity of tattooing because it has acquired an entirely artistic meaning to a social expression and a way of identity.
“The word tattoo is said to has two major derivations; from the polynesian word ‘ta’ which means striking something and the tahitian word ‘tatau’ which means ‘to mark something’.” (http://www.designboom.com/history/tattoo_history.html) Tattoos were discovered by a simple mistake. Someone got a bad gash and accidently rubbed it with their dirty hand with happened to have ash from a fire pit on it. When the wound healed completely, the skin grew over the ash and
Tattoos or markings of the skin have been recorded back to ancient egyptians. Symbols often seen for good luck or fertility were considered amulets to protect. Whether for or against, the proof is in the mummies. While the ‘Iceman’ that was discovered, his tattoos seemed to be more in the direction of a therapy to relieve pain. Today, tattoos are a regular sight in many different workplaces and religions, by the same token there will always be some people and some religions unwilling to accept the practice of decorating your body. Tattoos have been around for a millennium and most of their meanings are up to the receiver.
The purpose of tattooing has varied from culture to culture and its place on the time
Tattoos have been around for centuries, and were once used to identify various tribes, indicate social status, or sometimes they were a rite of passage to adulthood. As time passed to a more modern world, people donning tattoos were assumed to be either convicts, gang members, rock musicians, or rebellions of society and most were deemed of unsavory character. Now, with over 45 million American adults having at least one tattoo, the taboos have all but disappeared, and with today’s diversity, anywhere one might go, tattoos are seen on more and more people of all ages and races, no matter the gender and are globally accepted in most cultures. It is
What is it about tattoos that causes so much discomfort within western societies? Some of the first Europeans to get tattoos were sailors in the 18th century who explored the Polynesian islands, where many of the indigenous groups bore pictographic tattoos. In the United States, some of first professional tattoo shops were established for soldiers during the civil war (Waxman, 2017). These tattoos typically displayed icons associated with patriotism, others had tattoos of the names of their loved. Subsequently, in the year 1891, the first electric rotary tattoo machine was invented. Advancements in a certain technology typically reflects an increased demand for set technology; thus,
2006; Romans et al. 1998; Stirn et al. 2011). It then comes as no surprise that earlier methods of research have not only ignored the use of tattoos as practical expressions of identity construction, and focused on the negative traits connected with tattoos (Atkinson 2003; Kosut 2005; Sanders and Vail 2008), it was also wrongly assumed that reasons why people got tattoos were the same throughout history. Tattoos have involuntarily brought along with them methods of control for tattooed people through their very existence which has in turn formed methods and industries of dealing with and challenging such forms of control. We need to understand the changes in patterns of social meaning and perception of tattoos over time, before we can understand the roots of power and subversion. What cannot be ignored, is history of tattooing in the United States, it has altered and it has been changed over time to fit or resist our expectations of the times and places where it has been practiced. Since the first known tattoos, more than five thousand years ago, to the tattoos of today, there have been numerous different views