Modern Day Reasoning For Tattoos

The earliest information shows Native American tattoos have many functions, like communication and identification. The tattoo’s extent indicated the individual’s social class and military achievement. From the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some ethnological studies declare a alteration toward impermanent face painting to end the symbolic role formerly indirected by tattoos. “During this time the formerly tattooed Yuchi, Creek, and Chickasaw used face painting to communicate membership in towns and societies.” However, after the mid-twentieth century, most traditional tattoo decoration and theirs meaning had been lost. Until the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, especially the cultural movements of the 1960s and 1970s, people restart to search their lost tradition, including

Body modifications have existed in our society for centuries and the way in which it is perceived has changed somewhat over the years. But certain stigmas still persists to this contemporary day. One such body modification is the act of inking or marking the skin: Tattooing. 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 diverse groups of people. But are the popular perceptions of tattoos out of synch with the true meaning behind them? This essay will explore the social and cultural practices of tattooing and the causal connection between the mind and the tattooed body. It will also explore why tattoos engender

When the Egyptians extended their empire, tattooing extended as well to civilizations such as Crete, Greece, Persia, and Arabia. Later on in 2000BC this form of body art also reached china. With almost every culture influencing the practice of tattoo’s, the concept ranged from medical purposes, branding slaves to even determining the coming out of women. Examples include:

For some people tattoos are being used as a known accessory, the reason on why do people make the decision to get them is hardly if ever even questioned. The pain, the stereotypes, and the misconceptions that are often associated with tattoos would pose the question as to why would you choose to get a tattoo. Tattoos can be personal and good way of expressing yourself. Most people, they are shown as different symbols that each have an equal level of significance. The essential of each tattoo have each found the symbolism of them, and their cultural relevance has consistently been a trend found throughout history, religion, and art.

Tattoos have been around since 3,000 B.C. The oldest discovery of a tattooed mummy was the “Iceman”. The frozen body was discovered by hikers in 1991. The tattoos discovered on the body had no specific drawing there were just straight lines and small crosses. This led to believed that tattooing was used as a therapeutic to relieve pain. The Egyptians hold the true claim to fame regarding tattoos. It was common practice for Egyptian women of high status to received tattoos for the same sort of therapeutic reasons. “Tattooing of ancient Egyptian women had a therapeutic role and function as a permanent form of amulet during the very difficult time of pregnancy and birth” (Line berry 2).

When everyone looks and acts remotely the same, people end up losing their individual identity. When people feel like they are losing their individuality, they try to find ways to redefine their uniqueness in society. One of the more efficient and permanent ways of self-identification is by giving yourself a tattoo. Tiffany Cross studied this ideal of self-identification in her article, Stigmatization or Decoration: Tattoo as Deviance, a Cross-Cultural Study, where she says that, “the tattoo historically has been that symbol of rebellion, and here we see the tattoo emerging as a symbol of values and beliefs anew. The individual establishes his or her independence because the tattoo as a symbol is still enough to visually separate oneself from society at large” (Cross 20). Most of the time, tattoos are very meaningful, and hold some sort of value for the person who has them. By having a meaningful design constantly a part of you, people have essentially rediscovered themselves. Tattoos can also act as symbols of memories or influential experiences for a person. They are a constant reminder of an event that someone wants to feel and reminisce in every day of their lives. Tattoos can definitely have a large underlying meaning for the people who get

Throughout history tattooing has served many purposes. The earliest evidence of tattooing was found in 1991 in the mountains of Austria. An Iceman was found, his bones dated back to 3,300 B.C. which is over 5300 years ago. His skin had signs of blue tattoos. The scientists did not understand the reasons for his tattoos, but counted fifty-eight in total. (Wiman-Rudzinski, 2002)

From the Stone Age to the present day, the symbols and traditions of tattooing throughout history are fascinating.

The history of tattooing date back to the first man, Otzi, in 3300 B.C. who was found frozen in the Alps (Nat-A-Tat2) and the history piercing date back to different primitive tribes for their beliefs (Tribu). Scientists say that the tattoos he had were for medical reasons. When they found his body, they took X-rays and where there were tattoos was where his bones had started to decay. His tattoos were on his back, knees, ankles, and feet. The ink used on his tattoos was made of powdered charcoal and rubbing it into his cut skin. Many ancient civilizations did tattoos and piercings for example the Egyptians, Greeks, Japanese, Arabian and Siberians. Many mummies have been found with tattoos and are the oldest bodies to be found with gauged or stretched earlobes (Tibu). The Egyptians were also the ones who brought tattooing to Greece and to Arabia (Nat-A-Tat2). In Japan, tattoos were used for beauty, beliefs “and to mark criminals” (Nat-A-Tat2).

Different people have different reasons for tattoos. A tattoo could signify anything to its owner. The owner may also get a tattoo that seems to be an odd representation of what is signifies.

The oldest physical body in existence is the “frozen remains of the Copper Age "Iceman" scientists have named Ötzi” (Magazine) has the oldest tattoos that have ever been preserved. Scientists went and x-rayed his body, and found that everywhere he had a

Answer 1: Many people choose to get tattoos for multiple reasons and while these individuals view it on a personal level, sociologist understand there are trends and outside influences involved when it comes to “getting inked”. According to Kang and Jones, individuals get tattoos as it allows them to define who they are, gain a sense of belonging, and identify with their own personal struggles (42). As teenagers and young adults go out into the world they often have a desire to control their own life and make their own choices. They may wish to express themselves in a permanent, artistic way, that gives them a sense of freedom. For others tattooing connects them with a group they feel attached to. For example, neo-primitives typically cover their whole bodies in artistic tattoos and consider it a way of connecting with the past and yourself spiritually (45). On a more common level, individuals will get a tattoo of a sports team they played on, or a symbol that belongs to their culture or religion. Their tattoos will remind them of who they are and what truly matters to them. Lastly, some choose to get tattoos because they’ve overcome a deep personal battle. It varies from cancer survivors, to veterans, or even those who have dealt with self-harm. Understandably, there are numerous social reason why individuals decide to obtain a tattoo.

bear ‘skin art.' This has not always been the case. The introduction of tattoos into

Rose’s main claim, that tattooing should be recognized as a form of self expression, is a claim of value. The warrant of this argument is that self expression is important and positive. She states that “the right to tattoo is part and parcel of our right to artistic expression” (Rose 37). She backs this up by giving examples of how tattooing has been seen in cultures all over the world and at different times. She explains that “tattooed mummies” have been discovered in numerous places across the globe, and tattoos have been found on a five thousand year old man’s body (Rose 37). The presence of body art going back thousands of

People have been etching tattoos into their skin since the beginning of time. The first known tattoo, of a mustache, was discovered on a South American mummy from 6,000 B.C. However, the 1991 discovery of the "Iceman" in the Alps, whose corpse dates back about 5,300 years, revealed tattoos that were used for a different purpose. “Eighty-five percent of his tattoos line up with acupuncture points — so the tattoos were used for medicinal purposes, he appeared to have terrible arthritis. [The tattoos were] so dark, they seemed to be repeated applications and some of them he could not reach on his own,” notes Krutak.