Persuasive Essay Tattoos

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.

My senior project was over the History of Tattooing, I chose this as my topic because Tattoos really interest me with all the different styles and meanings behind them. Some things I already knew about Tattooing is a lot of tribes used tattoos to symbolize things, but I didn’t know what.

In a recent Fox News poll, an astounding one in five voters in America admitted to having at least one tattoo (Blanton, 2014). Body art has become increasingly popular over the past several years among a wide range of individuals. With so much attention on tattoos, it is a wonder how and when tattooing began. However, no one really knows for certain when tattooing began, or how it began for that matter. The belief is that tattooing began “at least by 3300 BCE. That is how far back anthropologists have dated an iceman named Otzi, who was discovered in the Alps between Austria and Italy in 1991” (Nagle, 2009). Though anthropologists have an idea of when tattooing began, there is no evidence as to how the first tattoo was created.

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

Young people these days get tattoos mostly on what they believe whether the environment say it is right to be or not. This is their skin and their tattoo, they do not need others’ opinions. This is like a public announcement that they like to be different and unique depending on how they feel inside individually. Even though tattoos can be removed, they like to assume tattooing as one of the adventuresome cases as they will not be going to remove it or regret it till the last breath, let it be

The oldest tattooing culture began with the Native American groups from the southeastern United States (Deter-Wolf and Diaz-Granados, 2013). The earliest information shows Native American tattoos have many functions, like communication

line. But there are similarities that prevail form the earliest known tattoos to those being

According to the Statistics Brain Research Institute, “the annual amount of U.S. spending on tattoos in 2016 so far has been 1,6500,500,000 dollars.” (Statisticbrain.com) So, now I ask are tattoos popular? Of course they are. That’s a lot of money to be spending on something that will be on your body for the rest of your life, but it is not a bad thing. Tattoos have a different meaning to every person. There are a lot of reasons why people get tattoos, and ultimately they have become popular because people identify themselves with them, they tattoo achievements, and because of gangs related reasons.

In the world there is a small renegade group that attaches themselves to the world of body art. In this world of body art one of the most ancient and widely practiced of these is the art of tattooing. This art form may very well be as old as the pyramids themselves if not predating the great structures as we know them. There is not a single culture that rest on the planet that does not indulge in this practice for one reason or another. Often times the views on this art form are very extreme ranging from distain to adoration. Tattooing is a body art heritage that acts as a cultural connection to our deepest roots as people.

In Africa, they have a very unique way of “tattooing” they cut the skin and basically stuff the cut with sand or soot so it will leave a raised area. This is also known as scarification. Body art was a big thing for the Celts. They used woad to create long-lasting art. For many Native Americans tattoos were used to show who the top warriors were. The women had tattoos on their chins to

What used to be the property of sailors, outlaw and rock star is now become a popular body decoration for many people. It’s not just anchors, skulls, and spider web anymore, people have found plenty ways to express themselves with their tattoo. You might be thinking to get your first one, but fear of the unknown can sometimes hold you back from it. The best thing you can do is educate yourself about the process how the human skin is transformed into a beautiful work of art.

Going along with what you said about tattoos becoming more popular each day, our textbook says that one in three college students have one or more tattoos (Tortora). I would guess that this number is quite higher than it used to be. The ink that is deposited into the dermis layer of the skin moves at a fast rate of 50 to 3000 times a minute. The dermis layer is deeper than the epidermis, making it more stable. It is more stable because the epidermis sheds about every four to six weeks (Tortora).

Tattoos used to be a trend among the ancient Egyptians as a type of “ritual” marking. Many women were tattooed among their body with lines and dots. Sharp bone and clay is believed to be the tools used to engrave the woman with these tattoos. During this time period many slaves were also tattooed as a symbol of who they were. "Tattoos of the Egyptian World."

According to the Harris poll, one out of five adults have a tattoo. People get tattoos for the following reasons: to promote their identity, remind them of their religion, and show how much significant their love ones is to them. A person often publicize their identification by inking their family names; for instance, a girl tattooing her last name on the back of her neck. This shows that the girl is proud of who she is and where came from; the girl is glad for the fact that she is a part of this family. Another exposition why people get tattoos is to prompt devotion to their beliefs and or spirits; such as, a man tattooing a wing with texts saying, “only God can judge me” on his front right side chest. By designing this mark, this illustrates

When studying the history of tattoos, pinpointing the first time a tattoo was seen was almost impossible to do until 1991. An Iceman, named Otzi, was found by German hikers in 1991. Otzi was found covered with at least 57 tattoos (Huffington Post). This is to show that tattoos have been around for more than fifty-three hundred years. Otzi’s tattoos were discovered to be therapeutic and they consisted of lines and crosses all over the body. The next oldest tattoos were found on the Chinchorro mummy. Chinchorro’s tattoos consisted of symbols and drawings, and were found to be decorative only. It is more than remarkable that even after 53 hundred years, similar designs, symbols, and drawings are still used to mark our skin. These findings