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What Determines The Perception Of Tattoos?

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What determines the perception of tattoos?

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Cole Dante

Introduction College students walk amongst each other every day, eyes wandering and constantly comparing each other. Comparing the physical appearances, attire, and how they carry themselves. A main trend that has become popular over the years are tattoos. Tattoos have long been viewed as a part of the deviant culture but that perspective has been evolving where many perspectives are emerging regarding to the subject. For example, some may say that tattoos have been becoming a social norm, becoming a very normal day to day thing to see. Of course many still hold traditional beliefs that tattoos are deviant and that no good comes …show more content…

The stigma associated with tattoos are often viewed as deviant and frowned upon by people with long held religious beliefs. “Persons who have tattoos remain stigmatized as deviant people, and commonly are stereotyped as having poor decision-making skills, rarely attending church, easily swayed by peer-pressure, having had unhappy childhoods,

Getting tattooed while intoxicated, and as poor students and rebellious” (Armstrong, 1994, Braverman, 2012 and Roberts and Ryan, 2002). Some people with tattoos are well aware of the stigma with tattoos. King, Vidourek, Madfis, and Arford (2013) further mentions that older respondents report more experiences with stigma victimization and perceive greater stigma associated with tattoos because historically, tattooing is characterized as a deviant and negative expression. Perhaps the reasoning behind the negativity towards tattoos is because of the long relationship tattoos have had with prisoners. For example, Hanies and Huffman (1958) determined that 35% of inmates obtained tattoos. Stigma towards tattoos may have also caused harm towards the people being stigmatized. “We find that Beliefs about the Negative Side Effects of Tattoos is positively related to Stigma against Tattooed Persons” (Dickson, Lynda, Dukes,

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