Andre Martin’s essay, “On Teenagers and Tattoos” discusses the cons of tattoos and piercings on teenagers. Although valid points are made, he views tattoos as a whole, as mutilations and cries for attention. He addresses how tattoos are a form of identity and ownership, as well as a permanent marking upon the body. The individual is in complete control and it gives teenagers the sense of stability that they long for. While valid points, Martin seems to look past the reason why a majority of adolescents get tattoos: for the enjoyment of them. Tattoos can often tell a lot about someone. They are permanent and can create an everlasting bond between the art and the individual getting it.…
In Andre’ Martin’s (2012) article, “On Teenagers and Tattoos”, he discusses the different reasons as to why adolescents would choose self expression by obtaining a tattoo or a piercing and how society views them, as well as how they view themselves. Martin deliberates many diverse reasons as to why teenagers choose to utilize their body as a canvas for art forms, or whether or not they are in a state of ignorance due to rebellion and self-acceptance. Martin conveys many innumerable reasons in this article concentrating on an individual’s right to express them as they see fit. Some teens tattoo or pierce themselves simply due to acceptance from acquaintances, others just to rebel against society.…
Expressions portrayed through body art in today’s society are becoming continuously more acceptable. However, not all agree to what extent of body modification is acceptable or where it is acceptable in today’s society. In fact, “According to career publisher Vault.com’s (www.vault.com) new Tattoo and Body Piercing Survey, 85 percent of survey respondents believe that tattoos and body piercings impede your chances of finding a job (OfficeSolutions, 2007). However, there does not seem to be any rhyme or reason culturally. According to a survey completed by American Demographics “When it comes to gender and race, body art appears to be an equal opportunity phenomenon. For example, 13 percent of men have or have had a tattoo or body piercing, compared with 18 percent of women. Similarly, Whites (18 percent), Blacks (16 percent), and Hispanics (14 percent) are almost equally likely to have embellished their birthday suits” (American Demographics, 2001). An individual’s age group is…
Body piercing among contemporary youth represents the latest form of rebelling against authority that previous generations manifested in smoking, getting tattoos, and wearing mini-skirts.…
Many people see the body as a blank canvas to decorate. Tattoos are important to anthropology because so many cultures have adopted the practice and made it their own. We are now living in a world with a rapid pace of growth and many societies becoming more global. With each day of globalization people die and the stories their tattoos tell die with them also. Today, there are many studies that look at how tattoos have gone from being deviant to mainstream. This popularization of acceptance can be contributed to the massive amounts of celebrities and role models with them and the…
Tattoos for the longest time have been considered taboo, and for the most part the only people you would see with them would be bikers, gang members and generally thought of as outcasts of the general public. That is changing, and changing fast. Tattoos are becoming more mainstream, and accepted. The reasoning for getting a tattoo varies from person to person, and is something that has been going on since the prehistoric times. The meaning behind a tattoo also varies from tattoo to tattoo and with the person. A person can get a tattoo to represent a change in life, or to show love or respect for another person. A tattoo can also represent different qualities of a person as well. There are a lot of different types of tattoos from abstract, natural, dedication, simple and complex.…
In today’s society, people have many ways of expressing themselves. From the clothes they wear to the activities they partake in. These different things all make up who you want to represent yourself as. One type of self expression is a bit different than these normal ways. This particular type of self expression is called body modification. Body modification is a process where you change your body somehow by modifying a part of it. Some of the different types of body modification are piercing (the act of piercing your skin to adorn a type of decoration to your body. Popular ones are lip, nose, belly-button, ear, eyebrow, and septum piercings), gauging (the act of stretching your ear lobes to unnatural proportions), implants (no, not that kind. These implants involve getting your skin cut open and having a small synthetic material piece inserted into the cut. This piece is usually shaped in some odd fashion to create a 3D effect on the skin), scarification (this one is a bit gruesome. With this one, a design is etched into the skin and then the design is cut into the skin and gouged out, leaving a designer scar.), etc.…
For millennia, men and woman have permanently marked their bodies by applying simple or complex designs with ink. It started as an ancient cultural tradition, then a mark of dangerous associations, or a sign of rebellion. Nowadays tattoos have become a popular and commercialized body modifications. Many are the reasons why people decided and still go through a painful and permanent procedure to mark their bodies. In ancient times, tattoos were applied for medical or religious reasons, in modern era can be considered a rebellious act, a way to proof our own individuality, or to perpetuate a moment or a person in our lives.…
In his article “On Teenagers and Tattoos”, Dr. Andres Martin argued that, teenagers tend to get tattoos and piercings to seek group affiliation. Although families of the adolescent are usually against these body decorations of irreversible nature, studying more about why and how teenagers wear them can be an effective approach to learn more about teenagers.…
Secondly, tattoos and piercings in today’s times don’t symbolize what they used to. In your grandparents time, or maybe even your parents time, if you had a tattoo you obviously were a…
Throughout society tattoos and body piercings are often seen as dirty, irresponsible, and disgusting. The “fact that tattoos were once reserved only…
Marking and altering the body is the ultimate form of self-expression and tattoos are a relatively cheap and creative way to tell the world who you are and what you believe. Tattoos are a way of expressing individuality or of showing solidarity with another person, group or idea.…
The most widespread way of self expression is body modification. Body Modification can be catalogued as anything from clipping your finger nails to plastic surgery, and everything in between. One of the more popular ways of expressing who you are through modifying your body is by getting tattooed. In the past, tattoos were commonly thought of as trash or bad. One would often relate them to bikers, rock and heavy metal stars, pirates or gangsters. That perception has considerably changed over the years.…
Many people today get tattoos for different reasons, some being for their own personal reasons, and some being for the cultural and social prospectus around them. Men, women, and even young people today have different types of tattoos that have many different meanings. Miliann Kang and Katherine Jones write about different people and their tattoos. For young people, a general reason for getting a tattoo is because, in a sense, it is a rite of passage for them. Young people want to set themselves apart and assert independence from other young people. Some get tattoos just to show their rebellion against authority figures while others have tattoos to show their own definition of maturity and autonomy. Some people who do not have tattoos say that tattoos are trashy or they are stupid. This is an example of stigma, which is a discrediting attribute of disgrace that leads others to see us as untrustworthy, incompetent, or somehow tainted. I believe that if a person wants to get a tattoo, then let them get a tattoo; this is a free country after all.…
Body piercing and tattoos are a great form of artwork to the world. People get tattoos and piercings because it is a type of style that some people just want to have and it pleases there type of style. People get piercings and tattoos in places you will never imagine. Tattoos and piercings are like an extra piece of clothing or a style that people have like in the summer time. In the summer time in New York City people are amazed by tattoos it’s cool to have your ears pierced or have a tattoo. Some reasons people get piercings are to fit in with a certain group they hang out with daily, also they get it because they love jewelry, and I know some males who got piercings to impress ladies because some females like boys with piercings. Tattoos and piercings are really starting to become a lot more popular in today’s world and a lot more people are starting to get them and if you don’t have one it’s like you’re the weird one in the group you hang with. The artwork is so amazing and people become obsessed with the artwork and they just feel the need to have the art on their body. My beliefs on tattoos are that God doesn’t want our body marked all up so he doesn’t want us to damage our body. I did a survey around some of the football players on the team and I asked them why did they get tattoos? Everyone of them I asked said they either got one because the lost of a loved one then after the first tattoo they fell in love with the art and felt the need to have more art on their body.…