Tattoos: Fad, Fashion, or Folly?
From a tiny butterfly hiding behind a knee to an elaborate, multicolored, geometric design emblazoning muscular arms — tattoos are cropping up everywhere. Just take a look at some of the famous tattoo canvases. For instance, professional snowboarder Tara Dakides has a dragon tattooed on her left side and Cat-in-the-Hat adorns her right calf. The three Dixie Chicks have small chick footprints tattooed on their feet, and Whoopi Goldberg sports Woodstock from Peanuts on her skin. But it isn't just the famous who sport tattoos. Even some teachers, librarians, and other professionals proudly wear them. Is tattooing a passing fad? Or is it a fashion statement that's here to stay? And then there's the most important question of all: Is getting a tattoo a fashion mistake? Tattoo Time Line Although today's tattooing techniques are high-tech, the practice is ancient. Archaeological evidence from Europe indicates that tattooing was practiced in the Stone Age or upper Paleolithic period (35,000 to 10,000 B.C.). In 1991, the body of a hunter, estimated to be 5,300 years old, was discovered in the Austrian Alps. Called the "Iceman," the mummy was so well preserved that the tattoo of a cross on the inside of his knee was still visible. Fifty-seven other simple tattoos were found on his body. Mummies found in Egypt and archaeological discoveries in China, Russia, and Japan indicate that tattooing was widespread there 4,000 years ago. As people migrated, they carried the practice of tattooing with them. The modern history of tattooing and the word "tattoo" date to 1769 when Captain James Cook first saw tattooed South Sea islanders. In the Endeavor's ship log, Captain Cook wrote: "They stain their bodies by indenting or pricking the skin with a small instrument made of bone, cut into short teeth; which indenting they fill up with a dark-blue or black mixture prepared from the smoke [soot] of an oily nut. . . .This operation, which is called by the natives 'tattaw,' leaves an indelible mark on the skin. It is usually performed when they are about 10 or 12 years of age, and on different parts of the body." The Tahitian word "tattau," meaning "to mark," is the origin of the modern word, tattoo. Why Tattoo? Why do people as different as the Iceman, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and members of the Dixie Chicks get tattoos? The earliest people probably used tattooing as a means of expressing bereavement. When a member of their band died, they slashed themselves with sharp implements and rubbed ashes from a fire into their wounds. Permanent carbon deposits were left under their skin. Professor Konrad Spindler of Innsbruck University in Austria thinks that the Iceman's tattoos were applied to cure pain and other ailments. President Roosevelt's tattoo was a family crest. The Dixie Chicks' chick print tattoos reinforce the group's identity and are good publicity.
Katherine Krcmarik, a graduate art student at the University of Michigan, who recently compiled The History of Tattooing (www.msu.edu/~krcmaril/individual/history.html), says: "The practice of tattooing means different things in different cultures. In early practice, decoration appears to have been the most common motive for tattooing, and that still holds true today." Krcmarik points out that in some cultures tattoos had many purposes: to identify a wearer's rank in society, to mark special events in the wearer's life, to identify a person as belonging to a particular clan or family, or as evidence of a wearer's adventures. In 2002, Myrna L. Armstrong, a professor at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, surveyed 520 college students about their interests and attitudes toward tattooing. Ninety-seven of the students had tattoos. When asked why they got a tattoo, the most common answer was, "I just wanted one." Other answers included "To help me express myself and "To feel unique." Armstrong concluded that for many teens, getting a tattoo is a means of self-expression or a nonviolent form of rebellion. Tattooing also has been and continues to be used to mark people as inferior. In ancient Greece, tattooing was used to identify slaves. Romans marked criminals with tattoos. During World War II, one of the ways that Nazis dehumanized prisoners taken to Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration camp in Europe, was to tattoo a registration number on the arm of each person. By 1942, most of the people at Auschwitz were Jewish. Most were killed before the war's end. Although only used at Auschwitz, the arm tattoo has become a symbol of the horrors of the Holocaust. Today, neo-Nazis, racist skinheads, white supremacists, and others in the "hate" movement use symbols such as swastikas, Nazi "SS" thunderbolts, and ancient runes, tattooed on various parts of their bodies, to instill a sense of fear and insecurity in those around them. Acceptance into a "gang" usually requires the initiate to be tattooed with a symbol unique to that gang. Even if not involved in the gang's activities, a member tattooed with its symbol shares the gang's reputation. You Decide Tattooing is certainly not a fad, as it has been practiced for over 35,000 years. Today, over 40 million Americans (16 percent of the population) sport at least one tattoo. According to U. S. News and World Report, tattooing was the sixth fastest growing retail venture in the United States in the 1990s. So, is a tattoo for you? Getting even a tiny one is a BIG decision to make. Take the Tattoo Test above. Perhaps it will help you decide if a tattoo would be fashion or folly for you. Rune — A character in an alphabet, sometimes believed to have magic By Linda Bickerstaff Source: Odyssey, May2005, Vol. 14 Issue 5, p34, 3p