Tatt2008

Once the province of sailors and mercenaries, tattoos and other body markings are

now widespread not only amongst sub-cultures such as punks and Hells Angels but

also as a fashion statement amongst the younger generation. The sub-cultures are

viewed with distaste and suspicion, seen as threatening and uncouth whilst the

younger people see their body adornments as ‘cool’ and ultra fashionable. This

dichotomy and the associated blurring of boundaries can be seen as the beginning

of the legitimisation of the tattoo or it can be read as a further degeneration in the

moral climate of today’s youth.

There is a move to re-classify tattooing as socially acceptable, headed by the

practitioners of tattooing, who appear to be very aware of this dichotomy; some

advertise themselves as tattooists whilst others are self-styled tattoo artists with all

the related status that the word artist implies. Just as fashion itself was once used to

proclaim group membership, such as punks, rockers or hippies, now tattooing and

other means of marking the body are the ways of creating a highly visual identity.

The one thing that most tattooed people have in common is, ironically, another

dichotomy. They simultaneously see themselves as both different (ie individual) and

at the same time just like anyone else. As tattooed people rightly say, “The

difference between tattooed and non-tattooed people is that we don’t care if you’re

not tattooed”.