We were watching a reality show on TV the other night and it seems like everyone on the show had multiple tattoos. Tattoos certainly have become more popular lately. I guess the new term for tattoos is “getting inked,” but I just wonder exactly when — and why — did tattoos become so popular.
I figured this would be a great topic for some of my extensive research, but it turns out I just got more confused the further I dug into the subject. I couldn’t come up with who got the first tattoo, or when they got it, but it seems like tattoos have been around for at least 5000 years. Most “experts” agree that tattoos date back to at least the latter part of the Stone Age. Back then tattooing was practiced for various reasons like religious ceremonies or a rite of passage.
When I was growing up, tattoos were not a good thing — there was a stigma attached to them. I think my parents, and most people that lived in Maysville, Oklahoma would have thought anyone that had a tattoo was a “bad person.” I’m not sure why tattoos were considered a bad thing, or a badge of shame, but maybe some of it had to do with religion. All the churches in Maysville were protestant and I think they all had some sort of an ethic about “purity of body.” Also a lot of criminals were portrayed with tattoos. And, on top of that, the Nazis use of tattoos during World War II to put numbers on bodies for bureaucratic record-keeping was well known.
Some people today see tattoos as a act of rebellion against society and I’m sure that’s true in some cases but it’s probably only one of the many reason why people have them.
Of course tattoos weren’t always considered to be bad — my extensive research found out that as early at the late 1800s, a tattoo shop was located on Jermyn Street in London (the heart of the high-end fashion district.) And both Winston Churchill and his mother both had tattoos.
I suppose tattooing has become popular lately because more and more celebrities, athletes, and other famous people have them. That trend seems to have started in the 1970s — before then people with tattoos were considered to be someone with a criminal, or at least, a shady past. Today, advocates of tattoos consider them to be a tool of self-expression.
While my extensive research didn’t achieve its original goal, It did find a few interesting things about tattoos….
Hepatitis was a big problem after the Second World War and many places banned tattooing.
The most effective way to remove a tattoo is laser removal.
Ancient Greeks and Romans tattooed their slaves and criminals so they were easier to identify if they escaped.
If the ink used in a tattoo contains metal, it may become hot during an MRI.
The earliest tattoo inks were made of carbon and ash.
Today, at least one fifth of the adults in the United States has at least one tattoo.
The word Tattoo is believed to have originated from the Samoan word tatau.
Tattoos have obviously gained social acceptance, so if you want to decorate your body with some art, you don’t have to fear being branded a criminal.
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