Cover
story Tattoos an ancient art
By ARTHUR JONES
NCR Staff
Theres certainly nothing new about being tattooed. The
Maoris and other Polynesians have done it since time immemorial; a
4,000-year-old mummy released by an Austrian glacier bore tattoos. Winston
Churchills American mother, Jenny (Lady Randolph Churchill) had a snake
tattooed as a bracelet around her wrist.
Imperial Europes 18th and 19th century sailors and soldiers,
seeing the world -- and seeing tattoos -- popularized tattooing. Tattooed
ladies began appearing as sideshow freaks. It has become an
eccentricity among the lower and criminal classes of the great cities,
intoned one 19th century writer.
About nine percent of young Americans have tattoos. The age at
which they get them drops every year, on average from 16 years in 1993 to 14
years today. One Texas study identifies being tattooed as another teenage
risk-taking behavior; about two-thirds of those tattooed are
males.
If having a tattoo erased gives the person a sense of being
free again, as Dominican Sr. June Wilkerson remarked, why do people get
tattoos?
Peer pressure, she replied. Often the young women tell
her their boyfriend was in the gang and told her she had to get one.
Thats one reason, another is wanting to be in.
A mark of courage in some societies, identification in others,
passing through puberty in some tribes, having religious significance in
others. The late 20th century United States was remarkable in seeing the
emergence of a new trend: Christian tattoo parlors.
Tattoos are meant to make a lasting impression. But as tattoo
removal centers become more prevalent, its obvious that for many people,
the impression isnt one people necessarily want to carry with them for
life.
National Catholic Reporter, April 27,
2001
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