The tattoo is an incredibly diverse form of body art. Today, in 2011, there are infinite designs of tattoo available; in fact, the possibilities are endless. Tattoos can provide a form of expression, a sense of identity, or simply a picture of beauty. However, despite their versatility, people who wear them are faced with a great deal of prejudice. This prejudice dates back to when tattoos were worn, almost exclusively, by less salubrious members of society. The prejudice is lifting slowly, but there is still a long way to go.
The negative associations with body art of this kind goes back many years and, as with most deeply rooted prejudices, they can be hard to shift. Even as recently as fifty years ago, tattoos were associated with certain subcultures. In such subcultures, the tattoos tended to be used to make people look intimidating. For example, hells angels often had the words ‘love’ and ‘hate’ tattooed across their knuckles. Another example is football hooligans, which displayed tattoos relating to their choice of football team in order to intimidate supporters of other teams.
Historically, street gangs have been associated with tattoos and, furthermore, this fact still exists today. Many dangerous gangs around the world distinguish their members by specific tattoos, often on their faces.
When such examples of people who wear tattoos are remembered, it is easy to see how prejudices towards body art were formed in mainstream society. Additionally, the tattoos worn by such insalubrious groups were generally unpleasant images, such as thorns, sculls, knives etc. Fifty years ago, tattoos weren’t considered beautiful and were not of traditionally beautiful images. Of course, nowadays, tattoos are far more diverse. Artworks depicting things of beauty such as butterflies, flowers and rainbows are common today.
Another element of tattoos that has changed over time is who has them. In the times when tattoos were being dominated by violent gang members, they were generally only worn by men. Tattoos were considered very painful and therefore only the toughest men had them done. This, in itself, made having a tattoo a status symbol of toughness. However, as women started to have tattoos done, men were suddenly unequipped to declare themselves ‘hard’ for having a tattoo.
Celebrities have also led trends within the world of body art. Originally, only fearsome looking rock stars donned tattoos, but in more recent times mainstream celebrities such as Cheryl Cole are having them done. This shift in celebrity tattoos has resulted in the public viewing them in a more mainstream way accordingly. As the images of the body art are becoming more attractive, both in appearance and in stigma, the prejudices towards tattoos as a whole are starting to lift. However, this has been a slow process.
Tattoos are, to many people, a way of carrying a piece of art around with them. To others, they are a form of expression, or even a tribute to a loved one, alive or dead. For example, some married couples tattoo the names of their spouses onto their bodies, as a declaration of everlasting love. This use of body art is a stark contrast with the gang member’s symbol, or the hell’s angel fighting words. There is still a certain degree of prejudice towards people who wear tattoos. However, this is changing and will continue to change into the future.
