Posted by Gabrielle Kirk,
ATLANTA, GA -- In this city it seems like the majority of men and women in
their 20s and even younger than that have one or two tattoos. Most ‘tatted up’
folks I know in this demographic think of their few tattoos as simple body
adornments – not that different from wearing some kind of jewelry. I know there
has been a subgroup of young people getting tattoos going at least back to the
late 1980s and early 1990s, but I think there has been a generational shift
since then in that the basic life-long expression of a tattoo has been
normalized. In other words, I don’t think of it as a subculture anymore because
it’s so common. Sure, having your entire body ‘tatted up’ will raise eyebrows
across most age groups, but one or two seem commonplace now. Even a few of my
professors have one.
I believe that this new found
appreciation for body art is a reflection of American culture becoming more and
more self-expressive. A tattoo allows one to display something important to
them for everyone to see – in other words it’s a from of self-expression. This is different from the past where tattoos
were seen as rites of passage or something sailors, puck rockers, grungers, or
heavy metalers did.
Of course there are limits. Most people with a
few tattoos have them in places where they can cover them up with clothes. This
is because if you work in corporate American you better be able to hide them. Free
expression in this working environment is left for the weekend. Who knows what
the future will bring but for now getting a few tattoos while you’re in college
is a new normal.
Gabrielle Kirk is Sociology major at Georgia State
University. She can be reached at gabrielle_kirk@yahoo.com.