Preview

Essay about Tattooing as a trend in popular culture.

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1319 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Essay about Tattooing as a trend in popular culture.
Tattoos and tattooing are taking on an increasingly larger, more visible role in today's mainstream pop culture. Now you see all kinds of tattooed celebrities, rock stars, movie stars, sports stars and even the elite super models proudly displaying their body art.

Tattoos have been a part of people's lives for many years now. To most people living in South Africa, tattoos are a normal thing, however there are many people with opposing opinions.

It's impossible to walk through a mall for more than a couple of minutes without spotting people of all ages with tattoos. Tattoos come in all shapes and sizes, and they can appear almost anywhere on someone's body. Permanent cosmetic studios also tattoo on eyebrows, eyeliner and lip liner for those who want their makeup to be permanent. In these cases, you may not even know that you are looking at a tattoo!

Tattoos have steadily gained popularity in the last decade, getting tattoos is now a trend that shows little sign of slowing down. Tattoos can show that your in a group, whether it's a tribal marking, gang signs or a family crest. But there are many other reasons why people get tattoos.

One of the main reasons tattoos have grown so rapidly in modern society, it the fact of how the are being advertised. People look up to the celebrities, rock stars, movie stars, sports stars and super models mentioned earlier. They see them with tattoos and think it would be "cool" if they too had tattoos, so the go out and get tattoos to try make themselves as "cool" as the celebrities.

Angelina Jolie receiving a tattoo.

The most popular tattooed female celebrity in the world today is Angelina Jolie. This actress, who has stunning good looks, has over a dozen tattoos, and still has plans for new ones. Her tattoos as she says, are "a reflection of her personality, exotic and with more than just a hint of dangerous sensuality". Angelina Jolie has made the tribal dragon one of the most popular tattoos for women. Angelina Jolie has

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Scared To Death Summary

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Ed Yong's article, "Scared to Death", describes how returning wolves to Yellowstone affected the elk population's patterns and behaviors. Many people believe that the fear of being eaten is what drives animals away. However, this theory is not completely true. The Yellowstone elk population was thriving, but the wolves' return impacted it on many different levels.…

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    A tattoo is the permanent insertion of ink or other pigments below the skin using a sharp instrument, as a form of decorative form of body modification. The word tattoo is derived from the Tahitian term "tatua," which means "to mark.”…

    • 1918 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Tattoos can be a way of identifying a tribe, or can represent someone’s status, and can serve as protection for superstitious cultures. Tattoos have different meaning for different people, for example, Otzi, his tattoos could have been meant as therapeutic rather than symbolic.…

    • 73 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Let’s start by picking your brain for a moment. If I were to ask you what your opinions were towards tattooing, what would your answer be? You may be surprised to know that within our society today, regardless of what your answer was, we could assume that people are divided based on each alternating view of tattoos. Some bring a more stereotypical view in that tattoos may pose a negative factor when trying to land that perfect job. Perhaps that it may symbolize that they are part of a gang, a “biker” if you will, maybe a criminal or part of a lower class in society? (Proehl 2004) Tattooing may also instill fear…

    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Era Of Tattoos Summary

    • 1064 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Tattoos are a permanent mark on the body, something that I think anyone thinking about getting a tattoo should put some serious thought into. What I’m saying is that I think tattoos should have a deep meaning to the person getting them. In other words don’t think of a tattoos as an accessory, think of a tattoo as something that you can never get rid of after you get it.…

    • 1064 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tattooing Research Paper

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Tattooing is one of many art forms that has been practiced from thousands of years. It has evolved from its start, from crude methods to more advanced ones. Tattooing has become more symbolic and meaningful, and more common. Many people around the world have at least once tattoo but, it was not always this way, tattoos used to be only for kings and queens or those of importance.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Annotated Bibliography

    • 3893 Words
    • 16 Pages

    Many people see the body as a blank canvas to decorate. Tattoos are important to anthropology because so many cultures have adopted the practice and made it their own. We are now living in a world with a rapid pace of growth and many societies becoming more global. With each day of globalization people die and the stories their tattoos tell die with them also. Today, there are many studies that look at how tattoos have gone from being deviant to mainstream. This popularization of acceptance can be contributed to the massive amounts of celebrities and role models with them and the…

    • 3893 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tattoos in the Workplace

    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages

    There is always a lot of controversy when it comes to tattoos. Most people instantly have an opinion of them; they are either for or against tattoos. What is not realized is the fact that there is a ton of time and effort put into the sketching and placement of a tattoo. People tattoo themselves as a way of self-expression and liberation.…

    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tattoos In Society

    • 1636 Words
    • 7 Pages

    A tattoo is a form of body modification. Tattoos are created by inserting ink or some other pigment through the epidermis into the dermis through the use of a needle .Tattoos usually express the meaning about the wearer and his or her place within the social group. Tattooing is one of the biggest and universal forms of body art which have been around for decades. Americans today are more of a private statement than public sign. Women tend to get smaller tattoos in private spots. Tattoos in United States have traveled a long way .In our global world tattoo designs and repeating ideas have more quickly and easily came across cultural borders.…

    • 1636 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tattoos for the longest time have been considered taboo, and for the most part the only people you would see with them would be bikers, gang members and generally thought of as outcasts of the general public. That is changing, and changing fast. Tattoos are becoming more mainstream, and accepted. The reasoning for getting a tattoo varies from person to person, and is something that has been going on since the prehistoric times. The meaning behind a tattoo also varies from tattoo to tattoo and with the person. A person can get a tattoo to represent a change in life, or to show love or respect for another person. A tattoo can also represent different qualities of a person as well. There are a lot of different types of tattoos from abstract, natural, dedication, simple and complex.…

    • 944 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Stars, angels, and tribal tattoos are just a few of the most popular types of tattoos around today. Placement of tattoos varies from one person to the next. Placement can range from the arm to the leg, even the back is a recent favorite place. Tattoos have become a way for people to express themselves with out saying a word. Tattoos are so popular that one in 10 Americans has a tattoo, compared with one in 100 just three decades earlier. At one time tattoos were reserved for the biker, the rebellious child or the hell raiser, but today that is not the case. Now more people from doctors to stay-at-home parents have tattoos. Now many people in American with tattoos. When one goes to the office, that person in the next cubicle probably has one that no one ever knew about. As tattoos grow into the workplace norm, the problem is that even though not all employers are accepting of visible tattoos on their employees, many companies are adjusting their dress code to address them because tattoos have become more mainstream in today’s society.…

    • 1622 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tattooing in Religion

    • 3127 Words
    • 13 Pages

    One of the most popular body modifications is tattooing. Tattoos are a way of expressing yourself in a more artistic way. Any image, symbol, word, etc, you could ever want can be tattooed onto your body. The process of tattooing starts “by injecting ink into a person 's skin. To do this, they use an electrically powered tattoo machine that resembles (and sounds like) a dental drill. The machine moves a solid needle up and down to puncture the skin between 50 and 3,000 times per minute. The needle penetrates the skin by about a millimeter and deposits a drop of insoluble ink into the skin with each puncture.” (Wilson, 2000) This process leaves an almost permanent image on your skin. I say almost permanent because with the technology of today, there are ways to get tattoos removed (laser tattoo removal) or to fade…

    • 3127 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    tattoo paper research

    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Tattoos have been around since ancient Egypt and have also been discovered on "the iceman" from millions of years ago. So why all the talk today about the tattoo culture and its effects on our society? Some nations of the world still sees tattooing as a family and cultural tradition. Children are tattooed as a right of passage. In America, we feel it is an expression of who we are as a person. With this self expression comes positive and negative feedback from other members of our society.…

    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Discrimination of Tattoos

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Tattoos have been around for a long time, and in today’s society they are considered unacceptable. We judge people with tattoos as thugs, people involved in gangs, or unprofessional. “The gang culture of the 1980s--its symbols, slang, tattoos, clothing style, hand signals and music--has trickled down to the next generation and into many suburbs” (Teen Gangs and Crime). Tattoos should not be something that people judge. Businesses discriminate people with tattoos most often. The workplace should allow tattoos unless they are disrespectful, as in knifes, skulls, and weapons. Tattoos are a way to express art, express someone’s heritage, and can be a way to remember special occasions.…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    New School Tattoos

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Close your eyes and think of what you envision when you hear the word tattoo. There are many different ways of describing them. Some call it body art, some call it body designs, but truly it does not matter. There are several very different classifications of tattoos. Some of the various classifications consist of Old School, New School, Tribal, Celtic, Biomechanical, and Typographic tattoos. Each of these classifications are unique in their own way and different from the others in most aspects. It will be easier to identify which classification your tattoo, if you have any, falls under once hearing a thorough description of what each classification pertains to. The classifications of the tattoos also may hold a meaning to the person who holds…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays