Preview

Evolution Of Women S Tattoos

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3329 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Evolution Of Women S Tattoos
Nicole Pannella
Inscribed to the body but shadowed by judgments
Works of art inscribed into the body, ranging from a black and white scale to the vivacious colors of life, symbols or sayings of all meanings, full of connotation, or perhaps simply just a cool design that appeals to the human eye; what am I talking about? Tattoos. It may appear more recently that this type of body modification is a new “normal” in our society, when really the ideas of tattoos date back to the days of ancient female mummies. A movement of tattoos occurred in the United States when the first woman to be tattooed displayed her body commercially. There was an era when people paid to see women covered in tattoos, days in age when women with ink were part of the freak show at a circus. Now we see women of all ages with tattoos today as a commonality. What has gone from taboo is now mainstream. Although body ink is becoming increasingly more socially acceptable, tattoos will always still hold those distasteful stereotypes that flood individual’s minds when they see a tatted up woman. I can attest to this as my parents were not the happiest of people when they found out I had gotten a tattoo within the first two weeks of college; classic. These opinions formulated by the misjudging, about women with tattoos, have ranged from seeing the inked as protectors of children, freaks, uncivilized, sluts, heavy drinkers, and unprofessional. These stereotypes are fading though. Although in some cases the tattooed woman is still scrutinized and negatively perceived, the general population today is evolving to be more open-minded towards the idea of the human canvas, which is how it should be.
Flashback to c. 2000 B.C. in ancient Egypt. Bodies preserved in a wrapping, some with traces of ink, only left to help unroll the story and evolution of tattoos. Researchers of the British Museum utilized a computed tomography to further examine the reminisce of a tattoo found on the body on a female ancient

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    During the commencement of the essay the author’s objective seems to be to apprise the reader of the history of tattoos. I believe the author does a very good job of informing the reading audience of how our society deem tattooing as a misfit’s act. The essay also includes very insightful information regarding how people stereotype tattoos as a sign of a person with an unstable background. The information presented raises a few great questions, “Why, with these preconceived stereotypes do people still choose ink when it may contradict who they are as a person, what they may represent and why they have chosen to tattoo their body?” The essay also has a very interesting statistic. In America 40 million more people has at least one or more tattoos then in 1936. The information in this essay gives great insight about tattoos and the increase in popularity. The author did very good research, which helps inform the reader with valuable knowledge about the history of tattooing, the stigma behind it and the growing increase of popularity. I really like the author’s explanation of tattoo popularity in today’s society. It’s definitely a fact the majority of entertainers, models, and…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Each day tattoo artist are tattooing more and more people. Tattoos have become a normal sight to see on anyone. In today’s society, many citizens think badly of people with ink. It is becoming harder to obtain jobs because the business industry tends to judge tattoos as unprofessional. Honestly, it is not any different than someone expressing themselves with a hairstyle, or clothing choice. Some of the best employees could be looked over due to the ink on their skin. A person’s skin does not define their working abilities, nor does it define their education. Many people categorize tattooed people as delinquents; However, having a tattoo does not define a person’s work ability.…

    • 737 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since the dawn of the first tattoo, there has been a cloud of judgment hanging over the tattoo scene. In the early days, only the wealthy could afford one; however, that all changed with the invention of the electric tattooing machine. After that, tattoos were everywhere, inescapable. The “degenerates,” as society began to label them, were seen as social abnormalities and have been associated with the mentally insane. The topic of this essay is to debate whether New York Times columnist David Brooks’ “Nonconformity is Skin Deep” is a better argument than Associated Content blogger Georga Hackworth’s “Stigmas, Stereotypes in Tattooing: Why the Medical Community is to Blame.” Both articles offer insight to their respective feelings on the subject of tattooing; both are strongly opinionated, yet only one can be the winner of this essay, and that winner is David Brooks’ “Nonconformity is Skin Deep,” as he excels over the opposition.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This paper will debate that regardless of the division of views within today’s society regarding the practice of tattooing, it has played a consistent as well as an important role in human culture with regards to identities.…

    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "I'm the one they call young./ Body marked up like the subway in Harlem./ N*ggas say it's "hard", white people think it's awesome./ Chest, neck tatted, whole sleeve on my arm done." People view tattooing as an odd and beautiful form of art; very interesting and more expressive of sentiment than any other thing. It is more fascinating than costly jewelry, and cannot be lost, borrowed, or stolen. It is a memento we can keep through life and retain after death.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tattooing Research Paper

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The earliest known examples of tattoos date back to ancient Egypt. The first tattoo found was from the famous frozen mummy known as “The Iceman”. The tattoos found on The Iceman, located on each of his joints and are believed to relief joint pain. Others tattoos found on remains from ancient mummies from as far back in history to 2000 B.C. have been found and I thought to ward off different diseases. Tattoos could also be found on mostly women more specifically dancing-girls. Different patterns found on women's breast and stomach are believed to help relieve pain and give birth to a healthy baby.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Captain James Cook was one of the first who brought tattooing back Europe (Thomas 17). As he traveled island to island he found that there were many forms of tattooing on each of the…

    • 3567 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Annotated Bibliography

    • 3893 Words
    • 16 Pages

    Kosut, Mary. “An Ironic Fad: the commodification and consumption of tattoos. The Journal of Popular Culture. 39.6 (2006): 1025-1048 .…

    • 3893 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout society tattoos and body piercings are often seen as dirty, irresponsible, and disgusting. The “fact that tattoos were once reserved only…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Essay On Tattoos

    • 1170 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the 1920’s undesirables were the only class to have tattoos. Those fully tattooed individuals where exposed in circuses and carnivals all over the country. Even after the depression, tattoos remained merely part of the sub-cultures; just morally dishonorable individuals, with little education worn tattoos. Bearing a tattoo represented an act of rebellion more than the expression of art. Is during the mid 1960’s, when a rebellious generation who challenged the rules of their parents and the society of those days arose, that tattooing became accepted in the country. As years passed, tattooing in the United States became a depart from the traditional, yet socially…

    • 1170 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tattoos In Society

    • 1636 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Tribal communities would often use tattoos to decorate a warrior and display his feats and things there were completed. In some tribal communities of people women tattooed themselves in order to be more attractive to the men. Tattoos haven’t always been that now tattoos are almost a standard in our society. But even today the reason and meaning behind and individual’s tattoos are still very personal but not as meaningful as before .Most people are getting tattoos to wear the names of a love one that they commonly regret getting get it removed ,or they get their favorite sport team or something that is deeply and meaningful only to them. Women ages 18 and older are wearing tattoos so all of the world can see. For women there tattoos are often subtle and symbolic. Tattoos are beautiful remarkable, symbolic and they are an artistic way of expressing yourself through symbolism and…

    • 1636 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The majority of the people who come across women who are tattooed often respond stereotypically. Shock is usually the predominant reaction to the women getting a tattoo. Moreover, some people judge the woman with the tattoo as a bad person while others believe it is demonic. The majority of the parents interviewed in the documentary are not happy with their daughters' choice of having a tattoo. They believe that the tattoos are not suitable for women. Additionally, the tattooed women in the documentary wonder whether or not their gender plays a significant role in their discrimination.…

    • 371 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Reality shows and celebrities play a key role in the popularity of tattoos in America. Television programs like “Miami Ink” and “Inked” show the increasing popularity to tattoos to more everyday Americans. The tattoo artists on these shows talk to the people getting the tattoos. The people share their personal stories behind the reasons for the tattoos. These shows demonstrate that the types of people who are getting these tattoos range from the business type to the customer service professional. The varying clientele on these shows demonstrates how people are placing tattoos in places on their body with out fear of how it will affect their professional career.…

    • 1622 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In turn, this sprung new ideas and forms of literature done by women. Later came the emergence of anthropology of women. The predominance of the male in postmodern societies made it hard for women to embellish their contributions to literature. With the rise of artificial aesthetics in mass media, questions were being raised about how the body is understood. Using tattoos on women as an example, it was formerly seen as an outbreak of body adornment during the androcentric era. This raised questions if it has become a form of resistance for women. Tattoos, for women, were seen as an expression which reigned societal stigmas and disallowed for further excess to the body. Women, through anthropology, further studied the body taking vengeance in their writing on the illusions of gender neutrality. Illusions best understood as plastic surgery, dieting and cosmetics. Which were not simply attempts to normalize control and beauty, but how to “discuss the body”. Using the tattoo example, proves that tattooed women had struggles to provide a standard in contemporary western society. By means of revolution, the scrutiny that women were subjected to in a predominantly male civilization, links the participation of body modifications in order to serve…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 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