Tattoos In Western Culture

Tattoos in Western Culture The art of tattooing has changed in modern times quite drastically. It is slowly becoming more acceptable to own and display tattoos on one’s body. In more conservative times, those with tattoos were looked on as social outcast, turned down for jobs and seen as strange outsiders. However, within the past half century, tattoos have steadily become more acceptable. Millions of people in America now proudly tattoo their skin, with everything from religious symbols to naked women. There is a whole industry based around tattoos, tattoo care, and basically everything tattoo. There are now expensive clothing lines that base their imagery on tattoo art, such as the Ed Hardy brand (no matter how stupid the clothes actually look). The art of tattooing has changed a great deal from its origin, with everything from the style of the art to its meaning. Tattoos today are an ever increasing part of Western culture, and their appropriation into the mainstream will only continue. Tattooing is an art form that has literally been around for ages. People from all across the globe have been tattooing each other for thousands of years. Estimates are that this practice was going on even as long as 200,000 years ago or more. However, there is archeological evidence of tattooing that dates back to around 30,000 BCE in the form of bone tattoo needles and inks (Rush 3). The earliest actual tattoo that has been discovered was discovered on an Egyptian mummy. The mummy was from around 2100 BCE and had a dark, blackish-blue tattoo on its stomach (Rush 19). Tattoos have had numerous meaning throughout the ages. Most tattoos adorned by ancient peoples signified rank or occupation. These people had numerous other forms of scarification to signify this as well, such as body piercings and literally scarring their bodies (DeMello 10). However, it was not until the eighteenth century that the art of tattooing was brought to the West by British

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