Why People Get Themselves Tattooed?

                            Why people get themselves tattooed?
                                      Arts, crafts and hobbies
                                                  (Body art)


"A tattoo is a true poetic creation, and is always more than meets the eye.  As a tattoo is grounded on living skin, so its essence emotes poignancy unique to the mortal human condition." (~V. Vale and Andrea Juno, Modern Primitives)

Every one of us see people around us who have themselves on their different parts of their bodies people like us who are not tattooed there are two categories first are the ones who are indifferent to such people and the second class is the ones who gossip about such people that why on earth do people bother getting themselves tattooed after all?

Well now the wait is over in my article I am going to discuss why people opt for tattooing while we find it weird, according to Dr. Michael .R.Mantell PH.D. In fact, psychologists who conduct research on tattoos suffer from a mental block created for centuries that associated tattoos with an aberrant personality. Yet, as I’ve come to know more people with tattoos, I’ve discovered that tattoo designs always carry a meaning and tell you something about the person and his or her background.  
The fact is, tattoo-lovers are a proud lot — they have consciously taken the decision to tattoo their bodies and would like to proudly declare that they are what they are. They are ordinary people like you and me; except that they have a strong sense of identity they have no intention of hiding. They are not scared of public opinion and would love to let others know what they believe in. And good for them! Over the centuries, instead of becoming an extinct practice, tattoos have gained in popularity — which only goes to prove that it has stood the test of time and are here to stay.


The earliest tattoos found are more than 5,000 years old. In 1991, a 5,300-year-old mummy was discovered in the Alps. He had more than 50 tattoos on various parts of his body, and he is the oldest human ever found to have tattoos. The rationale of tattoos has differed from one culture to another during the centuries. According to history, Egyptians used tattoos to differentiate slaves and peasants. Tattoos spread to China and then to Greece around 2,000 B.C. where they were used as a mode of communication between spies.
Tattooing has been practiced in Japan and other Asian countries for thousands of years. The first written record of tattooing in Japan was found in a history of the Chinese Dynasty from the year 297 A.D. Today in Japan, tattooing is considered taboo, because many of the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia, wear tattoos.

America got its first taste of tattooing from Chatham Square, located in New York. This was a place frequented by people from all over the US, especially the rich and famous. A man called Samuel O'Neill set us his tattoo shop in this area. He was the first man to use an electric tattoo gun.
San Diego has plenty of proud tattoo artists, tattoo shops and a rich tattoo culture. With names like The Flying Panther Tattoo Shop, Avalon, Chronic, Guru, Body Mark’s Tattoo, Propaganda, Black Rose, and Vista’s recently approved first tattoo parlor, Frontline Tattoo, these shops are prospering as more people ink their bodies. You’ll never hear an “oops” at one of these premier tattoo shops.
Why are they doing it? From getting noticed, to a badge of honor, from identifying with a group to a badge of social rejection, there are many individual reasons.

Asking a wide swath of people who have tattoos why someone would get something permanently imprinted on their skin reveals five basic reasons.
• Tattoos represent a loved one, living or passed away
• Military tattoos representing patriotism
• A dumb mistake (tattoos can be removed, so this reason is diminishing) • Just for fun — just “because” a friend did it.
• Religious reasons including crosses and the face of Jesus or Mary
Tattoos are a mark of the 21st century, and it’s estimated that more than 25 percent of people under 30 are inking their skin. Personal expression, youthful impulsiveness, drunken mistake — the fact is that while it’s trendy, cool and even sexy, there are murky risks to one’s health. Good tattoos aren’t cheap and cheap tattoos aren’t good, so be sure the little butterfly you think looks hot on your hip will be what you want 50 years from now, if you can still find it. In other words, think before you ink!

Through my article I have tried to share the psychology of why people get themselves tattooed but this is not all there are some demerits of getting oneself tattooed according Vipin Agnihotri.  A butterfly on the ankle or just a pair of initials on the hand, there is no denying the fact that beautifully designed tattoos are a craze these days. But getting yourself inked can expose you to the dangerous hepatitis B or C virus and even HIV.  Getting a permanent tattoo includes skin piercing with a needle and injecting colored ink in wide variety of designs. In case if the needle or the surroundings is infected, then the possibility of hepatitis transmission virus goes up manifold.

The main risk is if the equipment, which is the needle, is infected and not enough precaution is taken to prevent transmission. One needs to keep in mind that it’s not just the needle that can spread the virus. The silent culprits are the costly ink bottles in which the artist dips his needle time and again while doing the tattoo.  It is worthwhile pointing that if an artist uses the same ink bottle for several clients, the chances of transmission of the virus increase. Now since these ink bottles are mostly imported, they generally don’t use fresh bottles for every client.  If experts are to be believed, tattoo making involves pricking the needle deep into the dermis – the layer under the skin surface – which causes bleeding and the same needle is dipped into the paint bottles which lead to transferring of infection.  

The possibility of a person getting infected is higher if one gets it done immediately after an infected person at a tattoo par lour. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the viral hepatitis kills more people than any other communicable disease in Southeast Asia.

"[A] Genuine tattoo.... tells a story.  I like stories and tattoos, no matter how well done, and if they don't tell a story that involves you emotionally, then they're just there for decoration, then they're not a valid tattoo.  There has to be some emotional appeal or they're not, to my way of thinking, a real tattoo.  It tells people what you are and what you believe in, so there's no mistake."  (~Leo, tattooist, 1993, quoted in Margo DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 2000)