Counter Culture
A History of Tattooing and Analysis of the Tattoo Culture
Ryan Carney
Abstract
Tattoos are more popular than they have ever been; however, the history of tattooing is rich and diverse, with nearly every continent having cultures that at one time practiced tattooing. Christian missionaries largely eradicated tattooing worldwide through religious conversion or abusive coercion. In the United States, tattooing has gone through periods of extreme popularity and extreme stigmatization, with tattooing currently enjoying unprecedented levels of popularity. While the media portrayal of tattooing has greatly changed over the last ten to fifteen years, there are still plenty of people that dislike tattooing (but maybe that’s a good thing). Tattooing creates a community between tattooed individuals, all of which share the common bond and experience of getting a tattoo and being tattooed.
Tattooing, at one time or another, could be found on every corner of the Earth. The aboriginal people of nearly every continent tattooed themselves; some still do. Europeans, for the most part, broke this rich tradition of living art for the entire planet. When missionaries went to far off lands to “civilize” the native people, tattooing was considered a barbaric practice akin to cannibalism and human sacrifice. Much of the history of tattooing has been lost over the years – tribes that peacefully converted to Christianity generally phased out the practice of it; or excessive violence and disease completely destroyed entire tribes and cultures, and with it, a rich history of tattooing.
Charles Darwin was one of the first to witness firsthand how, for many cultures, tattoos were part of a complex social hierarchy; tattoos generally signified one of three things: signs of status, awards for bravery in battle, or a method to attract the opposite sex. When missionaries first went to the South Pacific, they brought with them sailors who became fascinated by the native tattooing. The sailors then went home with tattoos, and tattoos spread from the ports to the poorer parts of the cities. During the Industrial Revolution, when more and more people were attracted to the city, many found that city life was full of “urban competition, anonymity, and loneliness.” Tattoos became an affordable way to create connections with people that were in similar situations, one of the first examples of a modern tattoo community in the West.
But there is much more to the history of tattooing, and that rich history started long before Europeans were sending missionaries to every corner of the globe. It’s generally agreed upon that the discovery of tattoos by many cultures is accidental – usually rubbing a healing herb on a wound, resulting in a permanently colored scar. Many cultures have their own stories of the origins of tattooing; however, the method for applying a tattoo, tapping a needle on a stick with a hammer, was the same all over the world until the late 19th Century with the invention of the electric tattoo machine.
The Many Births of a Worldwide Phenomenon
Most cultures throughout time have invented the process of tattooing independently from other cultures. The Polynesians, however, are one of the most important and influential groups of people in terms of spreading tattooing to the world. The discovery and practice of tattooing in Polynesia is thought to have began around 2000 BCE. From Polynesia, it’s believed to have taken two courses: one course was going northwest to China and eventually migrating to Japan; another path that tattooing took was east. Tattooing spread from Polynesia across the Pacific Ocean (making a brief stop in Hawaii) to the West Coast of North America, from there it went north and across the Bering Strait into Siberia.
In the Pacific islands, tattoos were a sign of status, and those without tattoos were often times the subject of reticule, being called “roteo,” or “white man.” The Maori of New Zealand carved extremely ornate designs, called a “tā moko” into their faces and rubbed red ochre or blue pigment into it. Every moko was unique to each man and reflected his military achievements. The Samoans (along with the Burmese, Vietnamese and other Southeast Asians) wore a trouser tattoo which started above the knees upward to the waist, covering everything in between, including genitals and anus. The process of applying the tattoo could take weeks or months, and any outward sign of discomfort was greatly frowned upon. Indonesian tattooing involved thick, black, abstract designs and is the basis for modern-day tribal tattooing. At one time, there were as many tattoo styles in Oceania as there were islands; many have been lost but some are still practiced.
As tattoos migrated across the Pacific Ocean, they changed form and appearance just as those bearing the tattoos changed. Traditional Hawaiian tattoos feature geometric shapes arranged in patterns that were unique to the individual. Traditional tattoos of American-Indians varied just as widely as any other custom of the American-Indians. Along the west coast, stretching from Mexico to the sub-arctic, chin tattoos were found on both men and women, ensuring that one was beautiful and would age gracefully. Beyond the West Coast, almost all tribes tattooed their chiefs and warriors with signs of battle and conquest. Some tribes, such as the Neutral, would cover their warriors’ bodies in symbols like bears and tomahawks, while other tribes, such as the Iroquois, would tattoo totem symbols signifying how many men one had killed. Tattoos were taken very seriously by some tribes – if a chief felt that a warrior hadn’t earned his tattoo, it would be cut off.
The other path that tattooing took from Polynesia was northwest to China. The tradition of Chinese tattooing dates back to 200 BCE and was largely punitive. There were numerous offenses that would result in a facial tattoo with the catch being that if you have a facial tattoo, you weren’t allowed in the city. As a result, after years of punitive tattooing, the tattoo lost its stigmatization, and convicts and military personnel soon started to add their own designs. Around the 16th century, tattoos started to decline in China while at the same time, they were gaining popularity in Japan.
In Japan, tattooing was largely influenced by Ukiyo-e prints and Suikoden, a popular Chinese novel; both of which featured illustrative wood carvings depicting larger-than-life characters with elaborate tattoos. The illustrators of these wood carvings soon evolved into the tattoo artists and became known as the “horishi” or “the tattoo master;” an apt title, as Japanese tattooists were known as some of the best in the world. The horishi were the first tattooists to have a large kit with varying needles, sometimes up to fifty different kinds with shafts ranging from one to up to thirty needles. The full body suit tattoo allowed a poor laborer to compete with the costly, extravagant clothing of the rich by having his own permanent extravagant suit of beautiful tattoos. Museums would pay for the skin of laborers with full body tattoos to preserve and exhibit; some of them still being displayed today.
Tattooing even has a rich history in Europe despite the fact that it was eradicated by Christianity nearly 2000 years ago. Some of the earliest evidence of tattooing in Europe was discovered in 1991 on the border of Austria and Italy. Ötzi the Iceman is an extremely well-preserved, 5000 year old mummy that has over fifty tattoos, believed to be medicinal, on various parts of his body. Different groups in what is now modern-day Western Russia had ornate tattoos dating as far back as 1800 BCE. The Romans, like the Chinese, tattooed prisoners, slaves, gladiators, and soldiers, a practice passed on to the Romans by the Greeks who in turn acquired the practice from the Persians. In 55 BCE, Julius Caesar invaded Britannia to find the natives ornately tattooed with ferocious images. It is even speculated that “Britannia” might mean “land of the painted people” in Celtic.
For many years, tattooing was thought to not exist in the majority of African nations because it was thought that dark ink pigments wouldn’t show on dark skin. It is now known that there was, in fact, tattooing in Africa, but as a result of earlier skepticism, the information that is available is somewhat limited. Ancient Egyptian mummies have been found with tattoos that are believed to be the first non-abstract tattoo design, a depiction of the god Bes, and many African tribes, from the Pygmies to the Bantu, tattooed themselves. Scarification was a much more popular alternative to tattooing in Africa. Girls of the Makalaka tribe in Southern Africa weren’t allowed to marry until their breasts and bellies had been cut 4000 times. Certain tribes of what is now modern-day the Congo would gouge deep spiral patterns into their faces similar to the moko of the Maori.
It was once thought that tattooing originated in the Middle East due to the discovery of tattooed mummies dating back to 3000 BCE. That has since been disproved, but tattooing has nonetheless had a long, culturally significant history in the Middle East. Tattoos were thought of as an “intimate jewelry” and were used to enhance a girl’s lil-hilã, or allure. Even though the Koran prohibits tattooing, tattoos have always been popular amongst pilgrims upon the completion of the hajj to Mecca. Since the Koran also prohibits the depiction of humans or animals, Muslim tattoos were traditionally abstract designs, such as flowers, crosses, moons, or swastikas.
There were also many tribes in South America that tattooed. Evidence of tattooing in South America can be hard to find for certain tribes (as they were wiped out and left no written record), or it can be fairly simple to find for certain tribes (as they have been so isolated that they still continue traditional tattooing practices). Recently, there was a tattooed, female mummy discovered in modern-day Peru. The mummy is very ornately tattooed and since it is a woman, baffling to anthropologists because this particular tribe was thought to be very cruel to its women. There are two styles of tattooing that were prominent in South America. One was a small patch around the mouth; the other consisted of lines extending from the corners of the mouth or chin to the ears.
The One Death of a Worldwide Phenomenon
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead,
nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
– Leviticus 19:28
This one verse out of the Bible completely destroyed tattooing around the world. Christianity’s battle with tattoos began in the year 325 when the Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity for the Romans, and it became an official papal edict in the year 787 when Pope Hadrian I banned tattooing completely. Around the late 15th Century, European explorers, sailors, and conquistadors, began exploring the earth under the flag of colonialism. When Captain James Cook went to the South Pacific, he found the natives tattooing themselves; Cook even coined the term “tattow,” derived from the Tahitian word “tatau.” Cook’s newly created word quickly spread across Europe with tales of Cook’s discoveries. The discovery of the Americas in the late 15th Century and further exploration of Africa in the 1600’s opened the doors of the New World to the Old World.
As word of the tattooed heathens spread through Europe, Christian missionaries took it upon themselves to enlighten all heathens around the world to the fact that the custom of tattooing (along with a number of other customs) which they’ve been practicing for centuries is, in fact, wrong. Catholics, Jesuits, and Protestants went all over the world, from Africa to Micronesia to South America, preaching the word of God and making new converts. As the world was Christianized, the rich tattoo history of countless cultures was all but destroyed.
The severed, intricately tattooed heads of Maori tribesmen became a much coveted commodity in Europe; in essence, degrading one’s moko, a very sacred religious symbol, to “an object of commercial value.” The tattooed heads became so sought after that some would decapitate common slaves, tattoo the faces, and sell them at an exorbitant amount. Some of these bootleg Maori heads are still thought to be unwittingly on display in British museums to this day. However, some islands throughout the South Pacific were too isolated for missionaries to access; thus, traditional tattooing is still practiced today.
Whereas the mission work done in the South Pacific was (mostly) good natured, the mission work done in the Americas was extremely brutal. As Europeans arrived in North America, the natives were greeted with war and European diseases, decimating the Native American population. By the 19th Century, the splendor and tradition of North American tattooing was lo As Europeans arrived in South America in the late 15th and early 16th Centuries, missionaries actively set out to eradicate tattooing, believing it to be sent to earth by Satan. One Catholic priest, Franciscan Diego de Landa, led a crusade against tattooing resulting in many deaths. In a practice that might seem hypocritical to some, slaves captured by Catholics were branded and subsequently tattooed. Some Amazonian tribes were able to resist the missionaries due to their isolation, while most tattooing in South America ceased, not out of religious conversion, but rather, out of fear of the Spanish missionaries.
Besides a few highly isolated enclaves in the South Pacific islands and Amazon Jungle, Christianity had spread across the planet, ending tattooing wherever it went. However, there were some large areas of the world where Christianity never caught on. In both China and Japan, missionaries weren’t welcome. Tattooing in China was already very unpopular, though, and tattoos were going out of style in Japan, as the traditional bodysuit became widely associated with the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia. Traditional tattooing in the Arctic resisted missionaries for years; however, it died out on its own volition by the end of the 19th Century.
But All Was Not Lost…
The real irony of Europeans going to the ends of the Earth in a veritable crusade to abolish tattooing is that at the same time, tattoos were gaining popularity in Europe. The sailors that escorted the missionaries to Polynesia and other South Pacific islands would return home with their own tattoos, leading to an on-again/off-again fad in Europe for the next 150 to 200 years. When tattooed severed heads of Maori tribesmen were brought back to Europe from New Zealand, Europeans flocked to see them. In 1876, the first living, breathing tattooed natives were brought to Europe and North America to be placed on display.
The displaying of tattooed natives of various countries (Alaskans, Hawaiians, Samoans, and Japanese) led to the carnival sideshows and midways. The first carnival freak-show to feature heavily tattooed individuals was the 1901 World’s Fair in Buffalo, New York. The fair embodied humankind’s contrast of savagery and technology by exhibiting both tattooed “savages” along with the latest technological advancements and inventions. Many heavily tattooed individuals, such as Prince Constantine, earned worldwide fame by touring with circuses and creating fanciful stories of being captured by natives and forcibly tattooed.
German immigrant and influential artist, Martin Hildebrandt, using traditional needle and mallet techniques, tattooed many Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War, establishing a tradition of tattooed servicemen. In 1870, Hildebrandt opened the first professional tattoo studio in the United States (and possibly the West) in New York City. The invention that forever changed tattooing came in 1891 when self-proclaimed “Professor” Samuel O’Reilly invented the electric tattoo machine, based on Thomas Edison’s electric pen. Tattoos were revolutionized overnight, now being cheaper, less painful, and faster, for artists to administer. The traditional Americana style of tattooing was thus born; characterized by thick black outlines, heavy black shading, and a dab of color. Early influences on American tattooing came from popular tattoos in Europe (military insignia, hearts, roses, banners) and themes relevant to Americans (patriotism).
In the early 20th Century, the displaying of heavily tattooed “savages” in carnival sideshows fell out of popularity, as more and more Americans wanted to see heavily tattooed Westerners. With the help of these carnival sideshows and the 300+ full-time tattooed “freaks,” tattooing was able to move from the ports inland. Tattoos at the time cost between $0.50 and $1.00; with full bodysuits going for about $33.00. The twenty years between World War I and World War II are known as the Golden Age of tattooing, as it was still inexpensive and socially acceptable, due to the patriotism associated with it at the time.
Tattoos began to decline in popularity during and immediately following World War II. Americans finding out that the Nazis forcibly tattooed Jews contributed significantly to the post- WWII decline in tattoo popularity. The government also began to crack down on illegal tattooing. The first legal action taken against a tattoo artist came in 1944 when renowned artist Charlie Wagner was fined for not sterilizing needles; the charges were dropped when Wagner told the judge he didn’t have time to sterilize the needles since he was too busy complying with a 1908 rule against naked tattoos by tattooing clothes on nude pin-ups so men could join the Navy. Soon after, William Irving was fined for tattooing a minor. After World War II, the military began discouraging tattoos, and the price of tattoos went up substantially, both adding to tattooing’s decline in popularity.
It was in the post-World War II period that tattooing took on the stigma as being just for “bikers and convicts.” Many bikers were tattooed with motorcycle logos and Nazi symbols in defiance of the emerging conformist middle-class and the traditional patriotic theme of American tattooing. Chicano gangs and convicts were also tattooing themselves with themes that were culturally significant to themselves and, like bikers, leaving behind the traditional theme of patriotism. Chicano tattoo style eventually turned into its own style of tattooing – fine line style – a style that is still popular today.
In addition to tattooing becoming the mainstay of bikers and convicts, fears of disease drove tattooing back to the underground. In 1961, tattooing was banned in New York City because of an outbreak of hepatitis, with many of the cases being traced back to tattooing. The law declared that only a licensed doctor could tattoo humans. However, the Supreme Court found the ban to be unconstitutional in 1963, when it was decided that a total ban is overkill and guidelines calling for proper sterilization were all that were needed.
Tattoos began to make a comeback in the late-1960’s when celebrities like Janis Joplin, Peter Fonda, and Flip Wilson, all got tattooed. Some call the era of tattoo acceptance that started in the late-1960’s (and continues through today) the “Tattoo Renaissance,” as it was (and is) a period marked with “technological, artistic, and social changes.” Those changes were largely brought about by two legendary tattooists – Sailor Jerry and Lyle Tuttle. Sailor Jerry was the first artist to introduce Japanese techniques and fuse them with American designs. Sailor Jerry saw the whole body as a canvas and would link tattoos together instead of haphazardly placing designs on the body. Lyle Tuttle helped write most of the health regulations for tattooing including individual ink cups and sterilization of needles. Tuttle also modified the tattoo machine for quick changing of needle
Tattooing has slowly and steadily been gaining popularity since the late-1960’s, and in the last ten years, it has literally exploded in popularity. As America’s attitude toward tattooing changes, so, too, does the media’s portrayal of tattooed America change. Just watch any news story or read an article on the resurgence of tattooing and you’ll basically see the same three elements. First, it will lump bikers, convicts, and sailors in to one category of low class (despite the wide variety of reasons that these different groups tattooed themselves) and easily discard them as the tattooed trash of yesteryear:
Years ago – perhaps no more than a dozen – the word “tattoo” conjured up images of drunken sailors on shore leave, burly bikers, carnival roustabouts.
Second, it will highlight the fact that it is now white collars and the college-educated being tattooed:
…Far more middle-class teenagers and adults, and especially women are getting tattoos.
And finally, it will only interview respectable members of the middle class, thus silencing the bikers and non-middle class:
[In reference to her ankle tattoos] “I thought they were cool,” said Ms. Giachetti, a customer service representative and mother of two.
Another element that is generally highlighted is the fact that there are now college-educated tattoo artists. In interviews with Muncie-area tattoo artists, Craig Mathis of Lucky Rabbit (who happens to be a college-educated artist) touched upon this: as a more sophisticated crowd of people start to get tattoos (professionals, college-educated, etc.), you get a “more sophisticated crowd of artists – graphic designers, comic book artists, and art majors.” Craig continued that the shops are even beginning to look “more like art galleries… catering to a middle-class family attitude.”
The seemingly recent acceptance of tattooing by the media and society as a whole is generally viewed as a positive thing for the tattooed culture. Dave Rynes of Ground Zero Tattoos (again, a college-educated artist) thinks that “the more it comes into public acceptance, the easier it is for young [people] to get tattooed without being labeled a trouble-maker.” It’s also agreed upon by most that tattooing will eventually fall by the wayside: Craig of Lucky Rabbit says “tattooing is more popular than it’s ever been. Eventually it will be overkill, it’s going to fall eventually.” Dave of Ground Zero concurs, “It’ll be a cycle. Some celebrity will get into something else. Who knows what will grab our attention next?”
One needs to only look as far as the newsstand to see how tattooing has changed considerably in the eyes of the media. The popular, aptly titled magazine Tattoo has changed significantly in the last twenty years. Flipping through issues of Tattoo from the late-80’s and early-90’s, looking past the giant “Adults Only” bulletin on the front cover, one will see crudely-drawn tattoos, bikers, borderline S&M, and full frontal nudity. The articles, written by people, such as Pulsating Paula and Gonzer, compliment the photos well:
There ain’t no doubt about it… the Tattoo Society of New York may not be a full blown international art community, but it sure as hell is well known throughout the east coast for top notch tattoo events.
Many of the topics discussed are rather similar, for example, in one issue: Best in Biker Tats, NYC Biker Tat Contest, and Outlaws MC Club Tats.
Compare that to a recent issue of Tattoo, and it’s like comparing Hustler to Better Homes & Gardens. Similar to the aforementioned media accounts but on a larger scale, the magazine has completely shed its rough-and-tumble biker image, replacing it with a much cleaner, socially acceptable middle-class image. The quality of the tattoos, the type of people interviewed, the caliber of the writing and photography, and even the paper on which the magazine is printed, have all drastically improved in the past twenty years. The genres of tattooing represented in an average issue of Tattoo have also greatly expanded, reflecting the trend of numerous styles that proliferate in tattooing today. The subjects of the articles have also been “middle-classized,” with subjects ranging from tattoo collectors that are yoga instructors and retired postal workers to recent a convention in Italy to the current state of tattooing in Bali.[li]
However, as much as tattooing has been accepted by the media and middle-class, there is still a significant cross-section of the population that still frowns upon tattooing. Not all printed articles about tattooing view it in such a favorable light and some are quite condescending toward tattooing:
If you… believe that 20 years from now you will still think that a small, tasteful rose on your bum… will mark you out as an individual, there’s a treat in store for you this weekend. … I’ve never seen one so attractive that it seems to justify its permanent place in someone’s life.
Or…
It’s a fair bet that the average female vicar rolling up her surplice sleeves for her sermon will soon display a forearm engraved with loaves and fishes – or whichever design was most fashionable at theological college.
As is plain to see, not all journalists are as accepting of tattooing as others. And despite the 40 million Americans with tattoos, there are still many who find them unfavorable.
Many Americans think that having excessive amounts of body art could be detrimental to one’s future prospects of employment. A nation-wide survey conducted in 2001 found that 85% of respondents agreed with the statement “people who have visible tattoos… should realize that this… is likely to create obstacles in their career or personal relationships.” Closer to home, a survey of 446 Ball State students and faculty found that 96.9% of respondents answered “yes” to a similar question, “Do you think that having visible tattoos would/does affect one’s potential for getting a job?” In a series of personal interviews with tattooed Ball State students, 18 of 21 respondents also answered “yes” to the same question.
The survey of 446 Ball State students and faculty divided people into two groups (tattooed and non-tattooed) and asked participants to do some word association. The survey provided a list of fifteen words often associated with tattooing and asked participants to choose the three that they agree with most. The top two words associated with tattooing among both tattooed and non-tattooed participants were “artistic” (26.9% among tattooed, 19.0% among non-tattooed) and “experimental” (15.7% among tattooed, 15.0% among non-tattooed).
It’s where the tattooed and non-tattooed participants disagreed that it is interesting. The third most-chosen word associated with tattooing among the non-tattooed participants was “rebellious” with 13.4% of respondents choosing it. The third most-chosen word among the tattooed participants, however, was “normal” with 11.8% choosing it. Compare that to 8.5% of tattooed participants choosing “rebellious” and only 5.5% of non-tattooed participants choosing “normal.” Another interesting discovery from the survey is that 11.2% of tattooed respondents associated the word “sexy” with tattooing compared to only 4.9% among non-tattooed participants. Similarly, 7.2% of non-tattooed participants associated “biker” with tattooing while only 2.4% of tattooed participants did.
In the interview conducted with Craig of Lucky Rabbit, Craig believes that the tattooed community needs some of the population to not like tattooing. Referencing a recent Larry King interview with Judge Judy where she spoke of how kids today are only concerned with their next tattoo, Craig said that, “We need [Judge Judy hating tattoos] because when [she] accepts tattoos, we’ve lost that rebelliousness.” And on the subject of the eighteen year old girl who needs to hide the butterfly on her hip from her dad: “We need that, too; if we lose that, we lose [the] edge.” Dave of Ground Zero echoes a similar sentiment: “The most common things we hear are ‘Dad will cut me off,’ ‘Mom will kick my ass,’ and ‘my girlfriend will break up with me.’ I guess there’s a little stigma still left… People still stare [at me].”
Tattoo Community
But so what if people still stare at tattooed people; that’s part of the reason that we got them in the first place, right? Anyone that has a tattoo can attest to the fact that there are still plenty of people in the world that don’t like tattoos, but what of the people with tattoos? Is there an unspoken bond that brings all of us together? There are certainly many forums for the discussion of tattoos: tattoo conventions, tattoo parlors, magazines, and countless internet message boards. But is there a “tattoo community?” In the interviews that I conducted with tattooed Ball State students and Muncie-area tattoo artists, I found that there is a wide variety of opinions on the state of tattooing in Muncie and the idea of a tattoo community, as a whole.
If someone is going to get a sense of a tattoo community, the first place that he/she would sense it would be where it all starts – the tattoo studio. Camaraderie in the studio depends on a lot of things: atmosphere of the shop, type of artists, type of clientele, and location, to name a few. In a series of interviews with 21 different tattooed Ball State students, seventeen said that they do feel a sense of camaraderie when going to the tattoo studio. Rhiannon C., commenting on the chattiness of artists, said that “a good tattoo artist is personable because it makes the experience that much more memorable.” Greg K. says if you’re a regular customer, “it’s like the local hang out. Everybody knows your name; Cheers and all that.”
Many tattooed people develop a relationship with their tattoo artist, since they spend anywhere from 20 minutes to hours upon hours in each other’s company. Dave at Ground Zero says, “Some people treat you as the poor man’s therapist or the bartender or the barber. People always have a story to tell.” Tattooed Ball State student Rachel E. feels an instant camaraderie when walking into a studio since everyone there has “experienced the pain and decision making process.” Jaime C., another student, echoed the same sentiment, “You instantly have something in common when you walk in… you always have something to talk about.
When asked about tattooing in Muncie, students’ reactions run the gamut, from “a blast” to “I wouldn’t get tattooed in Muncie again.” Charles S. said of the Muncie tattoo scene, “The [shops] in Muncie are great… there’s great camaraderie.” On the other hand, Jessica B. felt that Anderson-area studios, such as Black Rose, were “a lot more personable. I feel more of connection with the guys at Black Rose than at [Ground Zero].”Jade M. felt similarly about shops in Muncie but thought “it could be because the artists here in Muncie have a wide base of students here at Ball State that like getting tattoos. They care more about getting quality artwork than with creating a community so the artists are more stand-offish simply because they can be.”
But is there a community? The numbers of tattooed Americans and tattoo artists have been steadily on the rise for the last fifty years. In 1959, it was estimated that there were 20 million tattooed Americans and about 250 tattoo artists. It’s now estimated that there are 40 million tattooed Americans and over 10,000 artists. In addition, if one breaks it down to age demographics, 36% of Americans age 18 to 25 have at least one tattoo and 40% of Americans age 26 to 40 have at least one. Studies show that men and women are nearly equal in being tattooed: 16% of men compared to 15% of women.
While the number of tattooed Americans has steadily been on the rise, many (if not most) aspects of civic and community involvement have been on the decline. For example, membership levels in civic organizations have fallen to a tenth of what they were in 1962. Similarly, membership in labor unions has declined over 50% since the mid-1950’s while membership in bowling leagues has fallen from 128,000 in 1962 to an estimated 9,000 in 2005. As civic engagement falls and tattoos continue to rise, there arises the possibility of the tattoo studio becoming the new barbershop or community hangout.
Of the 21 tattooed Ball State students interviewed, eighteen of them agreed with the idea of the tattoo parlor becoming the new barbershop (with two saying it depends on the shop). Rhiannon C. says every generation has “a meeting place that defined the generation: the speakeasy, the malt shop, Studio 54. Our generation will be defined by the tattoo studio. Our barber shop is the tattoo studio.” Tattooed student and Ground Zero piercer Alan D. says since you’re sitting there for so long “you have to make small talk of some sort and some people just come into the shop to hang out. It’s definitely more liberal than your traditional barber shop. Amanda S. thinks it depends on the shop but that it could be considered “the counter-culture barbershop.”
In Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam points out that many of today’s civic organizations are centered in Washington DC and are professionally staffed. They are no longer the member-centered, locally based associations. Putnam asserts that this is part of the reason for the drastic decline in community and civic involvement. Interestingly enough, the tattoo community, whose membership is consistently on the rise, is completely based locally at the studio level and goes up to the regional/national level with tattoo conventions. There certainly isn’t a central headquarters for tattooing anywhere; it’s completely widespread, yet local at the same time. And as for a membership card – all you have to do is roll up your sleeve.
Works Cited
Beck, Jessica (tattooed Ball State student). Interview with author. Conducted at Ball State University Student Center, Muncie, Indiana, on March 1, 2007.
Carney, Ryan. “Tattoo Survey.” Survey. December 2006 to January 2007. Found at http://inqsit.bsu.edu/inqsit/show_module.cgi/export/home/neel2?Tattoo+Survey.
Cizon, Rhiannon (tattooed Ball State student). Interview with author. Conducted at Ball State University Student Center, Muncie, Indiana, on February, 6, 2007.
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Dumond, Alan (tattooed Ball State student). Interview with author. Conducted at Ball State University Student Center, Muncie, Indiana, on February 27, 2007.
Esterday, Rachel (tattooed Ball State student). Interview with author. Conducted at Ball State University Student Center, Muncie, Indiana, on February 22, 2007.
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Kitamura, Takahiro. Tattooing from Japan to the West: Horitaka Interviews Contemporary Artists. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. Atglen, Pennsylvania. 2005.
Konieczny, Greg (tattooed Ball State student). Interview with author. Conducted at Ball State University Student Center, Muncie, Indiana, on March 8, 2007.
Mathis, Craig (tattooist, Lucky Rabbit Tattoos). Interview with author. Conducted at Lucky Rabbit Tattoos, Muncie, Indiana, on June 13, 2007.
Metzger, Jade (tattooed Ball State student). Interview with author. Conducted at Ball State University Student Center, Muncie, Indiana, on February 27, 2007.
O’Kane, Lawrence. “City Bans Tattoos as Hepatitis Peril.” The New York Times. October 10, 1961. Accessed via ProQuest Historical Newspapers on August 30, 2006.
O’Reilly, Sara. “London Tattoo Convention.” Time Out. October 4, 2006. Accessed via LexisNexis Academic on November 2, 2006.
Pulsating Paula. “Biker Tattoo Contest.” Tattoo. August/September 1990. Issue 20.
Putnam, Robert D. Bowling Alone. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney. 2000.
Rynes, David (tattooist, Ground Zero Tattoos). Interview with author. Conducted at Starbucks, Muncie, Indiana, on March 4, 2007.
Samuelson, Charles (tattooed Ball State student). Interview with author. Conducted at Ball State University Student Center, Muncie, Indiana, on February 6, 2007.
Stump, Amanda (tattooed Ball State student). Interview with author. Conducted at Ball State University Student Center, Muncie, Indiana, on February 16, 2007.
Talese, Gay. “Twenty Million Tattooed: Why?” The New York Times. November 22, 1959. Accessed via ProQuest Historical Newspapers on August 30, 2006.
Tattoo. October 2007. Issue 218.
Thomas, Nicholas; Cole, Anna; Douglas, Bronwen. Tattoo: Bodies, Art, and Exchange in Pacific and the West. Duke University Press. Durham. 2005.
Van Dinter, Maarten Hesselt. The World of Tattoo. KIT Publishers. Amsterdam. 2005.
Williams, A.R. “Mystery of the Tattooed Mummy.” National Geographic. June 2006. Vol. 209, Issue 6.
Wu, Corinna. “Disappearing Ink.” Science News. October 13, 2007. Vol. 172, Issue 15.
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