Tattoos and piercings as cultural expression and personal identity

¶ … cultures have customs and traditions involving body modifications and while some generate serious controversy in the contemporary society, others are widely accepted. Some are inclined to associate body modifications with vulgar ideas and believe that people who have them are uncivilized. The fact that most body modifications involve a form of self-mutilation further contributes to making it seem that a person would have to be out of his or her mind in order to do something like this. The reality is that body modifications are an active concept today and some people believe that they are a good way to express their feelings and thinking in general.

'Normal' body modifications

Numerous individuals believe that there is nothing wrong with having a tattoo or having a part of one's body pierced. Most of the modern society promotes the idea that it is perfectly normal for girls to have their ears pierced and there are great deals of intellectual individuals who have tattoos. This is why it would be wrong for someone to discriminate a person on account of his or her body modifications, as stereotypes are not really important when considering this practice in the present.

Body modifications are, in the eyes of many, a way to express feelings and a way to improve one's physical appearance. A person can be much 'cooler' if he or she has a good-looking tattoo, a piercing, or if he or she has turned to cosmetic surgery in order to improve the looks of a particular part of his or her body. People in traditional communities are generally likely to be hesitant about supporting body modifications seen in more open-minded cultures. However, these individuals are also likely to favor a particular type of body modification that has been an active part of their culture for hundreds and even thousands of years.

While most body modifications today are performed because people are concerned about their appearance, some cultures promote this custom on account of it being a rite of passage, for religious reasons, or in order to mark an important event in the person's life.

Relating to body modifications as being a fashionable performance is somewhat wrong, especially when considering tattoos. To a certain degree, one can perceive tattoos as actually being people's attempt to act in disagreement to fashion by performing an act that stays with them throughout their lives and that comes to represent who they are in particular situations. Unlike a set of clothes that one buys because he or she observes that it would be fashionable to do so, tattoos represent an act that a person does knowing that it would be likely for them to wear these respective body modifications until they give their last breath.

Some tend to discriminate toward people who have body modifications without even having a complex understanding of what such behavior implies. Very little people think about bodybuilding when hearing the expression 'body modification'. Many even consider that bodybuilding is a very healthy custom that represents the exact opposite of body modifications (Leone). It is really very easy for the masses to discriminate against someone who has body modifications, but the thing is that people have been modifying their physical appearance for thousands of years and it would be safe to say that even prehistoric individuals modified their bodies with the purpose to improve their appearance. "Tattoos are believed to have originated over 10,000 years ago, and the oldest documented tattoo belongs to Otzi the Iceman who died in 3300 B.C and whose body was found in 1991." (The History of Body Modification Around the World)

While some religions promote body modifications, others tend to associate them with criminals and pagans in general. Tattoos have long been considered to be characteristic to criminals and many communities criticize individuals wearing them on account of their presumed desire to be rebels. King George V's decision to get a tattoo played an important role in the Western World's understanding of the act. People started to consider that tattoos were actually a good way to express themselves and started to get tattoos in an attempt to improve their appearance. Tattoos have recently started to be very common and they are no longer taboo as technologies advanced and as artists have directed their attention toward using people as their canvas.

Criminal organizations such as the Russian Vor V Zakonye or Mara Salvatrucha on the American continent are among the groups recognized for making people feel that tattoos are characteristic to criminals. Individuals who are a part of these communities use their tattoos as a means to show their rank and in order to display the number of victims they are responsible for. Some are even known to have killed tens of individuals throughout their lives and are believed to feel little to no emotion when having to kill someone. "The tattoos of offenders have sparked particular interest as they can be highly symbolic coded messages that have been thought to be a glimpse into the psychology of the criminal underworld." (Illegal ink: reading meaning in criminal tattoos)

Body modifications as an inherent concept in society

One of the first things that critics need to acknowledge with regard to body modifications is that they are perfectly normal and that people have always been interested in altering their bodies for some reason. The human species is especially modified, ranging from the elaborate clothes people wear to the numerous body modifications they perform in order to improve their bodies. Many regard body modifications as their opportunity to be different from the rest and the fact that people are constantly trying to be unique makes some more determined to modify their bodies in comparison to others.

Scarification is among the most criticized body modification and it is not as common as piercing or tattoos. Individuals who perform it are in a controlled environment and consider that scars are an effective method to achieve a specific appearance. While it only recently came to be present in the Western World, scarification is not as new as some might believe, as it has been around on some cultures for thousands of years. "Some of the earliest tattoos were cuts with ash rubbed into them, which formed blackened scars." (Scarification: Ancient Body Art Leaving New Marks) Scarification is particularly common in aboriginal Australians and it can represent one's physical power in the case of men and beauty in the case of women.

Conclusion

Body modifications are very common in the present because people in recent centuries have slowly but surely come to consider particular activities are being less taboo than they seemed. Tattoos, piercings, scarifications, breast implants, and eye surgery turning people in super-humans are supported by the contemporary social order.

Works cited:

Leone, Lori, "The Art and History of Body Modification," Retrieved August 25, 2013, from http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/the-art-and-history-of-body-modification/

Miah, Andy, "Make me a superhero: The pleasures and pitfalls of body enhancement," Retrieved August 25, 2013, from http://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/may/01/body-enhancement-cosmetic-surgery-genetics

"Illegal ink: reading meaning in criminal tattoos," Retrievd August 25, 2013, from http://mindhacks.com/2008/02/03/illegal-ink-reading-meaning-in-criminal-tattoos/

"Scarification: Ancient Body Art Leaving New Marks," Retrieved August 25, 2013, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0728_040728_tvtabooscars_2.html

"The History of Body Modification Around the World," Retrieved August 25, 2013, from http://www.fragrancex.com/Fragrance-Information/the-history-of-body-modification-around-the-world.html