Tattoos and body piercing are not a modern phenomenon. Since the origination of man, body decoration has been a popular phenomenon with ancient civilizations, primitive tribes and native cultures the world over. While the types and methods of tattooing and piercing have changed, the purposes for having them are still comparable to primitive cultures-decoration, symbolic meaning, identity-definition and bonding with a particular group, culture or organization. In America, tattoos have been popular for quite some time, but, recently, the phenomenon of piercing different body parts (noses, ears, lips, mouths, eyebrows, genitals, etc.) has become quite popularized since its origination on the West Coast during the 1960s and 1970s, “The piercings of nipples and genitals arose in the homosexual sadomasochistic culture of the West Coast. The Gauntlet, found in Los Angeles in 1975 mostly to do master and slave piercings, now has three shops around the country that are about as controversial as Elizabeth Arden salons. Rumbling through the biker culture and punk, piercing gradually shed its outlaw image and was mass marketed to the impressionable by music videos, rock stars and models,” (Leo 1). This analysis will discuss various types of tattoos and body piercings. A modern analysis of tattoos and piercing in America will be intertwined with an analysis showing how tattoos and piercings have long been a way for many cultures to express their inclusion in a particular group, and as a symbolic means of expressing identity. A conclusion will discuss where this trend is heading where the future is concerned.
Tattoos and body piercings have long been a method by which individuals of different cultures could mark themselves and symbolically be a part of a certain group, class, tribe, or particular interest club. For example, various gangs, prisoners, and groups of people with similar sexual tastes often get a tattoo or body piercing ...