Jessica JacobsonPaper #44/2/10

Victims of the Inked Needle

In the year 2000 B.C. tattoos were first seen in Egypt and in many

countries tattoos were used to denote status (Nicoletti, 215-216). But

honestly today, why do people want to get tattoos? I do not understand what

is so riveting about tattoos; they are so permanent. Is it the adrenaline rush

one gets when their skin is constantly being poked by a sharp tool? Is it that

they think it is the cool thing to do? Or is it the fact that they just want to

express themselves through art on their body? The answer varies from each

individual; there is no set reason why. But it is not the reasons that interest

me; it is the people that decide to “tat up” that catch my attention. The

predisposed biases and ideas of what a “common” tattooed person looks like

is what spurred my interest to study such a place, a place I would never have

walked in otherwise.

Growing up, I was seen as the “perfect”

child. My grandpa even tells me time in time

that I should be in the dictionary under perfect.

I guess I owe this to my parents whom put me

into a Catholic school for nine years in which

the Ten Commandments and the Bible were

our guides in life; therefore, my morals and ideas of what was “right” were

formed based on these two writings. Christians even point out that though

there is nothing written in the New Testament about tattoos, the Old

Testament states: “Do not mark yourself”

(Firmen, 195-204). One could say I was

sheltered. I was never allowed to date until I

was sixteen, and if I dare to get my belly

button pierced, I would be taken off

insurance. I was taught certain things

growing up like tattoos only ruin the body in which God made for us. They

are right, but I have learned that so many people do not think of it in that way.

So many believe that tattoos are a way to express them selves and allow

people to see their personalities. Chris Toler, the tattoo artist I interviewed,

was so close to fully convincing me of this, until I looked at him and saw how

stretched his ear was, I concluded that there had to be another way to express

oneself.

I believe that people that have tattoos are rebels. I see people with

tattoos as the same people that gage their ears or have piercings in places

they should not be such as: belly buttons, noses, eyebrows and tongues.

Because of everything I was taught, I came to dislike tattoos very much, and

began to form a common bias of those that had a tattoo. It is funny, though,

how that saying “parents are always right” is true, cause you always want to

fight against them and prove them wrong, but it rarely ends up happening.

Everything I was taught about the people that get tattoos was proven true the

first time I walked into the shop.

Walking into Danny’s World Famous Ancient Art Tattoo for the first

time to observe the surroundings is an experience I will never forget. I

quickly learned that if one walks in with a pink American Eagle sweater and

Ugg boots on, they will get the stare down. I nervously walked over to the

counter, and from the glimpse of my eye I caught the piercing lady staring so

intently at me. She had that expression on her face like, “What the hell is she

doing here?” and “Look at that annoying little girl.” I did not feel welcomed in

this place, because I was the impediment description of a “prep.” I did not

have my hair dyed pink or purple and cut short like the rest of the girls there,

my long flowing hair was in complete contrast to them. “What the hell was I

doing there?” went through my mind several times, but I was there for one

reason, not to make friends, but to study them.

I proceeded towards the front counter, which was conveniently located

as soon as you walk in the door, so I did not have to walk far with the glaring

eyes staring at me to state my purpose. At 5:00 pm on a Friday night, the only

person behind the counter was a guy, the main guy of the place. I began to tell

him that I was doing a project for class, and he honestly did not even care to

really listen, he just told me that I was not the first and not to touch anything,

because everything was sanitized. I gave

him a nervous smile and agreed to his

conditions and proceeded to look around.

Everything was so brightly lit. I felt like I

was underneath one of those interrogation

lights police use to make their suspects

nervous. Luckily the shop had a black and red theme, thus it was not like I

was going crazy sitting in an all white room with bright lights, but no, I was in

a place that was bright yet dark. The walls were painted a blood red with

some black varnish on it, which greatly toned down the bright lights, which

were used to help the artists see what they were doing.

I walked over to the couches, which were adorned with tape all over

the cushions to hide the rips, tears, and wears of the seat. Though the tape

was black like the leather couch, the luster of it definitely stuck out. The tape

added character to the couches, though; they gave the feeling like this place is

hard-core. I sat down on the taped up leather seats and started observing my

surroundings from floor to ceiling. As I was sitting on the couches I still could

not help but notice the piercing lady still staring at me. I did not understand

why she was being so rude, maybe it was the fact I had stumbled into her

territory, or she was just merely admiring my pink sweater, because pink

seemed to be her favorite color since it was in her hair. She was adorned in

baggy jeans and a sweatshirt. At least we had one thing in common, we both

liked pink.

The thought ran through my head that the piercing lady was exactly

who I had pictured working at a tattoo place. Her ears were gauged, she had

her eyebrow pierced, and her hair was dyed. She also dressed more on the

masculine side, which made her intimidating. She was not the only person

that proved my biases correct. Chris had his ears gauged, too. He also had

tattoos all up and down his arm, but unlike the piercing lady, he was

extremely friendly and taught me many things. The other worker that

worked there, Tibis, well, he was very quite. He had long stringy hair, and he

too had his ears gauged, and tattoos all along his arms and legs. There was a

common trend, too, on clothing selection. It seemed like the “uniform” was

baggy clothes. Anybody would have been intimidated walking in there with

nobody at their side to break the ice with these people. My parents were

right, people with tattoos are different, they are unique.

I decide to move from my spot on the couch and walk around, which

did not take that long to do, because the shop is literally four times my dorm

room, which is 11x13. I walk down the hallway in between the “cubicles” and

out comes another worker from the bathroom. This man had snakebites, two

studs underneath his lip that are separated on each side. He also had his ears

gauged, which I believe two pencils could have fit through those holes. Out of

all the workers that worked there, this one was more normal. He had tattoos

up both of his arms, which consisted mostly of

tribal symbols, but who am I to judge? I would

not be able to guess, so I will just have to ask

him what and why he decided to do that. He

was dressed in jeans and a shirt that had a

skull on it, much like the theme of the shop.

The bar stools contained skulls on them and

some of the pictures.

I continued looking around the tattoo shop, which only includes three

open rooms where people get “tatted up”, and a private room, which is used

for piercings, because according to the manager it is a law to have a private

room with a door on it to do piercings in a tattoo place. The little “cubicles”

one sits in while getting a tattoo are open to the whole shop. Someone can

enter into one of these areas by passing through a waist high swinging door,

like ones you see in the old western movies but smaller. For the sake of their

customers, the shop did install blinds in which can be let down to make things

more private, and I must add these blinds were not of the highest quality. In

each room, except for the piercing room, there is a long mirror that covers a

whole wall. This wall also contains a

counter in which the coloring for the tattoos

sit, colors of all shades imaginable.

During one of my visits I was able to

see a basketball player at my school, Terrell

Bell, get a tattoo done in one of these rooms.

He oddly did not fit the predisposed biases I

was always taught and had proven at my other visits. As I sat there watching,

I was unbearably scared for him. I asked him, “Are you nervous?” He just

smiled at me, rolled up his sleeves and showed me the tattoos that adorned

his arms and his chest. He was definitely not a newcomer to this business. I

was still nervous for him, though. Tibis, the artist that was giving him his

tattoo, dipped the needle in black ink and turned the machine on, just the

noises gave me the cringes. I looked up at Terrell again, and he winced at the

pain of the needle when it hit a certain spot. He simply stated, “That one

hurt.” We both laughed at his comment. Then Chris came along and pointed

out one of his tattoos that he had done on Terrell, it was black and gray, Chris’

specialty.

A regular decides to come in to the shop. The artists greet her with

smiles and on a first name basis. I continue to wonder if maybe I decide to get

something pierced if I will be greeted like that. The girl that walked in

definitely had much work done. Her ears were gauged bigger than the

employees. I would say the hole in her ear was as big as the half dollar,

maybe even a little bit bigger. Her neck

was adorned with a cross tattoo and yet

again there was another lip piercing.

She had come in with another artist

from having a smoke outside, so I can

only assume that she hung out with the

artists on a regular basis. Her voice was

very raspy, due to the fact that she probably smokes quite a bit. She was

young, I would presume in her late twenties. The sweatshirt she was wearing

had a skull on it and it was black, so she fit into the theme of the shop very

well. She was having a conversation with one of the artists about her next

tattoo, it sounded like she wanted a saying on her lower back to go along with

her cross on her neck. When she noticed me standing watching someone

getting a tattoo, she gave me a look, too, which brought my eyes back down to

my paper. I came to the conclusion that I should never wear a pink sweater

here ever again.

My first impressions of people with tattoos were proving to be true

with every person that had walked in the door of the shop. As I continued

talking to Chris about his work, and listening to other people talking in the

shop, another girl walked in, this time her hair was dyed purple, but mind you

it was only her bangs that were bright purple and she was adorned in all

black clothing. She sat down in a chair in the front

window, picked up a magazine that only talked

about tattoos and proceeded to skim through it.

The secretary went to go sit down next to her and

talk to her. I hear her comment on this one guy’s

shirt about how “sick” all the colors and shapes

came together and how she wanted her next

tattoo to be colorful instead of the just plain black and white flower she had

on her shoulder. I wonder to myself if she will be one of the 12 million to 20

million people that decide to have their tattoos removed simply because they

did not like them anymore (Marin, 46).

When deciding on a tattoo, many consult pictures. The largest wall in

the shop actually contains hundreds of samples of tattoos. From Chinese

symbols to tattoos that spell something backwards and forwards to exotic

animals like tigers, this wall contains almost every design imaginable. Much

of the samples are drawn with vibrant colors especially the fairies. As I flip

through the samples, I noticed that the most common theme was that of just

random swirls, just like the one workers arm. I turn around and realize that

everyone in the shop is watching me. The manager, I believe was just making

sure I did not contaminate anything. As he sits there I wonder why someone

would want to cover most of their body with tattoos, like him, and grow out

their hair to their shoulder when it is thin to begin with, because it just does

not look healthy. I also wonder what gives them the need to stretch their

ears. There is a glass cabinet as you first walk-in and there they are, the

gauges for one’s ear, which contain wood and thick horn-like gauges, which in

all honesty is scary. As I continue to look in the cabinet I see earrings that

look like long sharp stakes and ones with swirls, I can only imagine where

some people have put earrings like this.

I continue walking around, and I accidently knock over a magazine off

the table. Great! I notice the piercing lady staring at me again and the over-

protective sanitizing guy staring at me like a disease. I pick up the magazine

off the floor and place it on the glass table in which about twenty different

tattoo magazines lie, where the purple-haired girl picked up her magazine she

was reading. Most of the magazines had women on the covers with tattoos

and piercings. There were covers that ranged from a woman, whom had

short black hair that spiked up with tattoos all over their arms to a woman

who had many facial piercings including her eyebrow, lip and nose. These

magazines, once again, are there to provide ideas to their customers, and they

gave me more insight into what people with tattoos look like.

Much like there was a common theme of people walking through the

door of the tattoo shop, there was a common theme of the tattoo shop itself.

The art hanging on the walls were all similar but different. Much of the

pictures on the wall are drawings of the trunk of the body, but they have

tattoos and art all over the body. Each picture displays a certain theme. One

picture is a water theme with fish and waves and the colors of the picture are

so bright and vibrant with bright blues and dark blues and greens. The shop

is very well planned out to demonstrate the power and creativity of tattoos

through their use of pictures and themes. The pictures on the walls were

expressions of art, like tattoos. Many people believe tattoos are expressions

of themselves. “Today, tattoos are used to express “’the self,’ as a religious or

political statement, to challenge society, as satanic symbolism, to imply

bondage or ownership by another, or as a form of expressive therapy”

(Nicoletti, 215-216). I have come to realize that tattoos are an expression of

someone, and through this expression my biases have been formed and

concluded that people with tattoos are more apt to showing their

individuality than someone who does not contain tattoos. People with tattoos

want to separate themselves from society and be an individual, not apart of a

group, hence the baggy clothes, gauged ears, and ink.

Before I walked out of the house every morning for school, I was

inspected to make sure that I was well put together. I was never allowed to

wear sweatpants to school, unless it was for a spirit day for my sports team.

This rule of my parents has shaped my opinions and biases of people that

dress differently than me. Clothing is an

expression of one, too. The dark colors and

skulls on the people’s clothes I observed leads

me to believe that they only listen to Hard

Metal music and that they sit in their rooms in

the dark all day, but who am I to make this

conclusion? Just because I grew up wearing

school uniforms and under a strict hold, does

not mean I can make any such conclusions, but

it is the fact that society portrays people with tattoos as rebels. People with

four or more tattoos and seven or more piercings were seen to be the most

active marijuana users, other drug users, multiple sex partners, cheating on

college work, binge drinking and have had problems with the law (Koch, 151-

161). Not only are their clothes and skin different, but their attitudes and

actions, too.

Chris kept stressing how tattoos were a way one could express

themselves, but why is it that most people have other factors that separate

them from what is “normal” in society? But the fact is, society is starting to

see tattoos more and more as “normal.” It is not only certain people now that

are getting tattoos, but a whole range of people, because they feel like “having

one is a rite of passage. A chance to be unconventional. A personal

expression. For every biker or military type with a decorated dermis, now

there's a doctor, corporate executive -- even minister -- with a message of his

or her own” (Sierpina, 1). Eventually, I will be the one that people may see as

out of place, because I am not decorated with ink.

The fact that tattoos are also common in prisons also spurs my biases.

People that go to prison are most of the time committed of crimes, crimes in

which they killed someone or they were addicted to illegal drugs and selling

them. Tattoos are especially common

among those in prison that were

addicted to heroine, because the needle

penetrating their skin gave them the

satisfying feeling of pain to help them

get over an addiction they could not

have (McCarron, 85-112). Once again,

this shows that people with tattoos are

more prone to deviance, and it continues to show that my biases against

people with tattoos is valid. Though, not everyone with a tattoo has been or

will go to prison, but just the fact that there have been studies of this shows

that it is a similarity. I wonder with everyone that has walked through the

door if they have some sort of criminal record, at this tangent, I realized I was

reading into things too much. I realize it was time for me to leave.

As my time draws to a close, I take one last look at this dust-free place. I

take one last look at the people that occupy this place. I am nothing like them,

but in a way, I kind of wish I was. They seem so

free to express themselves, something that was

not enforced in my house when I was a little girl. I

guess one could say that I never really got an

opportunity during my elementary and middle school years to express myself

through clothing, because I had to wear a uniform to school everyday. As I

went to high school I tended to try to blend in with the crowd, I did not want

to stand out; it was uncomfortable for me. I was a model of my parents, not

my own individual. Sure, I express myself through sports and my personality,

but other than that, nothing, no physical means of expression. I could wear

baggy black clothes and get tattoos all over my body, but I do not want to be

judged like I judge people with tattoos. These people, though different, I

actually look up to. They went against the standards of society, and they

became their own person. If I had the courage to face my family and friend’s

judgments, I would get a tattoo, but because I was brought up to distaste

them, I do not think twice about this idea…with that, I walk out of the shop

and across the street to 7-11 to grab a taquito.

Works Cited

Firmin, Michael W., Luke M. Tse, and Janna Foster. “Christian Student Perceptions

of Body Tattoos: A Qualitative Ananlysis.” Journal of Psychology and

Christianity 27.3 (2008): 195-204. EBSCOhost. Web. 28 Mar. 2010.

Koch, Jerome R., Alden E. Roberts, Myrna L. Armstrong, and Donna C. Owen. “Body

Art, Deviance, and American College Students.” The Social Science Journal 47

(2010): 151-161. EBSCOhost. Web. 28 Mar. 2010.

Marin, Rick and Hannah Dogen. “Turning in the Badges of Rebellion.” Newsweek

125.6 (1995): 46. EBSCOhost. Web. 28 Mar. 2010.

McCarron, Kevin. “Skin and Self-Indictment: Prison Tattoos, Race, and Heroine

Addiction.” English Studies in Canada 34.1 (2008): 85-102. EBSCOhost.

Web. 29 Mar. 2010.

Nicoletti, Angela. “Teens, Tattoos and Body Piercing.” Journal of Pediatric and

Adolescent Gynecology 17.3 (2004): 215-216. EBSCOhost. Web. 28 Mar.

2010.

Sierpina, Diane. “The Egyptians also Called it an Art.” New York Times (1997): 1.

EBSCOhost. Web. 29 Mar. 2010.