read my body - human body in contemporary culture

8/17/2019 Read my body - human body in contemporary culture

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Human body in contemporary culture

“Read my body”Mentor: dr Agnieszka MaJ

Student: Ilija Nanic

University o !ie Sciences" #aculty o Social Sciences" $epartment o Sociology "

%arsa&" 'oland" May ()*+,

1. Introduction


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human body in contemporary cultureread my body

Tattoo is a form of body art that have been practiced throughout history by various

cultures. Originating from the Tahitian word tattau , meaning "to mark," tattoos are

relatively permanent marks or designs on the skin. An electric needle injects colored

pigment into small, deep holes made in the skin to form the tattoo.

Research was done in order to gain more insights in the tattoo eperience and attitude

towards it among the students enrolled in !RA#$ % student echange program.

&nterviewees were asked to speak about their motivation to get a tattoo, the whole decision

process, and also, to describe possible changes that may have happened after getting atattoo, both internal, and eternal. 'ata was gathered via online survey, answers to

(uestions were provided in written form.

&nterview form consisted of two parts)

*irst part was used to collect basic information about the interviewee) e, age, occupation.

Also, interviewees were given choice to describe themselves in form of a short tet or by

using keywords.

econd, the main part, consistent of + (uestions, closely related to a subject)

“ 1. What was your motivation for getting a tattoo? How long did it took from the basic idea to ink

on your skin? “ ;

“2.What changed in your life after getting a tattoo? “ ;

“2.1. What was the reaction of your friends and family?”;

“ 2.2. Have you e!erienced any changes about your attitude and"or !ersonality?”;

“#. How many tattoos do you have? What do they re!resent?”;

“#.1. $f you have more than one tattoo% can you !lease describe your decision making !rocess.




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&id you !laned to get more than one? 're you !lanning to get more tattoos?”;

“(. &id you feel any signs of regret about getting your tattoos?”;

“). Well% tell me what $*ve missed to ask about. 'ny interesting stories about your tattoo% funny

situations involving tattoos+ ,!ress yourself% if you feel like it.”.

&nterpretation and choice of data to be taken as a representative was completely

subjective process of the author. The main idea was to highlight most interesting answers,

in order to make this article easy reading material. -owever, complete data spreadsheet is

included within this article, and it is open for further interpretation.

2. General information about the interviewees

There were / students who 0lled the survey. Age span of interviewees was in the range

from 1 to 22 years old. 3ut mayority of interviewees are between 4+ years old. #ajority

of them are female 56 female and only male interviewees7.

2University o !ie Sciences" #aculty o Social Sciences" $epartment o Sociology "



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Their occupations) -hysical education% ,conomics% ivil ,ngineering /eterinary medicine%

0anagement of ,nvironmental esources% 'dvertising strategy and -ublic relations%

$nternational communication% ales and 0arketing% 3ogistics% onsumer ,conomic% 4ood science%

'rts and 5rying to survive.

8hen asked to describe themselves using keywords or short tet, most of them would

describe themselves as) cra6y% curious% o!en minded% adventurous% young% wild at heart%

freedom seeking. They also love to travel. ome of them consider themselves !essimists.

There are drama 7ueens, and dreamers.

Interviewee #4, describe herself as )989 year old woman tra!!ed in the body of 22 years old

girl% struggling to get her shit together and one day work in !arasitology lab doing weird

necro!sies and living in a house with 2 dogs and a rat :or !ossible a cri!!led raven. “

Interviewee #8 thinks of herself as) :!tremely curious, motivated and usually positive. &

really enjoy my life, & think that it;s important to 0nd a balance between all the duties and

spare time. & work really hard but always try to 0nd time for my books, travels and my

friends. & feel constantly torn between the need to leave and discover and the longing for

roots and stability. 3oth of my tattoos epress this feeling 5#atrioska for my Russian origins

and *ernweh 4


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3.1. What was your motivation for ettin a tattoo! "ow lon did it

too from the basic idea to in on your sin!

&nterviewee #1


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of big change. #' 0nds satisfaction in admiring her tattoo “ometimes it makes me ha!!y

when i can look at it”

3.2.1. What was the reaction of your friends and family!

&nterviewee #'% “ 0y father knew about it since the beginning. Aut when i came home he wasn*t

talking to me the whole weekend. 5han here was the second !hase + he was searching and

looking for some information about the tattoo removal by laser ... than there was the third

!hase + he looked at it and told me B it*s cute % but you should get something smaller maybe a

snake ? B it was funny even to him... o now everybody is okay with it . 0y friends were Cust

admiring it and looking at it .5hatDs it .. but i donDt like strange !eo!le who are always asking me

about the meaning of the tattoo”

Reactions of surroundings were di@erent, usually parents reacted negatively at 0rst, and in

almost all cases friends of the similar age as interviewees were supportive towards

tattooing.

#11 “0ost of my friends already have tattoos% so $ it was Cust normal. 0y father didn*t like the

idea% but my tattoo is in such !lace% that he won*t see it. He knows about tattoo% but what he

doesn*t see% doesn*t bother him.” % #14 “,very of my tattoos% ece!t the last one% was

undergoing !recheck with my !arents. 0ost of my friends are o!en towards tattoos% but some of

them have some !roblems understanding it% and acce!ting. “

There were no etreme cases of disapproval, ecept maybe the one from the case of

interviewee #', who claims) “$ think my mother wouldn*t care and my grandmother would

disinherit me.”

/University o !ie Sciences" #aculty o Social Sciences" $epartment o Sociology "



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3.2.2. "ave you e)*erienced any chanes about your attitude and+or

*ersonality!

#ost of the interviewees stated that they didnt notice any changes about their personality

or attitude. #13 claims that she had some changes but doesnt really relate them to tattoos,

#14 feels more con0dent after getting a tattoo.

3.3. "ow many

tattoos do you

have! What do

they re*resent!

#14 “ Enly 1% for now.

5he one that $ have re!resents my life% future and !resent.”

#' “Fust one but i want to e!and . $t re!resent the time when i became balanced. it includes

many motives . Aut the meaning is the !eace in my head . $ have a tree and my veins . 5he

s!ecic tree where i used to hang out. $t is still there .. at that !oint i reali6ed many things . there

is a bit more about it but that*s my secret


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#13 “$ have ) tattoos. 4eni+ re!resenting idea< B>o matter how bad it is% it will !assB% nowake%

as ideal of creating something uni7ue% :$ know that the idea about every snowake is uni7ue is a

myth% but still% meta!hor is still there. abbit footste!% homage to best friends% a gear% homage to

my father% moth as homage to my grandfather.”

3.3.1. If you have more than one tattoo- can you *lease describe your

decision main *rocess. id you *laned to et more than one! /re

you *lannin to et more tattoos!

#1 :$ made them both at one time. $f i*m making one why not two that was what i thought. $

denitely am !lanning to get more=”

#6 “4or now% $ want to get two tattoos. 's $*m fond of nature% i also want motives descending

from there. $*d like to get the silhouette of a lea!ing wolf on my ribs% re!resenting freedom%

lonesomeness% but also living in a !ack. 'nd $ want to get a !engiun on my but because why

the hell not”

#( “ $*m sure that i will have more tattoos. $ like this way of e!ress myself. $ feel that getting

tattoos is now some !art of me


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3.4. id you feel any sins of reret about ettin your tattoos!

Done of interviewees reported any signs of regret for getting a tattoo.

#2 :>o!e”% #3 :>o!e”% #':>ot a little bit=% #1, “'bsolutely not=”.

3.'. Well- tell me what I0ve missed to as about. /ny interestin stories

about your tattoo- funny situations involvin tattoos )*ress

yourself- if you feel lie it.

#1, “ 5attoo artist who $ wanted to do it for me was doing some other tattoo and his trainee

did my tattoo. 'fter maybe 19 minutes the tattoo artist came to look does it look and he was

shaking his head and said not like that% not like that. $ was so scared that this trainee is making

something really bad. $n the end tattoo was really good and $ really liked it.”

#4 ” Enly idea comes to my mind is coloring my friends back tattos with water colors during a

lecture. “

#5 “0y friends made a lot nicknames to my tattoo. when you cover half of it% it kind a looks

like a !otato


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4. onclusion

Fudging the answers provided by interviewees, it seems that tattoos are de0nitely widely

accepted among !RA#$ students, and even the parent generation of interviewees has,

in general, positive attitude or at least neutral attitude towards it.

Regarding occupation of interviewees, we can draw the conclusion that people from all

kinds of di@erent areas of interests e(ually enjoy the practice of tattoos. -owever, we can

distinguish two dierent a**roaches when it comes to matter of planning and decision

process)

- hort decision process, often impulsive decision

- >ong planning and decision process, sometimes as long as few years

'. 5eferences%

- >ink to online survey used to gather information for this research)

https)GGdocs.google.comGformsGdGwHD2


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read my body - human body in contemporary culture

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