Tattoos Trend or Taboo
Com 150
February 6, 2010

Tattoos Trend or Taboo While in the past only bikers, hoodlums, and trashy, ladies had tattoos, more people are acquiring tattoos.

Tattoos; one either has them or does not; one either likes them or do not. I myself have 15; I am not a biker, a hoodlum nor a “trashy lady.” After my first tattoo, a simple heart on my shoulder I was addicted at this moment have 15 tattoos. Most have meaning, like the peace sign with 9-11-01 on my ankle. . Tattoos have been around for centuries; take, for example “The Iceman”, which is a 5300-year - mummy who was found in 1991. This mummy had in excess of 50 tattoos (Levy, 2009). Even before the “Iceman” was revealed a Mummy was found to date back to 2000 BCE. In addition tattooing instruments dated as far back as 10000 BC have been discovered (Steven, 2000). Tattoos have been used worldwide in a variety of ways. The Maori of New Zealand used tattoos to tell: rank (both for trial and birth order), status, and number of marriages, profession, and reputation (Levy, 2009, p. 13-14). They used tattoos as form of communication telling others what ones rank, and status were. The Native Americans used tattoos as a way to indicate bravery, but also as a way of marking slaves. In Asia, Japanese women primarily were those that had tattoos; they would have them on the backs of their hands as well as around their mouths more for decoration not for status. Some say they had the tattoos around the mouth to prevent wrinkles. Over time more men in Japan started to acquire tattoos or “Irezumi” that means “putting in ink” (Levy, 2009, p. 14). In contrast while some believed tattoos were a mark on honor the Greeks and Romans believed that tattoos were only for “barbarians,” yet