Tattoos & The Presentation of the Self [HW #32]

"Show, don't tell"- this is what we've been taught; this is what we do. Throughout our lives, we project various aspects of our identity to the world. Tattoos is just one of those methods of projection. Rather than going around saying, "I think _____ is cool! I think _____ is cool!..." (which would seem desperate, and therefore uncool), people get tattoos to portray that. Tattoos signify to other people- give hints about what the hosts' preferences are, without telling the whole story. But the best part about having a tattoo isn't that it projects our identities. The best part is that it constantly projects our identities in one of the clearest ways. The tattoos are always active, without any additional efforts required.

Tattoos show what the person thinks is cool, but more importantly they show what's the person's package. It sends out signals about the culture- the "tribe" that he or she is a part of. As John Fanning said, people (at least, he) get tattoos to "be in that world", whatever that world is. The tattoos are not only a signifier of what world you're in, but, in some cases, your ticket into that world as well.

Just as farmers give brandings to their cows to mark their ownships, certain cultures do the same with people using tattoos. Rather than saying "I am into this kind of stuff," it's more like the tattoos are saying, "Property of this kind of stuff." So perhaps, tattoos aren’t our tickets into certain cultures, but it’s the culture’s ticket into our bubbles.

If there are people who have tattoos, there are also people who don’t. And the absence of tattoos says just as much about a person as the presence of a tattoo. Your clean, bare skin is still an emblem- one that represents you're part of the purists culture. Tattoos are a norm for different kinds of misfits, whereas the clear skin is the norm for the mainstream characters in our society. Although, the lack of tattoo doesn't automatically scream out, "I'm one of people who would rather not taint their bodies." but it does send vibe. With or without a tattoo, your body has become an accessory that projects your interest in whatever culture or fashion.