Empowerment and Identity: Unraveling Tattoo Culture

Tattooing can be empowering and a rich source of identity for certain groups, such as women because a lot of women use it to express themselves, and boost their confidence. Like in the article the 24 year old female used tattoos to help overcome her hatred of her body. She wasn’t thin, nor perfect in her eyes, but adding this symbol to her body she was able to boost her self-esteem and confidence. A lot of women today think they aren’t beautiful and by adding tattoos they make themselves feel beautiful in different ways. Other people use tattoos as a symbol of permanence. Which in my opinion is absolutely awesome.
In today’s society a lot of tattoos are misinterpreted or judged. Mainly by those who are against them, or teenagers who use them to rebel. They are also a good way to challenge the traditional gender norms. Such as a deep and tangible commitment to alternative gender definitions, and other women use tattoos to conform mainstream forms of feminism. A classic example would be a man dressed in a doctor’s coat, and then revealed to have full sleeves and drives a Harley. Or a U.S. Marine goes to a diner and is covered from shoulders down in tattoos and gets treated like poop because individuals assume something about this Marine that is untrue by their assumptions

that when this same Marine goes there the next day in uniform he is treated well and respected. That there is a great example of how individuals can be misinterpreted or judged.
Yes, I have 3 tattoos.

I have a heart on my wrist, a flower on my right foot, and a heart tribal on my lower back. No, I have not had anyone misinterpret them, nor the overall significance of my identity. The sociological factors of others would be that society often associates ink with prison, or crime. For instance a low class, or uneducated, on the other hand some individuals see tattoos as a story permanently, and artfully etched for the world to see. In other words, comparing Angelina Jolie’s tattoos to a rapper/thugs tattoos. There is a vast difference between them both. I think that tattoos are a very sacred and symbolic piece of art. I wouldn’t change the decisions I made to ink my

body
If I didn’t have any tattoos I would probably end up getting one eventually. The reason I say that is because there are lots of different forms of art. With today’s advancements, tattoo artist are able to create amazing pieces. My favorite kind of tattoos are the water color ones. The way they blend the colors is pretty nifty (not sure if that’s a word or not, but I feel as if it flows well with what I am saying). There are others like, certain flowers, or shapes. I feel like you can place a symbolic meaning to almost anything. The sociological factors that shapes my decision is the fact I find tattoos a beautiful piece of art that I could display proudly among my body of where I decide to place the piece of art.