Piercing And Tattoos example essay topic

African American Interpersonal Communication through Body Art Tattoos make an individual's self definition more complete by visually communicating gang membership, status, rank and personal accomplishment (Phelan 277). Tattooing and body piercing has been practiced in almost every culture around the world, and for thousands of years. (Greif, Hewitt 367) The African American culture use body art as a method of nonverbal interpersonal communication. The word tattoo became part of the English vocabulary in 1769 when James Cook visited the Pacific Island of Tahiti. Both sexes, he wrote", paint their bodies". Tattoo as it is called in their language, this is done by inlaying the color of black under their skins in such a manner as to be indelible.

Some have ill designed figures of men birds or dogs, the women generally have this figure Z simply on every joint of their fingers and toes (Shukla 234). Tattooing and body piercing are increasing, especially among young college students. Yet in Western culture, tattooing and piercing often have been considered taboo, perhaps stemming from the Bible's Old Testament citing in Leviticus 19: 28 and Deuteronomy 14: 1 that prohibits the marking of ones flesh in celebration of other gods (Greif, Hewitt 367). Tattoo's reflect a persons past career objectives. To analyze the moral careers communicated by these tattoos, we identify and elaborate upon five distinct phases in a prison gang moral career: pre initiate, initiate, member, veteran, and supervisor (Phelan 277). The major reasons tattoos are given are traditionally, body art has served to attract the opposite sex, boost self esteem, ward off or invoke spirits, indicate social position or marital status, identify with a particular age or gender group or mar a rite of passage, such as puberty or marriage.

It is this sort of strictly prescribed, highly ritualistic decoration that Beckwith and Fisher depict in African ceremonies". We have tried to show how body art is relevant to every stage of development, from birth to death", says Fisher. But while the traditional, often spiritually based versions of bod mod are quickly disappearing among indigenous peoples, the impulses behind personal adornment remain unchanged: attracting a mate, signaling status, declaring allegiance to a group (Lemonick 75). For men, the tattoo is a public identity symbol, and their first is usually on their arm. Women reserve their tattoo for a more intimate audience, and they usually choose their breast. For most, the tattoo is symbolic of their individuality and having withstood a painful and exciting event.

Tattooers enjoy being noticed, although they reveal their tattoos selectively (Davis 471). Anthropologists describe body art or modification as a way of identifying oneself as being a part of a group, a tribe, or a gang: of denoting one's financial status or marital status: or even as a way of beautifying the body (Grief, Hewitt 368). Implicit here is the theme of deliverance-the redemptive passage from pain and uncertainty wherein the tattoo serves as both silent witness and lucky charm. Yet sailors and navel men have long applied symbols to their bodies, in an almost magical way, to guide their vessels and protect themselves, to deflect the temptations of a faraway women and even alleviate the pain of flogging. Soldiers, bikers and underworld gangs continue to adorn themselves with a range of symbols and ritual inscriptions: badges of rank, rites of passages, emblems, slogans and whimsical vision. And as appalling and savage as the tattooed prisoner appeared to 19th century criminologists, who wrestled to catalogue the criminal condition, it was well understood that the expansive repertoire of marks and mutilations universally made in prison bore than idle distraction.

Professor Cesare Lombroso, a leading criminal theorist of the 1890's, cited vengeance, vanity and superstitions as prime motivations behind these so called " ideographic hieroglyphs". It was well accepted that tattoo represented a cryptic form of expression and a way of overcoming a fierce and unfortunate plight (Crockett 15). For many centuries, body piercings have been evident. Many from pirates to Roman Centurions, have had body piercing- sometimes symbolizing royalty, bravery, virility, or as a rite of passage (Greif, Hewitt 368). Why do people alter their body, sometimes painfully and permanently with body piercing Enid Schildkrout, curator of the show and chair of museums division of anthropology, thinks there are many reasons: "To be Human". For beauty, as a sign of change or rebellion or conformity, to show status, to mark a moment, to be able to wear a certain ornament, to identify with spirits or deities, to show group membership, to show gender distinctions.

Body piercing reflects what one society believes is beautiful, expensive, noble, religious, or of high status. An outside culture may react quite differently to beards, tattoos, black teeth, or oddly shaped bodies (Tanne 65). The African American culture use body art as method of nonverbal interpersonal communication. In the future tattooing and body piercing is going to become more and more popular.

Tattooing and body piercing are increasing, especially among college students. A study of 766 tattooed and / or body pierced college students across the United States, shows that each student had something they were symbolizing with their tattoo or body piercing (Grief, Hewitt 368). The creatively pierced, multiple tattooed teenagers who hang out at every mall in America probably do not realize it and neither undoubtedly do their unsettled parents- but they belong to a tradition as old as recorded history- probably much older. Ever since our Neolithic ancestors invented art tens of thousands of years ago, humans have been painting, sculpting and otherwise decorating everything in sight. The human body is just the nearest and most intimate canvas. There is no known culture in which people do not paint, pierce, tattoo, reshape or simply adorn their body (Lemonick 76).

While teenagers use pierced tongues and the like to set themselves apart, some 20's to 30's have latched on to the " neo tribal" look an amalgam of facial tattoos, piercing and " native " hairdos, and jewelry that barrows from culture from the South Pacific to the Amazon. Much of this serves the same counterculture function that long hair did in the 60's, observes Rufus Camphausen, an author based in the Netherlands who has written extensively on tribal customs. He says " These symbols are a way of saying, ' I do not belong to the supermarket society". Tattooing and body piercing are getting out of hand.

They symbolize something the first one or two a person gets. Then their are those people who have piercing and tattoos all over their bodies. A few tattoos or piercings are fine. The tattoos that show that a person loves someone or the piercing that symbolizes bravery in a person is fine.

Tattooing and body piercing help and hurt a person in communication. While some people might know the symbols or piercing they might not know what they stand for. They might not know the true meaning a person is wanting them to get out of this. To make people more aware of symbols and piercing out there, there should be an educational path to rely on for this. Work Cited Page Crockett, Gary".

The Convict Tattoo" Social Alternatives 17 (Oct 1998): 14-16 Davis, Phil". New Ethnographies" Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 19 (Jan 1991) 471-474 Ferguson, Henry "Body Piercing" BMJ: British Medical Journal 18 (Dec 1999) 1627-1630 Greif, Judith; Walter Hewitt. "Tattooing and Body Piercing" Clinical Nursing Research 8 (Nov 1999) 368-386 Lemonick, Michael D. "Body Art". New York Times 22 Nov 1999 Phelan, Michael P". Prison Gang Members' Tattoos as Identity Work" Symbolic Interaction 21 (1998) 277-299 Silva, Paul. Scarification in the American Culture.

U of Michigan P, 1999 Shukla, Pravina. "The Human Canvas" Natural History 108 (Nov 1999) 80-82 Tanne, Janice Hopkins. "Body Art: Marks of Identity" British Medical Journal. 320 (Jan 2000) 64 Wise, Amy".

Gangs in America" Symbolic Interactions 23 (2000) 34-46

Bibliography

Work Cited Page Crockett, Gary". Gangs in America" Symbolic Interactions 23 (2000) 34-46.