OF TATTOOS

Maureen J. Bailey

 

“Hey, it’s your bod,” | said when
Deedee, my niece, asked what |
thought of her plan to get a tattoo. “But
do your homework.”

“Homework?” she said, surprised.
“What do you mean? You’re my Aunt.
You’re supposed to say, ‘Don’t you
know what kind of people get tattoos?”

“| mean | don’t know much about
tattooing so check it out and don’t do
anything you'll regret. Have you
decided what design you want and
where to put it?

“Well, I’ve been thinking about my
Dad and | thought of having the picture
engraved on his tombstone tattooed on
my shoulder.”

Deedee was just eight years old
when her Dad, a navy veteran, died. |
was there. | know the pain she felt.
The navy’s life ring and anchor symbol
is engraved on his tombstone.

“Are you sure that’s what you want?”
| asked. “It sounds morbid to me.”

“Pretty sure. I’ve had a lot of coun-
selling. | think I’ve dealt with it. | love
my Dad and | want the tattoo to show
that | love him. I’m going to redesign
part of it, though.’

Two years and many drafts later,
Deedee has decided to put off getting
tattooed. Like many people, she found
herself wrestling with confusion.

Tattooing, an ancient form of
physical body alteration, is as silent
and mystical as it is overt and raucous.
The practice of tattooing is embedded
in controversy. Are tattooed people
deviants, or not?

Dennis Rodman, the 35-going-on-
17-year-old, 6 foot 8 inch fluorescent-
haired forward for the Chicago Bulls,
leads the NBA in rebounds and
tattoos—when he’s not under suspen-
sion, that is. Actor Johnny Depp
trashes his skin as easily as he does a
hotel room. Scantily clad Cher is filmed
from behind to catch the designs on
her butt. In contrast to the defiance of
the stars, the cashier at my local
garden shop sports a tattoo of a guitar
in brown and gold hues on her left
shoulder. Her face glows as she tells
customers, “I can’t imagine a day in my
life when | won’t be in love with my
guitar.”

Reasons for wanting a tattoo are
numerous; the psycho-pathology
behind them varies greatly from person
to person. Emphasis today on creativ-
ity and improved techniques has made
tattoos less of a fad and more of an
artwork, often luring otherwise reticent
buyers into the market.

But tattoos are not for everyone. As
one tattooist said, “Before it appears
on the skin it lives in the mind.” So how
do you make, or help someone else

make, the decision to get a tattoo?

1. Give yourself an attitude check.
Prisoners are known to practice self-
tattooing; hence, the term “jailhouse
tattoo” came to be. It’s a way of
showing they have control in an
environment where guards control their
every move. Rebelliousness and a
need for control are, however, not the
best reasons for marring your beauty.
They are the reasons behind a lot of
regrettable tattoos, though.

It’s a lot easier to change your
moods, worldviews and opinions than
it is to change tattoos, so think twice
before carving them into your flesh.
Ask yourself why you want a tattoo,
what it means to you, and if a tattoo is
the best form of self-expression to suit
your purpose.

lf you find tattooing incomprehensi-
ble and someone confides to you that
he or she wants to get a tattoo,
remember that an angry “Don’t you
know what kind of people get tattoos?”
tends to alienate, not help. Until that
moment you liked that person, right?
So don’t judge. Offer to go along and
help check out tattoo shops and collect
information. It could challenge your
traditional views. But watch it! You may
come away wearing one yourself.