Taboo...oh wait, Tattoo...and Piercings too
Body art is certainly a way to express yourself, but is there a point at which interpretation and reaction to that body art take away from the intended effect?
So when you look at a person with tattoos what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Or better yet, what was the first thing that you thought when saw the lady that had all of the satanic tattoos? For the people in my class, it was pretty much “Oh my God! What the hell is wrong with her?” But, is that what we should have thought? I think that the severity of the tattooing changes the way we view the person. I kind of like the little tattoos that are unobtrusive. When the tattoos become big and overpowering then I start to think dang, is there anything better that they could have done with that skin?
Piercings are somewhat the same way. One or two on the ears I am fine with, when you start getting more that three on a side…that is getting to be too much. And then there are the belly button, tongue, eyebrow, and lip piercings. Nothing against people who have those piercings, but I don’t like them at all. For one (personal opinion as a guy) a girl with a tongue or lip ring would be very uncomfortable to kiss. But that still has nothing on the people, like the Satanist lady from the website we looked at in class. I guess that my issue with facial piercing really doesn’t compare with the shock that I feel when I see something like that.
But is that what we are meant to think when we see that? Is that portraying the person, or is it done for the attention?
Back home I had a couple students who literally walked away from a life in the refugee camps of Sudan. One of their cultural practices is scarification. This process starts when the young person becomes an adult and is done to show lineage, and accomplishments. Due to misunderstanding the scars, the school district stopped the family from continuing the scarification. The family didn’t know what was wrong with continuing what they had been accustomed to, but because the school district drew the wrong conclusions about the scars, they “interfered” in something they knew nothing about.
To tell the truth, I really see nothing wrong with the act of decorating your body. What I don’t like about it is when the person who is decorated is completely decorated (e.g. lizard man, or the woman who turned herself into a cat with whiskers and everything) because everybody—myself included—will almost always react in someway contrary to what that person would like. People don’t necessarily look at them for the people they are, they see the outward appearance and they can’t get past that. They are defined by the tattoo and body modifications.
Comments