Tattoos and Piercings Essay Sample free essay sample

When you look at person and see a tattoo or piercing. what do you believe? Make you immediately see this individual in a negative visible radiation or make you merely see it as a manner in which the person is showing themselves? Tattoos and piercings are a signifier of gestural communicating that can pass on many things to us. Gestural communicating is defined as â€Å"all manners of communicating except linguistic communication. including nonword vocals. gestures. usage of infinite. clip. artefacts. and smell† ( Warren and Fassett 201 ) . These different signifiers of gestural communicating. such as tattoos and piercings. aid to portray one’s alone image and manner to society. Tattoos and piercings are both signifiers of organic structure alteration that have been used to assist place persons for many old ages. Dating all the manner back to 700 A. D. . the ancient Mayans adept ear. lip. cheek. and rhinal piercings. Womans from the Maori civilization used mentum tattoos to mean muliebrity and the ability to bear kids and marry. We will write a custom essay sample on Tattoos and Piercings Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In add-on. Romans used tattooing to tag felons and Eskimos used lip piercings to typify muliebrity ( Rush. 30-36 ) . One other illustration of ancient signifiers of organic structure alteration dates back to 1700 Japan. In this ancient Nipponese civilization. tattooing was considered as an aesthetic art signifier. In their civilization. the royalty wore flowery vesture and as a consequence the in-between category adorned themselves with luxuriant full organic structure tattoos ( Lineberry ) . For many old ages. tattoos and piercings have been used to assist place people in society. Although organic structure alteration has been used for many old ages as an identifier. the utilizations of tattoos and piercings has become much more complex in today’s civilization. Tattoos and piercings were one time believed to be relegated to the borders of society. The lone people you would see with tattoos and piercings were rockerss. military. and crewmans. In today’s civilization. they are much more platitude ( Atkinson. 36 ) . As this signifier of organic structure alteration has become more prevailing. the logical thinking and significance behind these tattoos and piercings have become more complicated. It no longer serves as a simple identifier but serves as a manner to look into someone’s life at their values and certain facets of one’s life. In order to analyze the value and facets of one’s life that they are pass oning with these organic structure alterations. you must look at the concluding behind these tattoos and piercings. Some say it’s merely exciting and enjoyable or they may merely be one of those people who are leaping on the bandwagon. There are others who see it in the context of art. ritual or self-expression. They may acquire a tattoo or piercing as a commemoration of a household member or friend. testimonial to person or something. feeling of belonging to a group. manner statement. individualism. or as something religious. Those who disagree with tattoos and piercings see it as a symbol of risk-taking behaviour. ego injury and personality upsets ( Atkinson. 56 ) . Whatever the ground behind an individuals’ tattoo or piercing. it is directing out a message to people giving them a first feeling of who you are. When analyzing what a tattoo or piercing is pass oning. you must besides look at the existent procedure itself. Not merely is the existent tattoo or piercing pass oning something to us. but the existent procedure of acquiring a tattoo or piercing is besides pass oning something to us. It may be something every bit simple as an person that enjoys the hurting that comes along with acquiring a tattoo or piercing. Geting a tattoo or piercing may besides be meaning an of import phase in someone’s life. Make you retrieve a clip when you were a immature stripling and made a determination merely for that fact that you were old plenty to do your ain determination? There are some people who believe that acquiring a tattoo or piercing may be an illustration of this. There are those who turn 18 and want to acquire a tattoo or piercing merely because their parents have told them they can’t their whole lives. Although this may be seen as a roseola determination. it is still pass onin g something to us ( Rubin ) . It is pass oning to us that this individual has come to a life altering minute in their lives’ when they are able to do determinations on their ain. We live in a universe today where we can no longer suit our individualities into simple boxes. It is non every bit simple as black or white. male or female. or homosexual or heterosexuals. What we one time thought were simple boxes now overlap ( Warren and Fassett 207 ) . It is of import to understand that these boxes are overlapping so that we do non do prejudged stereotypes about persons. We must pay close attending to all signifiers of communicating in order to assist place an person. By analyzing signifiers of communicating like tattoos and piercings. it can give us hints to an persons societal position. personality. spiritual association. associations with organisations and sexual orientation. Plants Cited Atkinson. Michael. Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of Body Art. Canada. University of Toronto Press Incorporated. 2003. Lineberry. Cate. â€Å"Tattoos: The Ancient and Mysterious History† Smithsonianmag. com. Smithsonian. 1 Jan. 2007. 16 Feb. 2013. Rubin. Lawrence. â€Å"Tattoos and Body Piercings: Adolescent Self-expression or Self Mutilation† Psychologytoday. com. Pschology Today. 2 Jul. 2009. 16 Feb. 2013. Rush. John A. Spiritual Tattoo: A Cultural History of Tattooing. Piercing. Scarification. Branding. Implants. Berkeley. California. Frog. Ltd. 2005. Warren. John T. and Deanna L. Fasset. Communication: A Critical/Cultural Introduction. Thousand Oaks. Sage Publications. 2011. Print.