tattoos - 24% of population has one

[cmotherofpirl]

WASHINGTON - A sun shines on Dan Yu's back, alongside a swimming koi fish. A tree soon may grow on his arm. "Your body's an empty canvas, so you almost want to continue to add to it," said Yu, 28, as he showed off his tattoos.

A generation or two ago, Yu's tattoos — to say nothing of his pierced nose — probably would have placed him in a select company of soldiers, sailors, bikers and carnival workers. But no longer: The American University employee is among about 36 percent of Americans age 18 to 29 with at least one tattoo, according to a survey.

The study, scheduled to appear Monday on the Web site of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, provides perhaps the most in-depth look at tattoos since their popularity exploded in the early 1990s.

The results suggest that 24 percent of Americans between 18 and 50 are tattooed; that's almost one in four. Two surveys from 2003 suggested just 15 percent to 16 percent of U.S. adults had a tattoo.

"Really, nowadays, the people who don't have them are becoming the unique ones," said Chris Keaton, a tattoo artist and president of the Baltimore Tattoo Museum.

But body art is more than just tattoos.

About one in seven people surveyed reported having a piercing anywhere other than in the soft lobe of the ear, according to the study. That total rises to nearly one in three for the 18-to-29 set. Just about half — 48 percent — in that age category had either a tattoo or piercing.

Given their youth, that suggests the percentage of people with body art will continue to grow, said study co-author Dr. Anne Laumann, a Northwestern University dermatologist.

"They haven't had time to get their body piercing. They haven't had time to get their tattoo. They are just beginning to get into it and the number is already big," Laumann said.

So why has body art become so popular?

Laumann and others believe it allows people to broadcast to the world what they are all about. Others call it sign of rebellion or a rite of passage. The survey found nearly three-fourths of the pierced and nearly two-thirds of the tattooed made the leap before 24.

"It's a very easy way to express something that you think represents part of your identity — that you don't have to tell someone but you can just have seen," said Chelsea Farrell, 21, an American University senior from Albany, N.Y. Farrell has a tattooed fish on each hip and a Celtic knot on the small of her back.

The survey also found that what your mother may have told you about who has tattoos is true: People who drink, do drugs, have been jailed or forgo religion are more likely to be tattooed.

The same holds for piercings, though rates do not appear to vary with education, income or job category. In that sense, they appear to be "different animals," said Laumann, who has traditionally pierced ears but no tattoos.

One obvious difference is that piercings can be easily removed, unlike tattoos.

"I guess I liked the way they looked and the rush of getting them pierced, as well as them not being permanent. I can take them out and the holes will close up," said Simah Waddell, 21, of Rochester, N.Y., of her pierced nose, tongue, belly button and ears.

Waddell, who is entering her senior year at American University, said she suffered no side effects, other than the anger of her parents. The survey suggests that is not always the case for others with piercing. Nearly one in four reported medical problems, including skin infections. Among those with mouth or tongue piercings, an equal proportion reported chipped or broken teeth.

For tattoos, 13 percent of respondents had problems with healing. Generally, the Food and Drug Administration receives few reports of complications from tattoos.

The industry is regulated by state and local officials, but not the FDA, and there is no such thing as an agency-approved tattoo pigment or ink. The FDA is considering more involvement, said Dr. Linda Katz, director of agency's Office of Cosmetics and Colors.

"If you look at the fact that a quarter of adults have a tattoo, it's amazing how safe the industry is," said Dr. R. Rox Anderson, a Harvard Medical School dermatologist and tattoo removal expert. None of the survey respondents had ever had a tattoo removed, though 17 percent had considered it.

Freedom-2 LLC, a Philadelphia company co-founded by Anderson, hopes to launch the first of two lines of not-so-permanent tattoo inks next year, though without FDA approval.

To create the ink, pigments would be encapsulated in a polymer and the microcapsules injected into the skin. A tattoo would be permanent only as long as its wearer wanted it to be.

It would only take a few pulses of a laser to break open the capsules and release the ink into the body to be safely absorbed, said Martin Schmieg, the company's president and chief executive officer.

A second ink, to be available in 2008, would rely on the same technology, except the capsules would dissolve on their own. Depending on the version, the tattoos would naturally vanish after six months, 12 months or 24 months.

"It will be like wearing a tattoo like it's jewelry, where you will be able to take it off. It will just fade on its own," Schmieg said.

The telephone survey on tattoos included 253 women and 247 men and was conducted in 2004. It has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

[heavenseeker]

if i ever get a tatoo it will be of something with personal meaning not just some design that looks cool

[franciscanheart]

you'd think with those numbers that something like [url="http://www.drawinthewildcard.com/news.htm"]this[/url] would be more popular. [size=1][warning: link contains photos that may be disturbing to some and for different reasons. lack of clothing in some photos as well as 'freaks' are pictured on different parts of the site.][/size]

[fundy_mental]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' post='1002814' date='Jun 11 2006, 02:44 PM']

The survey also found that what your mother may have told you about who has tattoos is true: People who drink, do drugs, have been jailed or forgo religion are more likely to be tattooed.

[/quote]


Don't believe this at all I'm catholic, have never even been in trouble with the law let alone in prison, don't do drugs and vary rarely drink... and I have 3 tattoos one of which is actually catholic...
So I guess the person who wrote that is a middle aged balding fat man with an odour problem... I'm sick of people like this who make unjustified assumptions about how people choose to express themselves.
grr...
And It's not just me all my friends with tats don't fit those categories either!

[Moore86]

What does the Catholic Church teach about tattoos?
I know there is a referance in the Old Tetemant.
But, I was thinking of getting one of a cross, or something catholic like that and I wasnt sure if it was considered acceptable, i guess.

Thanks

[fundy_mental]

[quote name='Moore86' post='1003099' date='Jun 11 2006, 06:17 PM']
What does the Catholic Church teach about tattoos?
I know there is a referance in the Old Tetemant.
But, I was thinking of getting one of a cross, or something catholic like that and I wasnt sure if it was considered acceptable, i guess.

Thanks
[/quote]


It's fine in the old old days pilgrims would travel to Jerusalem and get inscribed with a cross to show that they had been.
This is why I got mine (the chi-rho) to show that I have been on a pilgrimmage (or journey of faith) to find my faith again.
hope that helps

[musturde]

My old Youth Minister has like 4 or 5 tattoos. One on his arm was Our Lady of Guadalupe which our music director got with him.

[Cow of Shame]

[quote name='fundy_mental' post='1003093' date='Jun 11 2006, 01:26 AM']
Don't believe this at all I'm catholic, have never even been in trouble with the blah blah blah
[/quote]

I think you got incensed & didn't read the quote carefully... "People who drink, do drugs, have been jailed or forgo religion [b]are more likely[/b] to be tattooed." It's a probability, not a predestination. It didn't say people with tattoos are more likely to be delinquents....delinquents are more likely to be tattooed

Edited June 12, 2006 by Cow of Shame

[OLAM Dad]

[quote name='fundy_mental' post='1003093' date='Jun 11 2006, 12:26 AM']
Don't believe this at all I'm catholic, have never even been in trouble with the law let alone in prison, don't do drugs and vary rarely drink... and I have 3 tattoos one of which is actually catholic...
So I guess the person who wrote that is a middle aged balding fat man with an odour problem... I'm sick of people like this who make unjustified assumptions about how people choose to express themselves.
grr...
And It's not just me all my friends with tats don't fit those categories either!
[/quote]
Unless 'the survey' = a middle aged balding fat man, I disagree.

[Cow of Shame]

Personally, I always assume that the people I disagree with are hairy, pot-smoking hippy lesbian cat ladies with large thighs who prefer Hawaiian print mumus. Smelly balding middle aged men are entirely too cliche.

Edited June 12, 2006 by Cow of Shame

[fundy_mental]

[quote name='Cow of Shame' post='1003279' date='Jun 12 2006, 11:19 AM']
I think you got incensed & didn't read the quote carefully... "People who drink, do drugs, have been jailed or forgo religion [b]are more likely[/b] to be tattooed." It's a probability, not a predestination. It didn't say people with tattoos are more likely to be delinquents....delinquents are more likely to be tattooed
[/quote]


oops yup read the wrong thing

[ironmonk]

[quote name='fundy_mental' post='1003093' date='Jun 11 2006, 01:26 AM']
Don't believe this at all I'm catholic, have never even been in trouble with the law let alone in prison, don't do drugs and vary rarely drink... and I have 3 tattoos one of which is actually catholic...
So I guess the person who wrote that is a middle aged balding fat man with an odour problem... I'm sick of people like this who make unjustified assumptions about how people choose to express themselves.
grr...
And It's not just me all my friends with tats don't fit those categories either!
[/quote]

You are the exception to the rule. :

[ironmonk]

No offense meant to anyone with them, but this is the way it is, and those with tats normally won't hear people talking about these things because people don't like to offend...

Tattoos are a permanent reminder of a temporary feeling.

Visable tattoos will greatly limit the things that one can do in life.

They always blur.

They are not considered attractive by most people, most people consider them repulsive.

Tats on chicks = not good...
Sorry to break this to anyone who might have them, but here are some general terms used to describe girls with tats depending on the location of the tat...

On the lower back (but also anywhere on the back) is known as the "tramp stamp" (every girl I know that has one of these this term fits. Definition of tramp: anyone that has sex before marriage, especially with more than one person. AKA "easy".)
On the ankle/leg can get a girl labelled "dirt leg".

As with all social terms/rules there are always expections so if you have one and are not a tramp, then obviously it doesn't refer to you, if you don't have one and are thinking of getting one please know that some people that you do not know well, will assume that you are a tramp or dirt leg. The Old Testament is clear... "Do not tattoo yourselves"... The Catholic Church has not nullified that, so it would be the wiser not to get one. If you have one, it would be wise not get anymore.

God Bless,
ironmonk

[franciscanheart]

Everyone has different ideas about tattoos. The responses I've heard from priests and religious however seem to be along the same lines: case by case basis. Why are you getting it? What does it mean to you? Have you really thought about why you're doing it?

If at the end of all of this you are doing it for the right reasons, there isn't anything the Church has said that would condemn you for having it. Ironmonk will call you a tramp but quite frankly, people that are calling you dirt leg or tramp are probably in greater error than you are (or aren't).

[ironmonk]

[quote name='hugheyforlife' post='1003642' date='Jun 12 2006, 07:56 AM']
Everyone has different ideas about tattoos. The responses I've heard from priests and religious however seem to be along the same lines: case by case basis. Why are you getting it? What does it mean to you? Have you really thought about why you're doing it?

If at the end of all of this you are doing it for the right reasons, there isn't anything the Church has said that would condemn you for having it. Ironmonk will call you a tramp but quite frankly, people that are calling you dirt leg or tramp are probably in greater error than you are (or aren't).
[/quote]


Funny how someone always has to say things that are not there.

What I posted above is what they are called... pick up a trendy magazine that talks about them... the term "tramp stamp" came from a magazine, and the term "dirt leg" is used by a bunch of people I know.

Totally ignore "expections to the rule".

Totally ignore "do not tattoo yourselves".

Totally ignore how it will limit you in life.

There is no "right" reason to get a tattoo. There might be a reason that is not wrong.

Social ignorance is not bliss... people who are thinking of getting tattoos should know what some people will think and how it can limit them. Don't be so naive.

Edited June 12, 2006 by ironmonk