I need a title?

sociolab:

claydols:

who decided that you need some deep back story in order to justify your tattoo if you think a deer is gonna look cool as hell on your arm then go ahead and get it tattooed

I’m going to be that annoying person who answers the question…

From:  ”TOWARDS A PRO-SOCIAL CONCEPTION OF CONTEMPORARY TATTOOING: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BENEFITS OF BODY MODIFICATION” by DAVID STROHECKER 

For instance, DeMello (2000) shows how the “Tattoo Renais- sance” of the 1970s (Rubin 1988) changed the face of the tattoo community in America. DeMello shows how middle-class hippies, punks and neo-tribalists appropriated tattooing—formerly a practice reserved for working-class white males—and turned it into a lucrative art form (2000). Whereas the original clientele were bikers, servicemen, carnival workers, and other working- class men, the new tattoo culture is more varied and diverse. The enthusiasts come from a variety of backgrounds and now order large, ornate, custom pieces specifically designed for themselves rather than choosing from the simple, standardized flash draw- ings on the walls of tattoo shops (Atkinson 2002a, 2004; DeMello 2000; Sanders 1988; Sanders 2008; Vail 1999).

There emerged a new emphasis on the artistic merit of the tattoo artists as well, as more middle-class students with art degrees began buying tattoo machines and opening up shops in well-travelled urban locales. This method of self-teaching strictly contradicted the traditional method of apprenticeship, mentoring, and experience (Atkinson 2002a; DeMello 2000; Sanders 2008). And with the increasing visibility of tattooing among celebrities (e.g., Joan Baez, Janis Joplin, Peter Fonda, Flip Wilson, and Cher), more middle-class youth began to get tattooed as a means of accentuating their socio-political beliefs, lifestyles, and desires to be unique or different (DeMello 2000).

But such changes were not without conflict. DeMello keenly points out the class conflicts that have emerged within the tat- too community as more and more middle-class artists and clients have appropriated the art form from working-class subcultures. She draws on “highbrow” (middle-class art magazines) and “low- brow” (biker magazines) texts to compare the discursive strate- gies employed by each group in the conflict over the definition of the art form. She shows how writers of each group seek to control the art form and claim authenticity for themselves. Finally, she shows how the newer, middle-class clients and artists seek to distance themselves from the traditional, working-class connotations of their art form by imbuing each of their tattoos with deep emotional meaning as well as emphasizing the rational, methodical, and well-thought decisions behind each of their tattoos (2000). This acts as a discursive strategy to counter the still-prevalent stereotypes of tattooing as impulsive, tasteless, or indicative of social deviance.