Some people would say that this phrase is an oxymoron, that any tattoo or bodily ink is an indication of some sort of deviant behavior, may it be criminal or something out of the norm. Lambroso believed that the more tattoos a person had, the less sensitive to pain that person was, which in turn made them less developed and more inclined to the criminal lifestyle and the more tattoos a person had the more correlation to crime they also had,
“tattooing is practiced by them to a far larger extent than by normal persons….whether thieves or murderers, show the highest percentage of tattooing…another fact worth mentioning is the extent to which criminals are tattooed” (Lambroso, pg 244).
This discussion of tattoos reminded me of this clip from one of my favorite shows MSNBC LOCKUP which is a documentary about Americas Prisons. Lockup Tattoo Clip.
This clip shows two prisoners with had their eyeballs filled with color ink. I believe that certain places on a body to get tattoos on are more socially acceptable then others. If you see somebody with a tattoo on their forearm for example you are going to assume that they were/are a sailor or had some sort of affiliation with the Navy. If you see a tattoo of someones name on a persons upper arm, its generally their parents, someone who was close to them that passed away, maybe even a significant others name. My point is that certain tattoos most people will see and will barely have a reaction to, because they are socially acceptable to an extent. Me personally if I see a person with a tattoo above their neckline I automatically have preconceived notions about that person, usually with negative connotations, mainly because a person with a big skull on his forehead is not going to be working a nice corporate job but will probably be selling drugs on the corner, now although that is not always the case, that is the impression that they project.
Tattoos, such an interesting topic to talk about; one generation views tattoos one way, can also be seen in a different way. I would say in today’s world, tattoos are seen as more of a sign of individuality rather than deviant… depending on the type of tattoo and where the tattoo is located on the body.
In watching the video I couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit, when those guys had their eyes tattooed. This is a definite portrayal of what Lombroso was probably referring to; you would think they would be less sensitive to pain and live a more criminal life style.
A point that I would like to make about tattoos is that I believe getting a tattoo is part of a person’s human nature. Isn’t it? Growing up I used to watch all sports baseball, basketball, football, and most of my favorite athletes in these sports had tattoos. I couldn’t wait to get one. Parents, however, aren’t usually thrilled to hear that their son/ daughter want a tattoo. So the answer you expect to hear is NO. And when someone tells you NO, it usually makes you curious and try to do it anyway, I understand this is not true for all cases of tattooing. However, it can be viewed as a way to feel free, to be able to finally do as you choose, express yourself freely without hearing the word NO. I agree that somebody working in an office is not going to have a tattoo on his neck or his eyeballs tattooed, but it just another reason to think about why people get tattooed.
I believe the people getting there eye’s tattooed are looking for a way to stand out in prison.Since many inmates have tattoos it is harder to stand out just by getting a few common main stream tattoos. In order to stand out in prison you need to use drastic measures that will probably make people watching say “WOW”. Did I just see that? Another reason they may have gone to such extreme measures is the desire to be heard and noticed outside of the prison walls. We all love attention and some people go to great length’s in order to get noticed and receive some attention. It isn’t always positive attention, many times it can be negative publicity. But as they always say “no publicity is bad publicity”.
Personally I think I’m going to go with a more “regular” tattoo perhaps a lion on my arm or a few Chinese letters on my leg. The only concern I have with getting a tattoo is what happens if you wake up one morning and decide you don’t like it anymore?? Taking this thought one step further what happens if the inmates with ink all over there eyeballs decide they don’t like how it looks or feels??? I think that will be a tough one to get rid of. Sometimes people decide to get a tattoo after a night of heavy drinking or because of a temporary urge. I think getting a tattoo should be something that involves serious thought and preferably a deep reason behind it. I was drinking a few beers in Coney Island a few years ago and I saw an individual with about 16 clowns tattooed all over his body. I wonder how he will explain that one if anyone asks him the meaning behind his tattoos. He may surprise us and have a unique story about each and every clown. You never know!!!!!
Although I don’t have any tattoos I’ve always been passionate about them. I think using your body as a canvas to express yourself is a beautiful art. This is not to say every and anywhere you place a tattoo on your body is “okay.” My reason for this is as you mentioned on your blog a tattoo above neckline just sends the wrong message. Whether that’s because of the society we live in is almost irrelevant since we can’t, in most cases, do anything about it. That being said, sad but true society imposes on us rules that in order to survive we just have to follow.
On a different note, tattooing your eyes pitch black or blood shot red is just..call me crazy but almost ridiculous. I mean I can understand the need to be different since sometimes coping with society can be overwhelming and one needs to find its true self, but coloring your eyes just so “no one else in the world has them” c’mon that’s just disturbing, let alone painful! I’m not trying to sound judgmental or anything but that just struck me as pure lunacy.
I truly have nothing against tattoos, but I believe that is because in the time that I grew up that makes it socially acceptable to have tattoos. I actually don’t have any tattoos on my body but that is because I dont know what I would tattoo. I feel like its a big step since it is going to be a permanent on your body, something that you will have to live with for the rest of your life. I have plenty of friends my age that have tattoos and I’m surrounded by people that have tattoos everyday. But it still hasn’t affected me in any way that made me want one.
My coworker for example, grew up in the 1980s and has a different view of tattoos. He believes that it is not pure and nobody should ruin their body by permanently inking their body. He was raised in that way because of his father who installed that into him. He thinks tattoos are dirty and only criminals or deviant individuals of society would only get tattoos. He told me one day, that if his father every saw a tattoo on him, he would throw him out of his house, that is how serious it was for him.
Nowadays it is everywhere, basketball stars, movies stars, etc. Everybody in the world has tattoos…it is becoming more of a trend, something that is cool. More and more kids these days have tattoos because they see them on their idols and automatically think they must have one, just cause it is socially acceptable.