Opinions about tattoos?

[Stavros]

Tattoos to me are related to cultural practices, or used to be: the two most obvious are related to the criminal underworld, and magic. Any of you who have seen Japanese films dealing with the Yakuza will be aware that Yakuza culture can be expressed in tattoos, particularly on the back. Prison cultures across the world generate tattoos, this is true in Latin America and also in the Middle east, and may explain why some middle class people shrink back from a tattooed body. Concentration camp victims also had numbers tattooed on their arms.

In the Middle East where Bedouin women -years ago not sure about today- have/had facial tattoos as well as markings on the arms, there is a theory that it in pre-Islamic times it was part of magic or symbolic ritual, and designed to ward off evil spirits, and encourage fertility; and like many pre-Islamic rituals was carried over into the present day. The locus classical for this is Henry Field's Bodymarking in Southwestern Asia (1958.

I think in contemporary culture the tattoo has more complex causes, one of which is a profound unhappiness with the body and a belief that a tattoo will make a difference, but these days there are as many different causes as there are people willing to admit to them.

[Nicole Dupre]

Tattoos to me are related to cultural practices, or used to be: the two most obvious are related to the criminal underworld, and magic. Any of you who have seen Japanese films dealing with the Yakuza will be aware that Yakuza culture can be expressed in tattoos, particularly on the back. Prison cultures across the world generate tattoos, this is true in Latin America and also in the Middle east, and may explain why some middle class people shrink back from a tattooed body. Concentration camp victims also had numbers tattooed on their arms.

In the Middle East where Bedouin women -years ago not sure about today- have/had facial tattoos as well as markings on the arms, there is a theory that it in pre-Islamic times it was part of magic or symbolic ritual, and designed to ward off evil spirits, and encourage fertility; and like many pre-Islamic rituals was carried over into the present day. The locus classical for this is Henry Field's Bodymarking in Southwestern Asia (1958.

I think in contemporary culture the tattoo has more complex causes, one of which is a profound unhappiness with the body and a belief that a tattoo will make a difference, but these days there are as many different causes as there are people willing to admit to them.

Can we please keep the extremely limited history lesson on the subject of tattooing out of the Boner Section of the forum?

You just dumped shit on me for about 5 sentences' worth of kidding in the Politic & Religion Section of the forum, to the point where I'll never post there again, with you breathing down my neck. Thank you.

[Nicole Dupre]

Is the geek gone yet?

[moloch]

I love a tramp stamp. Everytime i seen one on a girl in the street it gives me a semi

[Nicole Dupre]

a profound unhappiness with the body and a belief that a tattoo will make a difference

*cougholdgeeknotgettinglaidcough

[theone1982]

What is the big deal with tattoos here on HA? Damn! Some people act like a girl getting a tattoo is the equivalent of her growing a third arm! Is it really that big of a concern? I find tattoos on women to be incredibly sexy, and have no problem with a girl having them. One of my exs had a stylized flower on the back of her neck and I always remember that every time I saw it it drove me absolutely wild. But in the end, whether you like or you don't like it, if you like the girl, you should learn to love it, because it's really her choice, and dictating what they should have, to me, smacks of being an ultra control freak. But, to each their own, I guess.

[Stavros]

You just dumped shit on me for about 5 sentences' worth of kidding in the Politic & Religion Section of the forum, to the point where I'll never post there again, with you breathing down my neck. Thank you.

My request for more civility in the Politics & Religion board was not aimed at you personally, so please don't get upset with that. Your views there are always welcome so I hope you will not be absent too long. It thrives on debate.

[gaysian71]

I love tattoos. I think they are very sexy. I guess Nicole probably has the most of all the girls here, she looks super hot!! I could spend hours just examining her tattoos.

[Jericho]

Originally Posted by Stavros View Post
a profound unhappiness with the body and a belief that a tattoo will make a difference

*cougholdgeeknotgettinglaidcough

Damn, time to get that six-pack tattooed!
You're way out there, Stav, mate!

[Nicole Dupre]

You just dumped shit on me for about 5 sentences' worth of kidding in the Politic & Religion Section of the forum, to the point where I'll never post there again, with you breathing down my neck. Thank you.

My request for more civility in the Politics & Religion board was not aimed at you personally, so please don't get upset with that. Your views there are always welcome so I hope you will not be absent too long. It thrives on debate.

Pfffffffft.

Thanks, but no thanks. I've got better things to do than listen to OMK regurgitating Fox News propaganda or Russtaffa bragging that he's a Australian neo-Nazi.

You waltzed onto this thread with some half-ass pop psychology on tattooing, and inferred that people get them because they secretly have inferiority complexes. So spare me the pseudo-intellectual bullshit. You aren't "welcoming" me, and you know it.