TATTOOS AND BODY PIERCINGS

Tattoos and Body Piercing

Tattoos and Body Piercing

For centuries body art such as tattoos and piercing have been practiced all over the world in almost every culture. Both practices have different meanings and multiple levels from religious rites to pure decoration. Often times throughout the history of western culture, these practices have been shunned and outcast as the marks of Satan. In the last few centuries however, these fallacies have subsided to the thoughts of mere loathing of any permanent defacing of a person's body. It has been argued that body art is no more than just attention seeking self-mutilation, in which only heathens and criminals engage. These often painful practices usually marked a rite of passage or indicated an act of bravery and courage in warriors. The art of tattoos have existed for more than 5300 years, appearing on all continents that have been inhabited by human civilizations. Piercing, however, is the most ancient form of body art, existing since the ninth century B.C. in Iraqi cultures. The common functions of piercing throughout the world were religious ceremonies and enlightenment, to show social wealth and standings, beauty and fashion, sexual enhancement, and the marking of criminals and slaves. Tattoos and piercing have been around for millennia, and for the majority of that time, they have always been accepted as a form of art, not mutilation, and as an honour of immeasurable wealth (Focault, 1980).

Tattoos can capture an inordinate amount of beauty and complexity with each stroke from the artist's needles. It is an art that has been widely spread on almost every continent and was practiced at one time by virtually every culture. Some tattoos are self-motivated expression of personal freedom and uniqueness, while in ancient cultures they usually marked a person as a member or non-member of a local group, or express religious, magical, or spiritual beliefs and personal convictions.

The oldest tattooed body known to date is that of an Bronze Age man who died over 5300 years ago (Grumet, 1983). The man was found frozen and well preserved in a glacier of the Otzal Alps between Austria and Italy. Ancient tattoos served as decoration and adornment, they were also thought to have magical purposes as well as therapeutic functions (Grumet, 1983). Archeologically validated works of art showing tattoos started to appear 30,000 years ago.

Tattooing was also a custom during the third and fourth dynasties (2686- 2493 ...