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Is Tattooing a Form of Body Art or Disfigurement?
Tattooing has reached unheard-of numbers of people, and we have to wonder what is driving the desire for this body change.
Tattooing is an age-old custom that exists in all cultures, and it sparks continuing debates about whether it should be considered body art or ugliness. The interpretation is dependent on personal opinions that have been molded by cultural, societal, and religious ideas.
“For millennia, peoples around the world have tattooed human skin to communicate various ontological, psycho-social, and sociocultural concepts encompassing beauty, cultural identity, status and position, medicine, and supernatural protection. As a system of knowledge transmission, tattooing has been and continues to be a visual language of the skin whereby culture is inscribed, experienced, and preserved in a myriad of specific ways.”
The basis for tattooing’s classification as body art is rooted in cultural expression. Incorporating unique experiences and values, it acts as a formidable tool for expressing individuality and cultural identity, but often as a means of remembrance of someone. These memorial tattoos can also provide a continuing bond with someone and, in that respect, may be therapeutic.
In addition, tattooing patterns frequently have deep emotional meaning, representing memorials…
