The Impact of Tattoos on a Person’s Identity

A tattoo is a body modification where someone has drawn an image on someone else's skin and body art is different piercings that people have on their body to represent their creativity. All tattoos or body art have health risks that can be minor or major, but people still get them done. Some of the health risk may not show until later on in time. Everyone body reacts differently to the penetration of the skin with the needle from ink gun and the piecing needle. Tattoos certainly secure a reasonable position on a person’s identity; however, health risks connects with identification to a great extent likewise.

Culture

One reason someone might put themselves at risk is because they are trying to represent their culture. Plenty of different tribes and groups get tattoos to represent their beliefs and cultures. An article called a tattoo splendor is about all of the different types of tribes such as cherokee and Samoan tribes and what are the tattoos that they get and what they represent.

According to the article Tattoo Splendor, it states “Many Native Americans favor the dream catcher tattoo to ward off nightmares, and other American cultures have gods and animals among other designs” (Splendor 2018). This piece of evidence shows how that the Native Americans get certain types of tattoos such as bren catchers or their spiritual animals and put themselves at risk just so that they can keep away bad energies away from them. An additional piece of evidence that was stated in the article is “commonly done as part of marriage rituals” (Splendo). Just from this little piece of evidence also shows how that they also do it for ritual and from background knowledge people normally are in raise to do rituals, which is culture, they still have a affect and they are putting themselves at risk.

The second article Zealand Tattoo discuss and explains the origins of tattoos and how certain cultures and groups use tattoos in for their culture. Lastly, a piece of evidence that shows why people will put themselves at risk for tattoos from the Zealand article is “In ancient Samoan, tattooing also played a hugely important role in both religious rituals and warfare. The tattoo artist held a hereditary and by the same vein, a very highly privileged position”(Zealand,2017). This quote right here also shows how that since ancient times the different tribes have put themselves at risk to show welfare for themselves since the beginning of times. Now, today people also show this through their tattoos. People tend to show and seem tough with more tattoos, and are scarier. That's why they put themselves at risk to represent their culture.

Creativity

Another reason someone might put themselves at risk is because they just want to show their creativity. People will sometimes get tattoos to show their creativity and also how they feel about a certain thing. The article called Tattoos provide students with a creative outlet from the website State Press talks about ways that students express themselves through tattoos. According to the article it states “Many tattoos hold special meanings or memories that someone has chosen to have permanently etched onto their skin.

For many students, getting a tattoo is a way of expressing their creativity and emotions. Tattoos are a form of art” (Ziegler,2017). This piece of evidences says it all, it talks about how people have put themselves at risk for the rest of their life just to embrace their creativity. Another piece of evidence that was stated is “Body art is quite intriguing because every tattoo represents something different and tells a unique story” (Mota, 2015). This piece of evidence tells it all, this shows us why people put themselves at risk, to tell their own story. Also another piece of evidence is that “Tattoos are usually chosen to express something that lies under the individual's skin”(Atanasov, 2015). The quote shows how people will risk are all about trying to express themselves. One more piece of evidence from the first website is that was stated is that “Tattoos also represent rebellion and free speech”(Zeigler). This also shows how that people will riks themselves just to show their rights and best of all freedom. That's why people will put themselves at risk to show their creativity and voice.

Peer Pressure

One more reason someone might put themselves at risk is because everyone else is just doing it, they are doing it because of peer pressure. Most of the times, people have gotten tattoos just because someone else had got one or just to say they have gotten it. A video on youtube shows a video with a man named Bolanle Ninalowo who talks about tattoos. According to the youtube video, a man named Bolanle Ninalowo stated “Peer Pressure Made Me Draw The Tattoos On My Body”. This quote from youtube shows he put himself at risk just because someone else had did it and pressured him to do it. Another piece of evidence that helps shows how people put themselves at risk because of peer pressure is from another youtube video where the actor RJ Mitte is peer pressured Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul to get a tattoo. This shows how that he let those people get in his head and allowed him to put himself at risk for a tattoo. One more piece of evidence is that “A big reason why I wanted to get tattoos was indeed peer pressure” and “And once I got my first one, I got addicted” (Tomlinson, 2012). Those two pieces of evidences shows how he was influenced heavily by peer pressure to get tattoos and that changed this mind for the rest of his life, thus further causing damage mentally and physically. That's how people put themselves at risk for tattoos because of peer pressure.

Conclusion

Tattoos can really affect the body physically and mentally, they can make you hurt physically as well mentally. Tattoos cause pain in all kinds of ways, but people still put themselves at risk. Some do it for their culture, while some do it to express themselves and some even are pressured into it. But those are some of the reasons why people put themselves at risk.