In what ways does a tattoo help people find their identity?
Monday, June 28th, 2010 at
7:28 am
An article suggests that teens get tattoos because they want to exlore their identity. In what ways does a tattoo help people find their identity?
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Welllll if you are one of those lame bastards that has their OWN name tattooed on themselves…..If you ever hit your head and got amnesia it would be real easy to find out your identity…..
Sorry, I know that’s not what you were looking for but I’m a bit of a smartass and I just couldn’t resist.
It doesn’t. It is a way to "rebel" and "be unique" and that is about it. They really don’t consider the future and sagging flesh.
I waited until I was 47 before getting a tat. It had to be just what I wanted and it took time to get it done. I have one daughter with a beautiful armband and one who refuses to colour her flesh.
I remember a few summers ago having 4 girls living out of my house because she and 3 friends got their tongues pierced together "to be different". They sat about sucking ice and being "unique". To be honest I advise piercing instead. These can just be pulled out if need be and they grow in. Tats are forever.
It took me a few minutes to recall that certainty we all had in our teens, that driving need to be different. I am glad with us it was as simple as growing our hair long!
In retrospect we should have been getting tats. Instead we rebelled with feminism and playboyism and free love and drugs. Look at what a mess we made of things! Tats would have been a lot less damaging.
It doesn’t help you FIND your identity, but it can help you explain who you are. I have a tattoo that represents my marriage and my family. It is beautiful, individual, and I love it. I am not a tenn, but I feel that my tattoo reflects me not finds me.
I don’t know if a tattoo can exactly help in finding one’s identity. I guess it would make you stand out and look like a rebel, but I don’t think that it can help you find out who you are really deep down inside. Maybe it just makes teens feel like rebels or makes them feel independent. I don’t know.
Tattoos should be well thought out and the design chosen with care and attention, not on a whim. I had mine done when I was 22 and love it (well I have 5 now and love all of them) it was simply a means of expressing myself, my taste in design and art etc.
I have nothing against tattoos, but I think rather look inside to find out who you are and focus on what msked you unique,rather than getting a tattoo and later regretting it, then it is too late cause it is permanents.
it doesnt.i have uh quite a few tattoos and i still have yet to find myself.they in no way represent who i am.i was the same person before i got them.now im just a little more colorful!!
anything that you can display on your body that represents and aspect of your personality, heritage, hobby or relations is a symbol of your identity.
i don’t think the article meant that tattoos help "find" identity, but that they help the teens express and explore their identity.
also, getting a tattoo as a teen is often seen as a symbol of rebellion against authority (i.e. their parents, their teachers, society). and if a teen views themselves as rebellious they would be likely to choose this form of expression.
I agree with most of the above answerers–tattoos aren’t about finding your identity, they’re about expressing it, either to yourself and your significant others, or to many people (depending on where you get it done.)
A good example of this is a friend of mine who had two tattoos, both of which she’d designed herself: one was a symnol that meant "poetry" and the other was an elephant, after a song/poem that she liked about elephants transcending themselves and becoming clouds. She explained to me that the tattoo reminded her that she could transcend who she was–she just had to believe.
they dont. you’re supposed to find your own identity and express it through the tatoo.
Its doesn’t. Its just a ploy to try to get you to get one. Tats are dumb and ugly.
It depends on the person getting tattooed. My Tattoo a rune circle was to honor a dear friend and teacher.
I don’t hink a tattoo helps you explore your identity, but rather express your identity. A tattoo has different meaning to everyone, some are names, faces, or even things…for example I have poison ivy leaves that form a "shawl" around my shoulders, the meaning behind them, as my spouse would tell you.." nice to look at but dangerous to touch"
It doesn’t–a tattoo really means nothing if you don’t know who you are and what you like to begin with. I have always thought that body art should be personal and meaningful; most teenagers, that I know of, get tattoos for effect–they want to be ‘cool’ or ‘different’ or ‘rebellious’.
If you have no sense of identity to begin with (and most teenagers are still trying to figure out what that is) a tattoo is nothing more than a permanent mistake.
People that get tattoos are ruining their body, and most regret it in the long run. Those that do get a tattoo generally do so from peer pressure, so they will be excepted to that group or sect. Other than the military, any of these groups are trying to make a statement without having to speak or prove themselves. My opinion is; it hides their true identity and prevents them to really be themselves. Clothes on the other hand can be changed, but tattoos are their forever, unless expensive removal is done at a later time, when the person finally realizes that they didn’t need a tattoo to be what they really wanted to be.
i don’t find that to be true for myself. i have always known who i am. of course i am always discovering new aspects of myself but i don’t think my tattoos have had anything to do with that. my tattoos are purely for the love of the art of tattooing. maybe tattoos give some people a sense of belonging within the tattoo community. it’s easier to feel like you fit in if you have something in common with other people.
if a tattoo is really well thought out and has a meaning or actually means something to that person then in a certain perspective i dont think it really identifies someone but more of, represents things in that persons life. or things that person might have gone through. its a way of publicly expressing ourselves or showing off things that have a significant meaning in our lives.