9781422273845

Tattooing and Scarification

It’s ironic that tattooing has become hip and trendy in the 21st century, because humans have in fact been inscribing designs on themselves for thousands of years. The art of tattooing is about as ancient as a hip trend can get. Motivations for tattooing are almost as variable as the designs themselves. People have been tattooed for spiritual reasons and for therapeutic ones, as punishments, as group identification, and as evidence of high or low status, depending on the culture. Today, most people get tattoos for very personal reasons—to mark an important event in their lives, for example, or to demonstrate their allegiance to a particular person, group, or ideology. Tattooing is also used to hide scars, moles, and other blemishes, and even to alter regretted tattoos from the past. Permanent makeup is where tattoos replicate the work of eyeliner, lipstick, or eyebrow pencil.

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