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Tattoo Trends: It's Not Just Sailors

Experts talk about the growing popularity of getting -- and removing -- tattoos.
By Carolyn J. Strange
WebMD Feature
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

So who would have thought the world of tattooing would make for good TV? Apparently the approximately one in seven adults who now sport at least one tattoo. Shows like TLC's Miami Ink and A&E's Inked have found their own following as tattoos, once considered the domain of bikers and sailors on shore leave sprees, have gone "respectable."

"Tattooing is not going away," says Myrna Armstrong, EdD, a professor at the School of Nursing, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Armstrong has conducted several studies on body art, including tattooing, body piercing, and branding.

"Tattooing gives people the opportunity to express their identity," says Armstrong. "It's a way for them to feel special and unique."

The Tattoo Boom

The popularity of tattooing has surged in recent years, says Darren Brass, one of the tattoo artists featured in Miami Ink. "With so many entertainers and sports figures having tattoos, Jane and Joe Public are much more comfortable with having one too."

The men and women getting tattoos are now from every walk of life, adds Brass, and "if they had a good experience with their first one, chances are they're thinking about their next one."

"It's not something you find only in lower socioeconomic classes as it once was," says Armstrong. Tattoos were once considered "deviant" behavior, Armstrong observes, and many older people may still think that's the case. "Younger people, however, view body art as a form of decoration and self-expression."

Why People Get Tattoos

Men tend to get larger tattoos, says Brass, while women think of tattoos as mementos. "Once they might have put a charm on a bracelet," he says. "Now they get a tattoo."

Getting a tattoo can also be a result of peer pressure. Heather M. Phelps, a public relations account executive in Wayne, Pa., got her four-leaf clover tattoo nine years ago, when she was 16. "A group of us went to the tattoo parlor together; some got piercings, some got tattoos," she recalls.

Emily Carlton, a public relations and marketing account executive in California, lied about her age when she got her tattoo (she was only 16 at the time and said she was 18, the required minimum age). "I got it to be a rebel," she says. "Nobody I knew had one yet."

That's changed, especially if you're part of "Gen X," says Carlton, who -- like Phelps -- is now having her tattoo removed. "The funny part is that I only liked it for about two or three months, and then the reality of the mistake started to set in," says Carlton, who spent the next 16 years trying to cover up her ankle tattoo with makeup, socks, and dark hosiery.

Phelps hasn't liked her tattoo for the last six years. "I'm getting married next year. You outgrow things like tattoos and when you go to start a professional career, get married, have children ... you no longer want it."

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