Everyday, without necessarily being aware of it, people participate in body art in some form or another.  The clothing, hairstyles, and jewelry we choose are a form of expression whether we realize it or not. There are, however, more dramatic forms of body art such as piercings and tattoos. Although becoming more popular and accepted in our society, tattoos are still considered one of the more drastic forms of expression due to their permanency. The three people that I interviewed all have tattoos and consider them to be an important part of themselves and the body art they express to the world everyday. Although from different backgrounds and different places in life and sharing only their love of tattoos, the three people that I interviewed expressed nearly identical viewpoints on the subject.  My main area of concern for this report is personal meaning and significance of tattoos, social stigmas, and reactions.

I conducted my research for this report by interviewing some people I know that have tattoos.  The amount of tattoos, the ages of the interviewees, and the when they began getting tattoos varies.  The first person I interviewed was Mike Bridavsky.  He is a twenty-one-year-old student with six tattoos and has been getting tattooed for several years.  Next I interviewed Mike Ross who is nineteen-years-old and has one large tattoo on his lower back that he got this year.  The last person interviewed was Kiri Nielsen; she is a nineteen-year-old student with one small tattoo that she also received this year.  I wanted to interview people with different styles and amounts of tattoos to see if their opinions on significance, social stigmas, and public and personal reactions were similar as I assumed they would be.

I was interested in hearing the types of reactions these three got due to their tattoos.  Surprisingly all three expressed getting more negative reactions from the public than from their own families.  After Mike Bridavsky. s parents realized money was missing from his birthday fund and he showed them where the money had gone their reaction was simply one of relief that he . wasn. t snorting cocaine..   Both Mike Ross. s and Kiri. s parents did not seem to show much of a negative response.  However, both Kiri and Mike Bridavsky discussed negative reactions from those outside of their family.  Mike said that he feels when he wants to walk out in public that he. s . going to have to start explaining himself..   In a way he resents this because he . got these tattoos for myself. , but he understands that this explanation comes with the territory when one decides to participate in something that is not completely accepted in our society.  Kiri expressed that mainly people are just inquisitive about her tattoo and ask questions like, . Did that hurt?. and . What does it mean?.   However, she did tell me about her boyfriend. s mother who she once considered almost as her own.  Before Kiri got her tattoo she was extremely close to her.  When Kiri showed his mother her tattoo her only remark was, . Only people who are white trash get tattoos..   This was obviously very hurtful and offensive to Kiri, and this was the most negative response she noted.

While the reactions these three receive due to their tattoos are not too overwhelming, all three of them feel there is a negative social stigma placed on tattoos and those with tattoos.  They all agree that this social stigma seems to be changing over the years, and that it will have to with so many young people getting tattoos who will be in control in a few years.  Mike Ross stated, . Slowly our society is starting to accept them, but still people associate them with capricious youth, and always think they will be regretted, and no intelligent person would get a big [tattoo]..   Kiri stated that she did not appreciate the stigma placed on people with tattoos, but she realizes her tattoo has no reflection on her as a person and that people are just going to have to learn to accept others as they are, tattooed or not.

Aside from outside reactions from people, I also wanted to know how the tattooed feel about their tattoos and the tattoos of others.  The three that I interviewed were able to explain specific meanings behind their tattoos.  Their tattoos obviously were very important and are now considered as a part of who they are.  The men I interviewed have very custom-made tattoos, so their tattoos obviously hold deep meaning to them.  For instance Mike Ross. s tattoo symbolizes the triumph over a difficult time in his life; the tattoo is the way he marks passing through this time yet being able to . embrace [the experience] whole heartedly..   However, Kiri, who has what is now considered a popular tattoo of Japanese character, also expressed the deep meaning behind her tattoo.  Even though a lot of people have these tattoos, people do pick a symbol that carries much meaning for them.

When asked about flash art, which is tattoos that are found on the walls in tattoo parlors, the guys appeared to have strong distaste for them.  Mike Bridavsky responded that when someone gets a flash art tattoo, . It. s& uh& lame..   Mike Ross felt that those tattoos are . pure s***. and that they . depict nothing personal..   However, through doing these interviews I have come to believe that people usually have meaning behind their tattoos.  Something has to make a person choose the Tasmanian Devil over a hula girl, and I would place my money on the statement that even the person with Big Bird tattooed on her butt has a good reason for getting that tattoo, and it holds some sort of meaning for her.

In conclusion this research allowed me to get an insider. s look into a growing trend in our society (although I am sure all members of the tattoo community would kill me for calling tattooing a trend).  I was definitely pleased with all three of my candidates, and there is nothing I can mark as something that did not go well, which is very encouraging for a first- time folklorist.  I was impressed with how willing my interviewees were to share information with me and how passionate they were about the subject.  The answers I received supported the thoughts I had going into the interviews about social stigmas, personal meanings behind tattoos, and reactions tattooed persons receive.  Perhaps it may have been interesting to get an answer or two that completely threw off my hypothesis, but as a newcomer to this world of field report writing it probably would have stressed me out more than it would have helped.  From the viewpoint of my tattooed interviewees, it appears that tattoos are going to be a part of our culture and a major part of body art for a long time.  Tattoos are an amazing form of expression, and show the permanence of one. s feelings and emotions like no other form of body art.

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