By Patrick F. Cannon
I’m very afraid I have shocking news to report today. Despite my longstanding efforts to prevent people from desecrating the bodies that evolution (or the Almighty if you prefer) has given them by splattering them with dubious “artwork,” the numbers are increasing!
According to a recent issue of the Axios online newsletter: “For American women, tattoos are becoming powerful symbols of resilience, identity and joy.” What was once limited to drunken sailors on shore leave, now has a veneer of respectability. Some folks even – and I kid you not – call it “body art!” Now, and I shudder to think about it, 38% of American women have tattoos, compared to only 27% of men. Even more alarming – 56% of women between 18 and 29 have boldly entered tattoo parlors, along with 53% of their elders (30 to 49). These once sleezy back-street emporiums now appear on grand boulevards and in tony shopping centers!
Now, I don’t wish to suggest that tattoos are more acceptable on men. I no longer eat in restaurants with open kitchens because chefs and their minions are among the most tattooed of all. Seeing them would certainly put me off my feed. And artists of both sexes seem to feel having armfuls of flowers, squiggles and whirls sets them apart from the hoi polloi.
I don’t argue against the reasons people get tattoos – dear old mom; a new love; a beloved pet; solidarity with flowers and trees; survival of some disease; even support for the local sports team. But why not wear a jaunty tee shirt or snappy cap instead? When love goes cold, or mom writes you out of the will, at least you can easily throw them away. Getting rid of a tattoo is both painful and expensive. And need I remind the adorned that they don’t look the same when you get old and withered?
(By the way, tattoos can be expensive. Covering an arm with hearts and flowers could run you $5,000. And it will hurt. In contrast, I just bought a snappy Hawaiian shirt for less than $100. The design is based on 19th Century Japanese artist Hokusai’s famous “Great Wave” woodblock print. It’s also a popular subject for tattoos, which could easily cost you $2,000 for one of modest size. My shirt will last for many years. If I get tired of it, I can donate it go Goodwill. If you get tired of your tattoo, it will hurt again and cost you serious dough.)
On a related subject, the other day I was having breakfast with a friend, and the server had a nose ring. It was small, but I was tempted to ask her what she did if she had to blow her nose? Of course I didn’t, but it made me think. Why would anyone drill a hole in a part of their nose – of all places – and insert a ring? The internet, that junkshop of sometimes factual information, says that “a nose ring can denote marital status, beauty enhancement, rebellion against Western culture (or maybe parents?), and devotion to deities of various cultures.”
As it happens, you don’t have to pierce your nose to have one. They have clip-on rings for the faint of heart, like clip-on earrings. Of course, we’re used to seeing pierced ears, even on men! Now we not only sport nose rings, but lip rings, cheek rings, navel rings (and no doubt “private” places) rings.
Count me among the apparent minority who think we should be happy with the body we were born with. I prefer to see beautiful flowers in a garden, not on someone’s arm, back or (God forbid) face. But, not for the first or last time, I seem to be swimming against the tide.
Copyright 2024, Patrick F. Cannon
cannonnadedotcom 
Giovanni Della Casa, a 16th Century writer and diplomat, wrote a detailed treatise on manners and proper social behavior, Il Galateo.
More than a guide to personal etiquette, the work, first published in 1558, covers a range of social situations, from table manners to conversation to attire. It became very popular in Europe, not only among aristocrats, but for those aspiring to social improvement.
The main concept of the work is the importance of not doing things just to please oneself, but to appear and behave in ways that please others, for what is harmful to the senses harms the intellect. Why, after all, would you want to be a sharp stick in the eye?
Even today, Italians, as a rule, try to avoid making what they call a brutta figura, a bad image of themselves.
I don’t know if they did body art in Renaissance Florence, but covering oneself in ink or dyeing one’s hair green — surely wouldn’t have qualified as ways to please the senses of others.
The practice of body painting seems to trace back to the Picts (or picti, painted ones), those folks the Romans encountered who painted themselves blue and other colors, as illustrated below.
The practice, shared by the Maori, other primitive tribes and Mike Tyson, may have started out as a way to frighten the enemy. Later it became popular even with women.
Indian Mehndi art also comes to mind. The use of henna instead of ink, however, does have the advantage of being washable.
Now, far be it from me to disparage what other cultures find attractive, such as inserting disks in lower lips and ear lobes or wearing a bone in one’s nose — or necessary, like self-flagellation. Different strokes for different folks, I say. In our self-centered, subjective world, ugliness like beauty resides in the mind of the beholder.
But in Western society, that bastion of high civilization, such practices may suggest another phenomenon, a break from the normal social world. It’s what Frenchman Emile Augler in 1855 (lots of history today!) termed la nostalgie de la boue, or a longing to be back in the mud, an attraction to vulgarity and degradation.
You see it everywhere, in fashion, advertising, graffiti, the art world, the ever-present f-word, stand-up comedy, even politics. Yes, it shocks some of us, but also titillates.
In a way, it enables one to live, even vicariously, as a modern day Petronius. Or it can be a way to antagonize or frighten. It’s scary.
Happy Halloween!
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Interesting as always.
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Wow, What a history lesson! I agree with you Uncle Pat, No tattoos for me!
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