People express themselves in many ways. Art is a huge movement of expression. As much as art is in your drawings, paintings and photos, it is in what you wear, how u act, and food you cook. The art of tattooing has expanded, and tattoos aren't just ink in a person's skin like they used to be.
In today's society, teenagers idolize famous people. Athletes are the heroes of this generation. Young people want to be like their heroes, so when the art is displayed, the children begin to think that's what cool is. Acceptance is becoming the normality. A tattoo is defined, in the Merriam Webster Dictionary, as a permanent mark or design made on the body by pigment introduced through ruptures in the skin. Reading that, a tattoo does not sound like something I would like to have. I would have to be crazy to want someone to rupture my skin, but plenty of people were just crazy enough to start a new fad.
A person that had tattoos used to be able to be categorized. Someone could look at a person and know that that individual was either affiliated with the military, a gang, a motorcycle club, or had served time in jail. This categorization is no longer so. A report by the Food and Drug Administration estimated that as many as 45 million Americans have tattoos. The report based the number on the finding by a Harris Interactive Poll in 2003. This poll showed that 16 percent of all adults, and 36 percent of people 25 to 29, had at least one tattoo. The poll also found that 17 percent of tattooed Americans regretted it, and a tattoo that cost several hundred dollars would now require several thousand dollars along with many laser sessions to remove. .
It can be argued that the more aware a society is the more accepted a trend becomes. This is where the media becomes involved. Television shows, such as L.A. Ink and Miami Ink, help advertise tattoos, making them widely known as the ˜in' thing to do. The media can turn things bad or good, depending on the spin they put on it.
