Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

37 Becoming and Being a Tattooed Person
volvement with tattooed people. and chose institutionaltzed subjects
who are "convenient to manage in their research situations"
(Taylor. 1970: 87). It is hardly surprising. therefore. that psychiatrically
trained researchers who study tattooed inmates of mental
institutions discover a ltnk between possession of tattoos and psychopathology.
or that criminologists who study incarcerated tattooees
commonly find a relationship between being tattooed and
being inclined to engage in legally proscribed activities.
The serious (as opposed to fan-oriented or popular) literature on
tattooing tends to present relatively simpltstic and commonly monistic
perspectives on the motives and character of tattooed persons.
In part. this is due to methodological weaknesses-few
studies make use of control groups. research subjects are drawn
from highly selected populations. and there is an overreltance on
standard psychological tests and official records. Researchers'
conclusions commonly are subjective and value-laden (Taylor.
1970: 85-86). Further. the analyses are overdeterministic (Wrong.
1961). The decision to be tattooed is consistently presented as being
driven by assumed internal malfunctions or externally generated
socio-pathology rather than being due to the exercise of
choice within the bounds of available behavioral alternatives as
defined by the actor. The decision to be tattooed is rarely presented
as haVing essentially "healthy." pro-social. self-affirming
roots; most studies are premised on an assumption of pathology.
PsychiatriC studies of tattooed persons focus almost exclusively
on inmates of mental institutions. 1 Even a cursory review of the
medical and psychiatric ltterature shows that researchers have a
relatively low regard for "those persons who have their bodies
painfully scarred" (Newman. 1982: 232) with tattoos. The tattooed
person is variously described as "simple-minded." "immature."
"hostile." "aggressive." "self-destructive." "untrustworthy." and
"infantile" (Goldstein. 1979c: 883. 885; Zimmerman. 1979: 911).
Being tattooed commonly is defined as symptomatic of psychopathology.
Briggs (1958: 1039). for example. observes:
The presence of a single meaningless tattoo mark suggests a
prepsychotic or psychotic phenomena (sic) ... the appearance
of multiple tattoo marks which differ greatly in motivation.