Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

52 Becoming and Being a Tattooed Person
one of the things you Indisputably own. There Is a tendency to
adorn things that you own to make them especially yours.
Interviewees also spoke of the pleasure they got from the tattoo
as related to having gone through the mysterious and moderately
painful process of being tattooed. The tattoo demonstrated courage
to the self ("for some people It means that they lived through
It and weren't afraid"). One woman, when asked whether she Intended
to acquire other tattoos In the future, spoke of the excitement
of the experience as the potential motivator of additional
work.
(Do you think you will have more work done after you add
something to the one you have now?) Oh God! I don't know
why, but my Initial reaction Is, "I hope I don't, but I think I'm
going to." I think getting a tattoo Is so eXCiting and I've always
been kind of addicted to excitement. It's fun. While It hurt and
stuff It was a new experience and It wasn't that horrible for me.
lt was new and different.
In a poignant statement, another woman spoke similarly of the
tattoo as memorializing significant aspects of her past experience.
"In the future when I'm sitting around and bored with my life and
I wonder If I was ever young once and did exciting things, I can
look at the tattoo and remember."
Interactional Consequences
In general, tattooees' observations concerning the effect on
their self-definitions of haVing a tattoo and the process of being
tattooed were rather basic and off-hand. In contrast, all Interviewees
spoke at some length about their social experiences with
others and how the tattoo affected their Identities and Interactions.
Some stressed the afflliatlonal consequences of being tattooed-the
mark Identified them as belonging to a special group.
I got tattooed because I had an Interest In It. My husband Is a
chef and our friends tend to be bikers, so It gets me accepted
more Into that community. They all think of me as "the college
girl" and I'm really not. So this (tattoo) kind of brings the door
open more.... The typical biker would tell you that you almost
have to have tattoos to be part of the group.