An interesting article with which I totally agree.

Some time ago I wrote a comment on OLO suggesting that tattoos were body mutilation. I was shot down in flames by a proportion of readers because they thought it was an art that represented their character in some way. I have always found it offensive and if you look at it for too long to try distinguish what it actually is, there is usually a verbal response that indicates a sensitivity that I shouldn't. Why put it there in the first place if you don't want people to look at it ? I have found that most tattoos look like ugly birth marks from only a short distance and detract from even the most appealing people. As for piercings and the most unlikely places they are inserted, words fail me. Why would you want to put a stud through your tongue is a question I would like to have answered and that is only one place I am prepared to talk about.

No doubt I will also be called a fuddy-duddy, but wonder if those that do, will have the same opinion about the present fashion when they join the next generation. and their "art work" distorts during the ageing process or even becomes UN-fashionable.

It's also interesting to note that many who sport tattoos seem to belong to a group that could least afford to spend their money on such things. Perhaps it's a tribal thing.

How does anyone know what they would like to look like 20-40 years from now. Mike Carlton recently summed it up. Intelligence is inversely related to the tatts.
He commented that one footballer, then in media trouble for stupid behaviour, was so "coloured " that if he fell over on the flashy club carpet you would need a sniffer dog to find him.

I must get out more...

"...a few yonis on Honi Soit are far easier to explain away than some of the skin images we are being faced with daily (after all, Mummy's got a vulva, and he knows that was his portal to the planet)"

and all I could think was that Honi Soit must be an SBS PopAsia Gen Y rapper or box beater in the Dana International tradition who thought if one is good, more is better.

Some quick research showed me I was wrong - on each of those points.

As for tattoos, can we keep the Edinburgh one?

There seem to be more and more tattoos and facial/body piercings these days.
Some tattoos are indeed tribal as are some body piercings.
Some just look like a boogie that escaped the hanky wipe, and others are placed in places, where a serious internal infection remains just a matter of time?
Arguably because those applying this type of surgery are operating without any medical training; or, are practicing medicine without a licence!?
Tattoos in some cases can be a shared needle, or the hygiene is simply inadequate.
Some transferable diseases on needles etc, can take up to forty minutes of boiling heat to kill, or up to three days of tumbling in direct sunlight to properly sanitize.
If I, through lack of choice, was employing a person with tattoos or visible body furniture, I would require them to cover what could be covered and the rest removed for the hours they spent representing me as my employee.
If they found that too difficult, there are others who would be more compliant!
I dare say those employers who fail to set these standards will lose their often most lucrative business, particularly if the customers have other choices.
I mean, what is the goal, service your clientele, or intimidate them clean out of the premises; and or, give them reason to talk in derogatory terms about the quality of the service or its lack?
After all, word of mouth is the most effective form of positive or negative advertising!
Rhrosty.

the author says "I don't have any problem with what people do with their bodies". But she does. If you have trouble explaining what a tattoo is to your child then you are obviously going to have a great deal of difficulty in explaining the more complex elements of living in the modern world. As such, perhaps you should pay more attention to your parenting skills rather than whingeing about current fashion trends. And if you really are scared of a tattoo, then perhaps you should seek some psychological intervention to cure you of your irrational fear. No wonder young people often lack respect for their elders, when their elders hold such petty and irrational views.

Tattoos are hardly current fashion trends. If you look at ancient Jewish Biblical Law it is logically clear the reasons why tattoos are growing in number within Western secular culture. A culture that values illicit carnality above everything else, even human life.

Western secular culture is engaged in idolatry on a massive scale. Secularism worships man and/or nature. Therefore, it is only logical that the inordinate love behind the old pagan idolatrous practices would return. Self-harm and tattooing have common ground. Some comment tattooing was found to be a method for them to prevent further self-harm, and to get a release instead. Essentially, self-loathing and self-pride are the same. They are both idolatrous obsessions with either one's appearance, or one's perceived weaknesses. The two sides of Vain Glory.

"For some people, a tattoo is a personal symbol upon the body, a reminder of somebody, a pet, or even just a feeling. It's almost like they cannot let that thing go, so that it will always be with them forever. Most people get tattoos without mentally knowing or admitting it to be an inner question of them wanting to be in control of their body. For them to get a tattoo is a means to have that control."

"The tattoo is partly an unconscious desire to never be totally naked. If you have a tattoo, then you still have something that covers your skin, no matter what".

It would appear the key reason for the increase in tattooing is simply the increasing rise of vain glory and Idolatry in the Western secular world. The obsessive worship of something, someone or perhaps some cultural group who is not the personal creator God. To not be ever totally naked and to always be in control are symptomatic of a particular secular mindset, (remember the Fall in Eden, they realised they were naked). Its apparent even amongst wayward sects who claim to be Christian. Narcissism is back – Did someone mention Generation Y? Maybe the “Selfie” is another variant of this tendency to imprint or tattoo oneself on the Internet.