Tattoo psychology - Grade: 10 PDF

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Currently, there are many ways to decorate or modify our body: operations, dilations, piercings, etc. However, in the present work we are going to focus on analyzing a specific technique that stands out for its antiquity but, at the same time, for its growing boom in recent decades: the tattoo...

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Tattoo psychology Currently, there are many ways to decorate or modify our body: operations, dilations, piercings, etc. However, in the present work we are going to focus on analyzing a specific technique that stands out for its antiquity but, at the same time, for its growing boom in recent decades: the tattoo. By tattooing, we understand that image that remains permanently on the body by injecting a series of dyes into the intermediate layer of the skin (Álvarez, 2000). However, these images are not just random squiggles, but generally have a specific meaning for the person wearing them. En este contexto, el cuerpo se convierte en un medio de comunicación no verbal que permite expresar quiénes y cómo somos sin necesidad de utilizar las palabras (Ferreira, 2014). A través de él y el tatuaje, las personas representan sus valores, ideales o cualquier aspecto de la vida que sea significativo o especial para ellos. Es, por tanto, un instrumento que nos sirve para reafirmar nuestra identidad personal ante los demás y, sobretodo, ante nosotros mismos (Sastre, 2011). The tattoo is an art whose practice is becoming more and more common in the world population. Due to its increasing popularity in recent years, many may think that it is something new that has emerged recently; however, that conception is erroneous. Several records place its beginnings 5,300 years ago, in the Neolithic era (Ballén and Castillo, 2015). With the passage of time, its use spread to different countries and cultures, thus acquiring a great variety of meanings. Today, thanks to the improvement of new techniques and designs, it has become a very common practice in much of the world and among several different groups of people (Walzer, 2015). This is also causing a change in the vision of society regarding tattoos. Some stigmas that existed then are gone 1

dissipating over time. However, today there are still certain stereotypes related to people who defend and promote this type of art. To this day, there is little research related to analyzing the tattoo from a psychological perspective. For this reason, I find the idea of shedding a little light on this subject interesting about which, on the one hand, very little is known but, at the same time, is something that is very present in today's society. Therefore, the present work aims to know the evolution of the tattoo, from its origins to the present, as well as the impact it has on today's society. To do this, we will study the different meanings that these designs have for the people who wear them, the reasons that motivated them to do them and the reactions and opinions that they arouse among the population. Likewise, we will dedicate a section of this study to analyze the relationship between tattoos and the world of crime. Finally, at the end of this work we will carry out a research proposal in which we will propose a series of questions, both open and closed, that can be asked to different users to gather more current information about what the tattoo means and what it means for society. .

1. Evolución del tatuaje a lo largo de la historia De acuerdo con los últimos hallazgos, los primeros tatuajes que existieron en la historia de la humanidad se sitúan en la época del neolítico hace 5300 años. Una evidencia de ello son los restos encontrados del cuerpo de un cazador de la época llamado “Oetzi” (Ballén y Castillo, 2015). El cadáver, el cual se localizó en los Alpes (Brena, 2007), presentaba marcas de tatuajes tanto en la espalda como en las rodillas (Ballén y Castillo, 2015). Asimismo, en la cueva de Aurignac, en Francia, se encontraron huesos terminados en punta que se cree que fueron utilizados para hacer marcas en la piel (Ganter, 2005).

Around 3000 BC, the tattoo tradition became very common in Ancient Egypt. They were the women who used to wear them and symbolized protection, bravery, maturity or were related to magic or some kind of animal. The most common symbols were the scarab, which symbolizes power and transcendence; the threaded cross, which represents eternal life; and the eye of udjat, related to health and coming back to life (AGORA). Within tribal cultures this practice was also very common. The tattoo represented a vital change: the conversion from animal to human. Before marking their skin, that person was considered a mere animal but, after the ritual was performed, they became completely human. It is from that moment when the person could fully participate in all the cultural and spiritual activities of the tribe. In this context, therefore, the tattoo symbolized cohesion and belonging to a group (Buss and Hodges, 2017). Around 1000 BC, this practice was established in Eastern culture due to trade between India, China and Japan. In China, during the Ming era, women over 12 years of age began to tattoo their faces to appear less attractive to enemies, so the tattoo was a method of protection. However, this practice began to become more and more common until it ended up becoming a tradition, so the meaning of these brands changed and became a symbol of maturity (AGORA). Later, the tattoo began to gain a great variety of meanings because, depending on the color, the quantity and the area where they were found, these represented certain trades, beauty features or marital status. Therefore, as a result of the drawings that they had on their skin, people received one treatment or another (Cassab, 2002). On the other hand, the first to wear tattoos in Japan were the Ainu. The women of this indigenous group began to make tattoos around their mouth from the moment they had their first menstruation and stopped doing this practice when they got married. These tattoos consisted of lines that simulated a smile. Later,

the tattoo took on a very different meaning as it was a sign of crime and slavery. Therefore, marking your skin meant being a person rejected by society (AGORA). However, over time this practice became common among other groups (Ganter, 2005): the geishas tattooed themselves to show the rank they occupied, the jakusas wore tattoos representative of this Japanese mafia, ... (AGORA). The spread of this practice across different groups in society made it no longer possible to identify slaves and prisoners by their tattoos. This, added to the fact that the symbols and tattooed drawings began to be larger and more extravagant (Ganter, 2005), caused that, when Japan began to interact with the West, Emperor Matsuhito prohibited the practice of marking the skin, In relation to India, the inhabitants of this country interpreted the tattoo as something erotic; but they also attributed a religious meaning to it, since, according to them, it helped the soul's transit. A very common tattoo among women, and that continues to be so today, is to get a mole tattoo on the face. The objective of this is to drive away the evil eye. Likewise, another tradition that is still in force today is the henna tattoo, whose most unique characteristic is that it is not permanent because, unlike the traditional tattoo, it disappears over time. Depending on the duration of these drawings, women know if they will end up marrying their partners or if their babies will have one future or another. For this reason, it is traditional to get their hands tattooed before getting married and at the eighth month of pregnancy (AGORA). On the other hand, in the year 1000 BC it was also common in the East to capture drawings on the skin, especially in Greece. The Greeks used tattoos to mark slaves and criminals and, in this way, differentiate them from the rest of the population. 500 years later, this practice reached the city of Rome, where the tattooed people were either soldiers or deserters. The tradition of the soldiers consisted of having the name of Caesar and the date of his first day as members of the army embodied in the right arm. Therefore, in this case, the tattoo represented loyalty and belonging to a group

(AGORA). According to Vegecio, a Roman historian of the 4th century BC, army recruits had to pass a series of physical tests and, if they were admitted, they were marked on the skin with some representative symbol of the legion (Vegecio Renato, 2006). Another historian of the time named Suetonius reported that, during Caligula's empire, he ordered the people who were part of his court to be randomly tattooed (AGORA). At this same time and because of the Celtic invasions, the tattoo also reached Great Britain, as it was customary, among the Celts, to carry tribal drawings that represented the family from which they came. In fact, this tradition continues today among some upper-class Scottish families. These tattoos consist of symmetrical drawings with crossed lines that simulate a labyrinth. This design comes from ancient monks who shaped this type of drawings on the shields of the fighters to transmit strength and protection (AGORA). However, it seems that all this changed when the expansion of Christianity in Western culture caused the disappearance of the tattoo, since the Old Testament prohibited any activity that implied a modification of the body (Walzer, 2015). Since God had created man in his image and likeness, the followers of this religion considered that the tattoo meant a way of undermining the image that God wanted the human being to have. Furthermore, the tattoo was also considered a satanic manifestation. The only people who were allowed to get tattoos, and only the legs or the hands, were the gladiators and the miners (AGORA). However, according to Reisfeld (2004), before this prohibition, the first Christians got tattoos with religious motifs. Likewise, In Central America, the Aztecs tended to make representations of their gods in order to drive away demons. One of the most common images was the Aztec God

Xochipilli, representative of love, beauty, flowers, songs, dance, play and corn. Likewise, skulls, sacred animals or the Aztec calendar were frequent drawings. In turn, the Mayans tattooed their gods, like the Aztecs, or images of nature, as they believed that this would bring them inner peace and prosperity. In the case of warriors, they got a tattoo for each person they killed. Therefore, the greater the number of tattoos, the greater the number of victims, which implied greater strength and courage and, therefore, served to scare off enemies. Women, on the other hand, used to get their legs tattooed up to their waists. Among the most common tattoos were the jaguar, which symbolizes strength and domination; the bat, which represents both good and evil; and the earth, a symbol of patience, Among the indigenous people of South American countries, tattooing was also a very common practice, especially in the areas of the face. In it, the Incas used to make abstract drawings while the Aboriginal tribes of Argentina tattooed different designs: the TobasPilagáes made a black line that crossed their entire face, passing through the upper lip of the mouth, to scare to enemies; the Mepenes were marked with crosses or lines; the women members of the Guaraníes del Litoral also tattooed lines, but, in this case, to indicate their virginity; and the Matacos made geometric drawings while painting their faces each day in a different color depending on their mood (AGORA). Volviendo de nuevo al continente y tras una larga época donde el tatuaje estuvo excluido, en el siglo XVIII el capitán británico James Cook volvió a introducir este tipo de arte en Occidente (Rodriguez-García, Aguilar-Ye, Rodríguez-Silva y Rodríguez-Guzmán, 2012), pues tenía la costumbre de hacerse un tatuaje por cada sitio que visitaba navegando (Ganter, 2005). A raíz de Cook, esta práctica comenzó a hacerse habitual entre los marineros y, más tarde, se extendió entre la población de soldados, trabajadores manuales y prisioneros (Caplan, 2000).

En los siglos XIX y XX, este estilo de arte comenzó a expandirse entre más colectivos de personas (Brena, 2007) incluidas miembros de la nobleza tales como Eduardo VIII y el zar Nicolás (Frigerio y Pironti, 1996). A finales del siglo XIX, Samuel O’Reilly inventó la primera máquina para tatuar del mundo. A partir de esta, otros autores comenzaron a perfeccionar la técnica y a crear nuevos modelos (Pérez Cabezas, 2014). En los años sesenta y setenta, marcarse la piel comenzó a ser símbolo de rebeldía y de desobediencia de las normas sociales (Brena, 2007). Esto se debe a que, puesto que en muchos momentos de la historia el tatuaje fue propio de grupos marginales (por ejemplo, los prisioneros), hacerse estos diseños suponía una forma de mostrar que aquellos que se los hacían no querían formar parte de las convenciones sociales (Pérez Fonseca, 2009). No obstante, no fue hasta los ochenta cuando se empezaron a abrir locales de tatuajes, por lo que esta práctica se convirtió en una nueva forma de negocio (Le Bretón, 2002). Este hecho, junto con la aparición de figuras públicas luciendo tatuajes, favoreció su extensión entre los diferentes grupos sociales de la sociedad contemporánea (Walzer, 2015). tattooing was introduced around the sixties and seventies. At first, it began as typical of coastal towns and, in the early eighties, it began to expand into the interior of the country and become a common practice among middle-class people. During the eighties, the tattoo began to become popular among the youngest due to the influence of punk, rock and hippie style musical groups (Pérez Cabezas, 2014). Over the years, as in the rest of the continent, because of globalization the tattoo has been normalized and spread among different groups of people but, even so, today it is still subject to a series of prejudices and stereotypes that we will discuss later. With this brief historical tour of the tattoo we have been able to see how its use and its meaning have evolved over time. Of all the possible meanings that the tattoo can show, five have been given more frequently than the rest. In some areas, such as Japan or Greece, we have seen that it was used to differentiate people belonging to marginal classes, such as slaves or criminals; in others

countries, such as China or India, was used as a method of protection. Likewise, in other Asian countries it allowed to signify different social classes. In other populations, on the contrary, the tattoo was done for religious or spiritual reasons, as it happened in the Mayan tribes or in Ancient Egypt. Finally, the cohesion and belonging to a group is the fifth and last interpretation that many cultures have given to the tattoo, such as the tribal cultures or the Romans. However, eroticism, rebellion or maturity have been other meanings that, although less frequently, have also occurred in some regions of the world.

2. The tattoo today, why do we tattoo ourselves? Nowadays it is not uncommon to see people on the street with tattooed skin, especially young people. Despite the reasons that lead them to get a tattoo, and their meanings, are very varied. An investigation carried out by Pérez Fonseca (2009) indicated that one of the main motivations that lead people to get tattoos, especially young people, is to differentiate themselves from other people, to be different, unique, singular. Similarly, these people are looking for tattoos that represent their personality. A 26-year-old girl with 20% of her body tattooed claimed: “I don't want to be the same as anyone else. […] I chose something that is forever […] that marks your personality ”. Likewise, this author found that another aspect of motivation is the intense desire to continue decorating the body after the first tattoo has been made. Many people said that they could not help it, that they feel an urge that they cannot control that leads them to continue to get more tattoos. What's more, A tattoo and piercing clinic in Granada started an investigation, also in 2009, where they collected certain data on six men and six women who attended the clinic. Among the information collected was the place, size and type of tattoo

that each person performed. The results found differed greatly between men and women. According to the researchers, men tend to get tattoos larger and in more exposed areas of the body, such as the arms or the back. On the contrary, women's tattoos are usually smaller and in less visible areas, such as the ankle or the gut. However, the meaning attributed by both sexes tends to be the same, more related to sensuality and seduction (González García, 2013). Sastre (2011) carried out a qualitative study that consisted of interviewing six people, between 23 and 26 years old, who had tattoos. During the interviews, the influence of his group of friends emerged as one of the reasons for tattooing, that is, the fact that many began to tattoo caused them to want to follow the same path. However, they were also motivated by the fact of feeling different from other people and being able to leave their identity embodied in their skin. Therefore, the tattoo meant for the interviewees a way of feeling unique but, at the same time, it fostered the feeling of belonging to a group. On the other hand, Ferreira (2014) carried out an investigation in Lisbon, Portugal, where he interviewed 15 people with tattoos belonging to different social classes and aged between 20 and 34 years. The results indicated that one of the main reasons why the participants decided to tattoo their skin was to seek visibility, that is, to break with traditional beauty canons and have a different aesthetic than usual. Likewise, another motivation was the search for intensity. Since we live in a culture that tries to flee from pain, the act of tattooing (an activity that causes intense discomfort during its performance) implies intensifying your individual existence through a real bodily experience. One of the participants, in fact, said: “If it didn't hurt,

A curious result of this same research is that the participants spoke of the practice of tattooing as an "addiction". By this they mean that, once they had their first tattoo, they wanted and want to get more while still having space on their skin. Some interviewees even said that they left the tattoo studio thinking about which one would be next. People who decide to get multiple tattoos tend to spend more time thinking about the type of design they want, its theme, size, location or originality; on their social visibility, referring to the opinions they may arouse in family, friends or at work; and on the possible physical and social risks that exist. All these aspects are usually taken into account more seriously than those individuals who decide to get just one or two tattoos. This is because these people try to achieve a certain aesthetic and harmony between all their drawings. Another study carried out, this time, in the United States, collected a sample of 458 university students with (195) and without tattoos (257) to find out the reasons why they had decided to get a tattoo or, on the contrary, not to do it. The results related to the first group of people were very varied, among which they ruled out individual differentiation (17.9%), the representation of some significant event or person in their lives (14.7%), spiritual motives (14 , 2%) and aesthetics (13.2%). However, reasons such as demands for freedom and independence were less common among the participants in this study (6.8%). Likewise, it was also found that women tend to get tattoos smaller than men and in places where they can be covered more easily (Dickson, Dukes, Smith and Strapko, 2015). On the other hand, the results of this same research also showed that the reasons that led the rest of the sample not to get any tattoos, which made up 56.9% of the participants, were concern about the permanence of these drawings ( 33.5%), lack of desire to become one (26.9%), lack of time or money (17.6%), disapproval of parents or other people (12.4%), fear of feeling pain (12.1%), the

not finding any reason to get the tattoo (11.3%), not knowing what design to get (10.5%), due to personal or religious beliefs (4.3%) and for other reasons (8.6%) . Walzer (2015) also conducted another study in which both tattoo carriers and tattoo artists were interviewed. The sample was made up of participants with ages ranging between 21 and 6...