Here is an example of the facial tattooing/scarring that was popular in my corner of Cameroon (and across much of the Sahel.) This sort of adornment was nearly universal among men and women in both cities and rural areas and is done for beauty, religion and ethnic identification. People’s unique patterns became part of their identity and charm, and the effect was very beautiful. I can no more imagine my friends from there without their tattoos than I could imagine them with different noses.
This young woman is from a group of nomadic Fulani people. They generally take beauty very seriously. Full-on facial tattoos seem less popular with younger women, but old women are usually quite tattooed up. The patterns range from “slightly scary” to “entrancing”
Anyway, tattoos- not just for American degenerates.
I don’t know about “barbarism” - but it’s going to be nasty in coming years when the younger people who’ve gone for tattoos in a big way start drooping and sagging, and their way cool designs sag and fade too.
Going into medicine? Bone up on laser tattoo removal and whatever new technologies come along for eliminating tats. You’re going to clean up, big time.
shrug I dunno. If the biggest cosmetic problem I had when 60 years old was that my tattoos were sagging, I think I’d have lucked out pretty well and my tattoos would be free to sag as much as they wanted.
I’m largely in agreement with the majority in this thread. I do not view tattoos as barbaric or their acceptance among the mainstream as a sign of social decay. I do view unprovoked wars, torture, and rampant corporate crime as barbaric, and their acceptance among the mainstream as a sign of social decay.
Kunstler’s post reminds me of an essay by Chesterton, where he complains that public moralists complain about certain things in art and ficiton but tolerate the same things in reality.
I had never liked tattoos until I saw a magazine article about a woman who had had both breasts removed because of cancer. As best I remember, she and a friend designed what would look like a permanent halter top tattoo. When the tattoo was complete, the woman would look like she was wearing a halter around her neck and covering her breasts. Only this “halter” was the most incredibly beautiful and intricate Celtic knot design that I have ever seen. Her entire chest was covered with it and it came down to a sort of midrift affect. At the top just a few “strands” rand behind her neck to form the halter part. And I believe that a small section wrapped around at the bottom.
It was easily recognizable as a tattoo. She said that she would go to the beach and people would come over to her and comment on how beautiful it was. And then she could see it almost hit them when they realized that she had no breasts.
I’m not doing justice to her story and the photograph is just utterly incredible. That’s the only tattoo that I have ever coveted. I’m just grateful that I haven’t had need for it yet.
I believe in the same article that I did see another woman who had had one breast removed and had had a long stemmed rose tattooed where that breast had been. She left that side exposed and felt that more women should do the same to let people know how common breast cancer is. She has a point.
I wouldn’t mind a tiny yellow butterfly on the inside of my upper arm perhaps. I would have to hide it from the ladies at the club. No telling what they are hiding.
In an episode of “Loveline”, I once heard Drew Pinski opine that an “excessive” interest in body modification was often an indicator that someone had been abused or neglected as a child.
I think that Dr. Drew has rather broad definitions of “abuse” and “neglect”, and a rather narrow definition of “normal”.
On the other hand, among the people of my acquaintance (YMMV), the heavily inked and pierced people often seem to have a lot of drama in their lives. Many of them seem to have issues with their parents.
It will certainly not cause lung cancer or cirrhosis. But I am not convinced that it is a healthy behavior pattern.
