Thirty years ago, a friend suggested five of us all get matching tattoos. I thought it was a cool idea, but when I gave my support, the girl who suggested it laughed, saying I’d never get one.
So, I got one. Then another to “finish” my first. Then another, and another.
Fast forward to today, I’m the only one out of the original five friends with ink, and I have dozens of hours of work. Why? Because I like them.
Or dedication, commitment, and thoughtful self-expression.
Potato, potahto.
Take the movie, Encino Man from 1992. For all it’s awkwardness, that movie is a pretty good time stamp for when 1950s prudishness began to dissolve in earnest. Yes, people began pushing back against societal molding in the 60s and esp 70s, but those who did were by no means accepted in the mainstream; in fact paisley-clad hippies and punk rockers with day-glo mohawks were still fairly shocking. By the mid-80s you could flout societal expectations and be different without destroying your family’s good name, but there was still a significant social cost if you did. You were still gambling your mainstream social credibility in order to keep your own soul alive. That started to dissolve in the early-90s as Political Correctness began its rise. Although PC was (and still is to a large degree) considered kind of a buzzkill, it also pumped the brakes on rejecting those who were different. Encino Man captures the disorientation of those steeped in the Old Ways as minds became open to living and letting live.
As we began to avoid mocking or shunning people who bucked the system, it started to become very cool to follow your bliss. You’re gay? Be gay, whatever. You want funky hair? here’s 400 new colors & perm kits at your local corner store. Want to conceal your gender while you give it a bit more thought? Here’s a bunch of ‘loose-fitting’ clothes and a pensive music genre to make them practical. You want a tattoo? Choose from these classic designs, or have a look at our Animaniacs collection.
Tattoo is a bet with yourself that something that interests you today will still be of interest in 30+ years. I had always been intrigued by them but also couldn’t commit to a design I thought I’d like to look at for that long. It should mean something to me because let’s face it, I ain’t gonna get any better looking with just a little bit of paint. After I turned 50 my daughter wanted to get matching tattoos with me, and it only took a few seconds for us to decide on the design–something that has defined our relationship, and our outlooks on life in general, for over 20 years. It would have been satisfying to have gotten it 30 years ago, but now it’s even more special.
This reminds me of how thoroughly society has changed, in this respect at least.
I went to an art school on an island for a summer in the early 70s. Over morning coffee on a dune, someone asked one of the older guys about a woman he’d met in a bar. He just smiled, arched an eyebrow and stage-whispered “She has…* tattoos.”*
Most of my tattoos have color. The oldest (thirty some years) is just as bright and vivid as the most recent (2 years). I use 70 SPF sunblock on all my art.
Is it really fashion, though? Isn’t fashion ephemeral?
OK, so, tattoos are popular now because…they’re fashionable, more acceptable, and not as painful to get. Thanks for the discussions!
How about part 2 of my question, why do some people suddenly decide to get all fashionable and get a lot of tattoos after a certain point? And am I right in my sense that oftentimes, this transition coincides (or is triggered by) a major life change?
If “yeah, that one” after 30 years of pondering constitutes a major life change, and a 2x6 inch mark on a forearm constitutes ‘loading up’ then I am indeed busted. 
Folks I know with more than three images have generally been at it since they were old enough to sit still for the needle, and their first is often a DIY. I would consider the same people to be the sort who, at a very young age, might tell someone where to stick their judgment. (not a snark at anyparticularbody). I don’t know anyone who, after 40+ years of living unmarked, turned into The Enigma overnight.
Some of us still hold this opinion. 
These days, my major objection is that it is fashion, and therefore any number of my students want to get ink the second they turn 18. So they get bad art, from worse artists, of things they will cringe over when they are 25 just to be “cool.”
People do stupid things for stupid reasons. Other people are judgmental assholes. Film at 11.
Sure fashion is ephemeral, but that doesn’t mean that all fashions have exactly the same longevity.
I’m sure that the fashions about having tattoos will continue to change over time, but the shifts will take longer than shifts in current fashions about, say, hairstyles or makeup.
They aren’t permanent. Nothing is permanent. Tattoos will last 80-90 years at best. Enjoy them while you can.
I’m skeptical that tattoos are less painful than they were. My first tattoo was on my shoulder. I told my wife at the time (2001) that it felt like a cat licking my shoulder. A decade and a half later, I got another tattoo, this one something like a sleeve, and the outside of my arm felt the same, like being licked by a cat. A little scratchy, but no big deal. Soothing, even. But the inside of my arm, near my elbow? It felt like the tattoo artists was peeling long strips of skin off my body with red hot pincers. I suspect if you got tattoos many years apart, and the first was much more painful than the latter, that it was due to placement on your body, and possibly the skill of the artist, rather than any new pain easing techniques developed in the intervening years.
I wonder if computers had something to do with the popularity of tattoos? I know I was always turned off by the pre-made art that was in the books you could browse through at the parlor. This isn’t a haircut, I don’t want to look like the other kids on the block. This art is going to be on my body for the rest of my life, why would I want the same generic tattoo fifty other guys have? But I can design my own tattoo (or have my wife the artist sketch up my idea), take it to the shop, and have them make a stencil from it. I’m not sure I could have done that thirty years ago. So now I have bespoke art that speaks to me personally and that I know nobody else on Earth has, and that drastically increases the appeal of tattoos, to me.
Interestingly, while I love tattoos, I’m not a huge fan of piercings. I mean, earrings are okay but I’m talking about the pincushion faces with tons of metal in them. Or the ear gauges. I mean, whatever floats your boat, if that’s your style, but I don’t find it nearly as attractive or expressive as I do tattoos. But by all means, pierce yourself up if that’s your thing. I just wouldn’t do it myself. It does appear to me that facial piercing gained popularity almost concurrently with tattoos, so maybe we should be looking for something that explains both?
I’ve never gotten a tattoo. My tastes change too much. I do think of it as fashion…and I get tired of wearing the same styles. If it were easy and practical to have them removed, I might get one or two. But most tattoos just don’t look that good to me. Whatsherface, Lena Dunham, has a couple that from more than about 6 feet away just look like someone scribbled on her with a ballpoint pen.
Some tattoos are gorgeous, but I still don’t think I want them on me.
I’m also ultra-cautious and deliberative. I got a tattoo because, in part, I wanted to do something that wasn’t either of those, and the negative consequence - maybe having a bit of skin on my body that I don’t like the look of - was pretty mild.
As it turns out, a decade plus down the line, I don’t regret it at all.
I’ve never gotten one. I’ve never been tempted.
Today I am 59, planning for retirement both financially and with what-am-I-gonna-do?, and I’m actually considering getting a tattoo. Just one, a USMC EGA (eagle, globe, and anchor logo, like this) on my arm. I’ve been thinking on this for a few years.
I’ve seen plenty of tats, there are many in the military, and a lot of them were spur of the moment decisions often lubricated by alcohol.
Lately, tattoos can be really well done. If I get one now, it’ll have to last me, what?, 20-30 years maybe? So perhaps I’m part of that trend where they’re becoming more popular.
This makes me think of one of the classic threads (from 2008) from another forum. Unfortunately the original photo is gone, so I’ll attempt to describe it. It was the I-Ching symbol from GI Joe still visible in other versons in the thread, except his was huge and solid black. On the inside of the arm, starting at around the wrist and continuing halfway to the elbow. Each solid black bar was around an inch thich and maybe five inches long, partially wrapping around the thinner part of his rather fleshy arm. It was almost like he had had a single large solid black rectangle tattooed on his arm. The thread starts off with him proudly showing off the tattoo but later develops into his complaining about getting newly heavy attention from a store security guard as he shopped, because it looked like a bad prison tattoo. And it was huge. And blocky. And black. So just about as difficult as it could possibly be to modify or remove. 12 years later, I wonder how he views it now?
Wow, I see that someone did manage to preserve the original image, in post #158. More blank space than I rembered, but just as hideous.
I am proud of those people who dared to get a tattoo because it is very cool. I am sure that this is what makes us individual. Tattoo helps to show what is inside of us outside of our body. I’m afraid to do it and probably never will. And this is my choice and I want everyone to respect my decision.
I don’t have any tattoos because no matter how perfectly it was done (assuming it was) I would find something that bothered me about it and would never be totally happy with it. It’s just my nature. Maybe it should have bigger or maybe it should have been smaller or more to the left or more to the right or maybe it’s not totally straight. And on and on.
If I’d gotten one in my late teens or early twenties, peak time for getting one, it almost certainly would have been something that I am not into anymore. They were not legal here at that time and it’s probably for the better as far as my skin is concerned.
That said, I can appreciate a good tattoo on someone else.
I wonder if people getting their first tattoo in middle age is the contrapositive to my reason for not getting one*. Maybe by 40 they figure their tastes/politics/beliefs aren’t going to change in any radical ways.
*I was thinking about getting ‘some ink’… and thinking of marrying my girlfriend.
Then, I had my one wise thought: I’m in my 20s, and I won’t be the same person in my 30s or 40s. Maybe I’ll wait on both of those.
Dodged two bullets: would’ve had a MAGA-hatted ex-wife, and an inside joke (an obscure Firesign Theatre line yet) on my tricep.