Tttoos as regulr spect of consumer culture - Essay Example

Tttoos hve becme regulr spect of consumer culture, where they dd culturl cpitl to the body's surfce Contemporry world is experiencing wht some cll second "tttoo renissnce" (DeMello, 2000:58). s prt of this revolution in the populr culturl significnce of tttooed flesh, tttooing is scending to unprecedented levels of populrity mong vst rry of socil groups. long-stnding symbol clled "body project" (Shilling, 1993:18) is now floting signifier of full pnorm of socil sttuses, roles nd identities. The tttoo is blossoming s polysemic symbol of mny countries, nd is ctively inserted into the identity politics of melnge of ctors. More so thn in ny previous er tttoos hve becme regulr spect of consumer culture, where people, by becoming "pregnnt" (Shilling, 1993:18) with culturl significnce, try to build culturl cpitl through their bodies' surfce. I will further discuss this sttement, give sociologicl review of the issue nd provide the evidence to support this ide. s tttooing hs becme widespred phenomenon throughout cultures, sociologists strted to reserch the origins of it s well s they scientificlly found the resons behind its existence. Mny cdemics lmost invribly describe tttooing s culturl devince (tkinson, 2003:91; DeMello, 2000:59). Studies of tttooing mong the mentlly chllenged, prisoners, gng members, nd devint youth subcultures, represent the tttoo s bdge of dislocted, ostrcized, nd disenfrnchised communities. prt from nthropologicl nlyses of tttooing in Jpnese, Melnesin, fricn, nd Polynesin cultures, few socil scientific studies portry tttooing s either rtionl or pro-socil. Even comprehensive historicl or ethnogrphic nlyses of the prctice selectively link tttooed bodies to stigmtized popultions. Tttooing is decoded s esotericlly normtive within the boundries of historiclly mrginl groups, s its profnity well represents group members' feelings of difference nd exclusion. It is deciphered, in Cohen's (2000:12) terminology, s devint "collective solution" to sentiments of socil inferiority. While tttooing is by no mens widely respected in Western cultures, its one-dimensionl depiction s uncontested devince is sociologiclly myopic. mjority of empiricl nlyses of tttooing fil to consider how the body project symbolizes conformity to previling culturl body idiom, or expecttions of ffective control upheld throughout Western ntions. Even fewer juxtpose the booming populrity of tttooing ginst culturl prescriptions to engge in style of body work underpinned by the impetus to disply one's individulism to others. Theorists regulrly ignore whether tttooing my be prt of wht White nd Young refer to s the estblished "middle-clss body scetic," (Shilling, 1993:18) or wht Monghn (2001:330) describes s "vibrnt physiclity." In relted medicl nd epidemiologicl reserch, tttooing is ttributed to youth impetuousness nd irrtionlit. Tttooing indictes immturity mong t-risk youth nd is correlted with other forms of self-hrm such s physicl ggressiveness, promiscuity, substnce buse nd suicide. ccordingly, enthusists exhibit pucity of foresight in their behviours, prefer physicl expression over cognitive or verbl, nd demonstrte feelings of socil inferiority through unhygienic nd physiclly dngerous ptterns of ction. To voluntrily inflict pin on one's body nd mr the skin with everlsting symbols of impurity is described s overtly ntisocil. Such interprettions ring with Judeo-Christin understndings of the body s scred home, nd legitimte Western-scientific theories bout tttoo enthusism prevlent since the turn of the 19th century (tkinson, 2003:92). Sociologicl nlyses of tttooing produce slightly broder spectrum of interprettion thn psychologicl-medicl. Yet despite DeMello's (2000:61) pth-breking nlyses of tttooing s contextul nd negotited signifier of identity, sociologicl sttements on the culturl use of tttoos ultimtely (re)produce conceptuliztion of the prctice s contr-normtive. The symbiotic reltionship between tttooing nd illegl behviour (or otherwise unconventionl lifestyles) still domintes in sociologicl reserch. Sociologists prefer to study the subversive subculturl uses of tttooing mong groups such s prisoners nd youth gngs. Exmintions of everydy life in tttoo studios eqully "verify" the disreputble nture of North mericn tttooing cultures. Tttooing is deconstructed s signifying prctice tht purposefully embrces nd promulgtes imges of Otherness. It is postulted to be prt of homology of devint style, tht is, set of complementry group prctices colescing round shred set of outsider ideologies, ctivities nd representtionl preferences. With pprent irreverence to tkinson's (2003:98) clims tht non-minstrem forms of body modifiction foster culturl bonds, few exmine tttoos s pro-socil mrkers. The nture of tttooing s normtive prctice is rrely considered, becuse both the pthology of the ct nd ctor is ssumed. Reflective of this ongoing trdition of interprettion, there presently exists gint schism between socil scientific interprettions of tttooing nd contemporry sensibilities bout the ct. The dominnt mnner of nlysing tttoos in cdemic reserch my, however, be chllenged by exploring severl of the sensitizing principles of figurtionl sociology. mong some women tttoo enthusists, for exmple, body mrkings re replete with strong feelings of sexul desire. Tttoos drw wnted sexul ttention to the body nd heighten erotic senstions in certin contexts of exchnge (i.e., in night club, on dte, within leisure scenrio, or during intimte sexul interction). Since western women hve been, t lest historiclly, dissuded from prticipting in tttooing in light of its hypermsculinist imge, mrking the body in this mnner my signify sexul independence, freedom nd self-determintion; qulities recently populrized by girl power ttitudes. Mrie (22) remrks, "My 'Cndin girls kick ss' tttoo is bout being proud nd sexy womn. Girls do kick ss, so my tttoo, which is right bove my ss, lets guys know tht I'm pretty but I'm lso very strong." Tttoos in this vein re neither flmboynt nor lrge nd exist on loctions of the body tht re conceled in everydy life. They serve to ccentute the "nturl" fleshy curves nd sexy contours of the stereotypiclly femle body: When you rrnge tttoo with sex in mind, it gives you confidence. Men love my tttoos nd I feel incredibly ttrctive when men gwk t me.... I wnt people to stre t my tttoos [round the hips] nd see confident womn who isn't frid to be herself ... womn with sexul feelings.... I don't go round nd sleep with every guy who gets roused by my body. It's enough to know tht I could hve guys if I wnted. Tht's the rel sexul power of tttoo (llison, 20). Rther thn expressing sexulity through forms of risk tking (i.e., promiscuity), these women emote sexulity through tttooing in self-restrined nd personlly responsible mnner. Enthusists lso engge in tttooing to mnge feelings of grief or sorrow. Elis (1994:255) points out tht displys of sorrow re regulrly "pushed behind the scenes" of socil life becuse they connote shmeful instbility. If grief is publicly mnged in rehbilittive mnner, though, individuls highlight their cpcity for self-control. Prticulrly troubling or wrenching emotionl experiences (most usully, the loss of vlued bonds with we others) nd their mngement structure such tttooing projects. Through "controlled decontrolling of emotionl controls" (Elis nd Dunning, 1986:110), individuls lower their lerned emotionl gurds nd vent feelings of detchment from WE others in tttoo projects. Tttoos commemorting deth of loved one, divorce, exiting from n especilly close peer group (e.g., tem, school, or friendship clique), or even ntionl "victimiztion" (s noted by the spte of post-9/11 tttoos) help illustrte: There's point in your life where you either tke the bull by the horns, or sit in your house nd be loser. When I left the [hockey] tem, I wnted to be the second kind of guy. It felt like I ws dying, hving to be wy from the guys nd not feeling the cmrderie. It ws totl shit. My friends wnted nothing to do with me becuse I would piss nd mon. So, I withdrew into s hell ... tht's where the tttoo [tem logo] comes from. There's only so much you nd your fmily cn stnd nd then you help yourself.... I feel empty nd depressed some dys becuse I'm not the plyer I ws, but hving the tttoo reminds me of hppier times. Those memories cn't be tken wy, nd my tttoo shows I ws once prt of specil group of guys (Shne, 27). Shne thinks tht wllowing in self-pity or ngst is counter-productive nd emits n undesirble outsider imge (i.e., s powerless, dominted or psychologiclly wek). Tttoo enthusists like him prefer to rework the body through tttooing nd engge in innovtive self-help. To receive personl mening for Shne, this self-help must be recognized nd understood by others. lthough lrgely misinterpreted in the tttooing literture, feelings of fer nd nxiety motivte certin tttooing projects. Bodies re tttooed by some individuls in response to fers produced by gmut of diseses (e.g., cncer, lzheimer's nd IDS/HIV), socil conditions plcing people t risk (e.g., crime, poverty, discrimintion, wr, terrorism nd strtifiction), nd culturl trends restructuring WE/THEY group identifiction (e.g., gentrifiction, globliztion, frgmenttion nd seculriztion). These tttooing projects communicte sense of self-empowerment, efficcy nd restrint in the fce of such dunting conditions: It's totlly understndble to me why tttooing is populr now, when there re million wys your body cn be invded. How cn I her bout rpists, gng-bngers, these fucking corportions who pollute every product we buy, or strngers with disese nd not think, hmmm, mybe should be frid.... fter while you py ttention to how your body works nd looks. wek-looking body is trget.... With ll the risks I cn't control, I put on this rmour [tttoos] nd show how I won't lie down nd be victim. It's like drwing line in the snd sying, I might be t risk but you cn't cross this line. Right here is where I mke my stnd (Regin, 29). By ccepting the culturl impertive to perform identity through body work (i.e., including personl response to thret), Regin interprets tttooing s congruent with estblished figurtionl idels bout fcing one's fers nd overcoming them in socilly/self- responsible wys. Where certin tttoo enthusists intextute symbols of socil nxiety onto the body, others symbolise "positive" emotions like joy nd exubernce through tttoos. Tttooing the body cn be gesture of love, hppiness, excitement nd belonging for those seeking to disply the stisfction glened from involvement in vlued WE-groups. dominnt theme running through Elis's reserch on long-term socil trnsformtion in Western ntions is the ide tht "erly" (i.e., pre-Medievl) socil configurtions relied on coercion nd externl force s the min mechnisms of socil control. But s functions within socil institutions incresingly differentite nd people rely upon others more extensively in dily life, individuls become more ttuned to the needs of mny ctors. The predictbility nd control of personl ction is essentil in complex socil figurtions, s individuls cquire more specific, extended nd interdependent roles (Elis, 1994:256). Personlity structures re subsequently ltered over the long term such tht culturl hbits involving high levels of inner continment becme prt of the collective hbitus. Persons choosing to ct impulsively or irrtionlly jeoprdize their scribed nd chieved socil positions in figurtions demnding high levels of inner restrint. Elis rgued tht individuls in Western ntions self-regulte ll fcets of public conduct nd self-disply becuse they fer loss of sttus ccompnying socilly unwnted behviour. To Elis (1994), this represents "civilizing" chnge in the functioning of socil control. Self-restrint mong vst group of people results when the experience of shme (nd lerned compulsion to void it) becomes cornerstone of their shred culturl hbitus. In conjunction with the push towrd self-control nd the notble impct of shme on personlity structures, culturl thresholds towrd licentious, disgusting, immorl or otherwise lscivious behviours lower over the course of time (Elis, 1994:270). In outlining the bove civilizing processes, Elis (1994:272) underscores the importnce of "bodily control" s symbol of one's inner pcifiction. rguing tht the body trnsforms into text through which person performs socil distinction, sttus nd ffective control, Elis (1994:272) notes how personl control is intentionlly inscribed onto the skin. Key to understnding Elis's (1994:272) nlysis of corporel performnce is the notion tht bodies re incresingly rtionlized over the course of civilizing processes. If ffective continment nd the dily exhibition of personl control symbolize one's culturl stnding nd help mintin one's positions, roles nd vried socil sttuses, the inner pcifiction one "does" through body work significntly shpes one's socil identity. Wheres the rticultion of control through converstion my illustrte inner pcifiction, most notble forms of self-restrint re often unspoken corporel cts of complince to estblished body idiom. Given the ongoing diversifiction in the culturl uses of tttooing nd some of the sensitizing theoreticl principles outlined bove, socil scientists might reclibrte our understndings of the socil interdependencies nd ffective communictions embedded in tttoos. Preferred cdemic interprettions of the body project hold firmly to conceptuliztion of tttoo enthusists s impulsive nd non-reflexive socil misfits who express disdin for conventionl body prctices. Despite recent estimtes tht nywhere from 10%-20% of Cndins hve tttoos (tkinson, 2003:95), cdemics generlly deconstruct tttooing s typicl nd isolted risk-tking behviour. However, by letting go of heretofore preferred theoreticl constructions of tttooing nd ctully conversing with tttoo enthusists, we begin to pprecite "lterntive" empiricl lessons bout this brnd of body modifiction. Figurtionl sociology my help rebuild the decying nlyticl bridge between socil-psychologicl constructions of tttooing nd everydy interprettions of tttoos tht werers mke. Enthusists' nrrtives suggest how socil interdependencies influence both the desire to become tttooed nd the chrcter of tttooing projects. Furthermore, individuls either explicitly or implicitly mnge ffective expression through their tttoos, thereby trnsforming the skin into socil billbord of normtive emotion work. Even though tttoo enthusists promulgte pro-socil constructions of the ct, mny do not wish tttooing to chieve widespred culturl cceptnce. In fering the tttoo will trnsform into vcuous culturl commodity through its common usge (nd quickly forgotten s psse trend), enthusists stress how tttooing is too good for most people. For these people, the historiclly devint nture of the prctice is lluring, exciting nd chic. It is qusi-normtive form of body mrking llowing one to customize the self through "lterntive" skin rt nd explore culturlly recognizble sense of "individulity" (tkinson 2003:96). In the end, contemporry tttooing is then socil prdox nd strnge mlgm of culturl vlues bout the body nd its disply. The tttooed body both mrks long-term civilized culturl preferences to lter the flesh s prt of "doing" (Bryan, 1999 :39) socil identity, nd signifies more recent socil influences on body modifiction preferences rising from corporel com-modifiction, risk processes nd technologicl innovtion. In reding the tttooed body s mrker of figurtionl ebbs nd flows, the micrologicl nd mcrologicl influences on our culturl ttitudes regrding tttooed flesh re highlighted. Future socil-psychologicl reserch on tttooing should chllenge overly simplistic, historicl nd stereotypicl constructions of the tttooing process, nd pursue empiricl explntions of the prctice grounded in the lived experience of being tttooed. Bibliogrphy: 1. DeMello, M. 2000. Bodies of Inscription: Culturl History of the Modern Tttoo Community. Durhm: Duke University Press, 58-61. 2. Shilling, C. 1993. The Body nd Socil Theory. London: Sge, 18. 3. tkinson, M. 2003. Tttooed: The Sociogenesis of Body rt. Toronto: The University of Toronto Press, 91-98. 4. Cohen, T. 2000. The Tttoo. London: Greenwich Editions, 12. 5. Monghn, L. 2001. "Looking good, feeling good: The embodied plesures of vibrnt physiclity." Sociology of Helth nd Illness, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 330-56. 6. Turner, Bryan S. (1999), 'The Possibility of Primitiveness :Towards a Sociology of Body Marks in 'Cool' Societie', in Body and Society, Vol.5(2-3):39-50, London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi, Sage Publications 7. Gittleson, N., G. Wllfn nd K. Dwson-Butterworth. 1969. "The tttooed psychitric ptient." British Journl of Psychitry, Vol. 115, pp. 1249-53. 8. Elis, N. nd E. Dunning. 1986. Quest for Excitement: Sport nd Leisure in the Civilizing Process. Oxford: Bsil Blckwell. 110-115. 9. Elis, N. 1994. The Civilising Process. Oxford: Bsil Blckwell. 255-291. Read More