It is unclear as to when tattoos developed such a negative connotation. What once was an art form that symbolized a culture’s fertility and protection, became most well known for gang relations and prison time.

The Origins

The art of tattoos weaved its way across the bodies and cultures of early civilization tracing back to 1200 B.C. From the Egyptian use of ink to represent motherhood and sexuality to the Pre-Columbian cultures showcasing their art through body modification, tattoos were significant in differentiating the many cultures of prehistoric society. Not only a means of structure and symbol, such as identifying a member in an Ancient Greek or Roman religious organization, there was a medicinal aspect to the art of early tattoos.

Estimated to be over 5,000 years of age, it was discovered in 1991 that the Iceman used tattoos as a form of pain relief. Marking 61 key acupuncture spots across the body, the man rid himself of present physical hurt all while halting future pain from coming.

Along with the use of acupuncture, placing ink around the wrists and fingers was often an attempt to ward away illness, to further protect the individual body.

It Turns

In the 19th century, as tattoos became associated with organized crime and early forms of punishment, prejudice began to develop towards the act of body art.

For the 19th century Chinese, tattoos were issued as a means of bad luck with the superstition that scars not only negatively impacted one’s life, but that they acted against sacred human nature. To alter the body of criminals was to downgrade their life and their parents; a dreadful penalty more so than time in prison.

Compared to Chinese culture, 19th century tattoos in Japan differed in that it wasn't the government providing the individual with such body art, but the criminal providing themselves. Early gang members, such as the Yakuza organization, chose to express their sense of self through detailed and beautiful tattoos that indirectly increased the belief of body art as a thing of discrimination and judgement among the public.

While Japan and China were outlawing the act of body art and modification in society, i.e. piercings, tattoos were becoming a fashion statement of the late 19th and early 20th century Victorian Era.

Despite men originating the westernization of tattoos in the military and through sailors, it was the women of the period who developed tattoos as a form of empowerment and liberal freedom. Who began to use their colorful body art to find opportunities in a workforce with limited space for females.

Whether an opportunity for people to encourage individuality or a statement of death, there were both pros and cons that came with the tattoos of history. The line between a fashion statement and a teardrop inside a jail cell blurred throughout the progression of time in a way that made the negatives of tattooing eventually outshine the positives.

A Lack of Change

In a decade of outstanding technology and never ending development, such overbearing negatives continue to promote the rotten stereotype previously associated with tattoos. But why?

How do you learn to look at a person today and say "Oh they look like they would have tattoos," or "They would never get one"? How does having a tattoo somehow discredit someone’s smarts?

In a 21st century society, there is maturity and wisdom in understanding that although one may not like the look of body art or may not agree with the act of being tattooed, they can still respect another's decision to alter themselves.

Frowning upon one’s tattoos is a form of discrimination in that it in no way describes the intellect that one may embody. The ink on one’s skin doesn’t dismiss the knowledge in one’s mind or their decision of being a self. Having their own story. When you pass preconceived judgements on a person because they may have anywhere from one to a hundred tattoos, you are dismissing the entire personality and the possibility of a brilliant being.