Tattoos — are they even considered to be taboo anymore? What used to be a rare occurrence is now far more common; on lawyers, olympians, and yours truly. In fact— more than a third of Americans aged 18-25 have at least one tattoo, and I think it's fair to say that when my mom gets one — they are well and truly considered to be mainstream.
People are rushing out to get inked, and for good reason. In fact a whopping 43% of people with tattoos believe that the most important factor considered when getting a tattoo is personal meaning. So you can understand why it's not surprising that so many people around me have tattoos that mean something to them- both big and small. I've compiled a bunch of tattoos from my friends, and put them here, to show the normalisation of tattoos in our age group.
1. Megan Showers — "Agape"
"Agape means unconditional love that won't be swayed by time or circumstances. Alpha Omicron Pi has been a huge part of our lives so why not get it tattooed on for life? The five of us just woke up one day and made the decision — it happened a few hours later"
2. Kalee Leistikow — Three Birds
"3 birds for my three siblings. I'm the youngest and my older siblings mean a lot to me and they taught me so much."
3. Kalee Leistikow — Baby Girl
""Baby Girl" in my moms handwriting. It's what she always calls me, and having it in her handwriting just makes it that much more special."
4. Renee Stohr — Family
"It says family and then has 3 birds for my 3 immediate families (I was adopted and then found my biological parents in high school, so I have my adoptive family, my dad's family, and my moms family."
5. Michael McCarthy — Just Pray
"So my tattoo is a JP standing for just pray, but if you look at it, it's the same either way. Basically I struggle with a lot of anxiety both social and general anxiety. One of the ways I help cope is to pray, because it helps me to take my mind off the current issue that is stressing me out or giving me a panic attack. It redirects my focus to something else that I know is productive. For example I sometime have really bad anxiety when I think about friends I may never see again, and I think about how much I miss them and I become absorbed in that. But now I use my tattoo as a reminder that even if things aren't going how I want them too, it helps me accept that things aren't under my control and that praying is the only thing that I can do."
7. Emily Jaques (Yours Truly) — Crescent Moon
"My tattoo is a crescent moon. I grew up overseas, and my family still live back home in Australia. In the Southern Hemisphere, they cannot see the same stars, but we can see the same moon- so I got a crescent moon tattooed to remind me of them. My mom ended up matching mine, so now we have tattoos with an added meaning, "I love you to the moon and back."
8. Cameron Lantry — Compass
"A compass represents good direction in life, and because life is a constant struggle of falling and standing back up, it's a reminder that I can be strong enough to overcome anything and make the right choices."'
It's fair to say there are plenty of people getting meaningful tattoos, and getting permanently inked with things that are not only significant but also important to them. Despite them being mainstream, people are still able to be unique and attribute meaning to tattoos to make them their own.
