by Amanda Kovac |
The tool? A needle. The canvas? Skin.
On the topic of tattoos, the Smithsonian museum suggests that tattooing has been around for 5,200 years, based on the discovery of the Iceman in 1991. Since then, tattooing has become a popular form of art and self-expression, even at the high school age. Tattoos can be a symbol for something great in a person’s life, but they can also be dangerous.
“All of them[my three tattoos] mean something,” junior Jack Karriker said. “There’s a fire ax on my shoulder because my family are firefighters. They always have been. There’s also a scroll that says ‘This is the Real Me’ on the inside of my right arm because if people ever want to judge me, I don’t really care… There’s a cross on the outside of my left arm with a K in the middle, because that’s our family’s tattoo.”
Tattoos can represent special memories, important people, or a future that awaits. Senior Meredith Graves has a tattoo of the Fleur de Lis.
“It’s the symbol of the ancient French monarchy, which will be my major in college and I plan on going to France,” Graves says.
Getting tattooed is a big decision and depending on the age of the person getting tattooed, parents need to be involved. It is illegal to tattoo or pierce a minor without written parental consent.
“My mom encouraged me to get it. She helped me design it and she went with me and sat by me the whole time I got it done. My mom had to convince my dad a little bit, but he understood that it was for a good reason,” senior Haley Slaton said. “It represents being open to different cultures because I travel a lot. It was just a good way to remember good memories in other countries and continue to learn more.”
Though tattoos seem fairly innocent, there are downsides.
In professional atmospheres, tattoos can be problematic.
“Some of our employees have had to go to great lengths to conceal their tattoos. Many times our associates are with our clients, and we expect our associates to abide by their rules. Often times their rules are stricter than our own,” Robin Smith, Cerner Community Relations representative, said.
There are not only downsides when it comes to business, but tattoos can also have high health risks.
“Some of the risks are: post infections and skin infections. They can be from staph infections to MRSA, which require IV antibiotics, hospital stays and sometimes even amputations,” nurse Michelle Kist said.
“One of the other problems with tattoos is even if you go to a reputable place, you don’t really know what their sterilization techniques are and there is going to be a big risk of contracting hepatitis and if you contract hepatitis, then you also put yourself at risk for Aids.”
Tattoos should be researched and young adults should be aware of all the flaws with sanitation and be willing to take that risk. Tattoo shops should be chosen with care.
Kist knows the downsides to tattooing firsthand, because one of her relatives is paying the price for it with their life. “As a family member of someone that has contracted hepatitis C and is at the end stages of their life, that ‘it looked like a good decision at the time’ has been life altering for that person’s children, sisters, brothers and everybody involved,” Kist said.
Another practice of body art is piercings. The most popular forms are the ears, but many teens have piercings in their nose, belly button or lip. Piercings can be an artistic decision or a disaster.
“I got it around three years ago. A friend of mine told me that it could be hidden and so I got it and I’ve just had it ever since. I’ve just never really taken it out,” senior Erik Whiteford said about his septum piercing.
There are a lot of reasons people get piercings; there may be a story behind them, they may be unique or just the way they look.
The same laws for tattoos apply to piercings. Minors cannot be pierced without written parent or guardian consent. This should be discussed and researched as thoroughly as tattoos.
“I just like that I don’t really have to do anything to care for them and they’re always there,” junior Remi Rocha said about her clavicle piercings. “I just like that I don’t really have to do anything to care for them and they’re always there. With a nose piercing you had to work your make-up around it and these I just don’t notice. They’re just in there. They stay really clean too.”
In professional enviroments, piercings can be problematic.
“Body art must be appropriate for the business environment in which we operate. Anyone displaying inappropriate or distracting body art may be required to conceal it,” Cerner Community Relations representative Robin Smith said.
Making the decision to get a piercing so young could cause some issues because people are constantly changing.
“I don’t have any regrets; I just started to lose interest of it. It’s boring. I’ve seen it for three years now. It’s like, nothing can really change,” Whiteford said.
There are risks that come from getting a piercing. If the piercing tools are not sanitary or if they are not properly taken care of, piercings can become infected easily.
“It has already been infected because in the summer, if you sweat and sweat gets inside it, it can get infected,” sophomore Justice Thompson said about her hip embellishment. “It takes a few months to heal and by this summer it still wasn’t fully healed, so it got infected.”
Piercings can also be ripped out, which is not a concern with tattoos.
“With piercings you have the direct opportunity for laceration. A child could grab an earing or the metal device suddenly and pull and rip and that has happened many times, even with pierced ears,” nurse Julie Goodman said.
“I hope I won’t have any regrets because they’re going to scar really bad. I kind of forget that they’re in now,” Rocha said.
Piercings can be dangerous, but for some it is worth it for the sake of art.
“Whenever people say stuff about them I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, those are in there.’ I like them a lot,” Rocha said.
