Whether it’s been as a mark of slavery, cultural purposes or as a form of art, tattooing has been practiced globally for centuries.…
When we modify our body such as tattooing, it is an “imperturbable” thing and is accepted more by society. Tattooing can become a serious thing and one can get addicted because of the pain. Getting tattoos is something one do for fun or to be cool, we control whether or not we tattoo or pierce our bodies. We have the option to say yes or no. We choose to be a modifier.…
Girls, you probably think you go through a lot to make yourselves look beautiful. And you might think that you do more than any girl to make yourselves look as good as possible. In ancient China, little girls were required to bind their feet for acceptance in society. Throughout history, fashion and style has come at great costs to many Chinese women. From the young age of 6, girls had to endure the torturous process of breaking the arch and curling the toes under so that their feet would fit the ideal golden lotus which is a euphemism for the three to four inch, painful and mutilated foot that was so revered in China from the tenth-century up until the twentieth-century. Footbinding has a rich history. Footbinding’s social implications go far beyond its physical pain, into the role…
Tattoos have been around for a very long time and also have been one of the most used body modification.…
Many people see the body as a blank canvas to decorate. Tattoos are important to anthropology because so many cultures have adopted the practice and made it their own. We are now living in a world with a rapid pace of growth and many societies becoming more global. With each day of globalization people die and the stories their tattoos tell die with them also. Today, there are many studies that look at how tattoos have gone from being deviant to mainstream. This popularization of acceptance can be contributed to the massive amounts of celebrities and role models with them and the…
The earliest known examples of tattoos date back to ancient Egypt. The first tattoo found was from the famous frozen mummy known as “The Iceman”. The tattoos found on The Iceman, located on each of his joints and are believed to relief joint pain. Others tattoos found on remains from ancient mummies from as far back in history to 2000 B.C. have been found and I thought to ward off different diseases. Tattoos could also be found on mostly women more specifically dancing-girls. Different patterns found on women's breast and stomach are believed to help relieve pain and give birth to a healthy baby.…
One of the most popular body modifications is tattooing. Tattoos are a way of expressing yourself in a more artistic way. Any image, symbol, word, etc, you could ever want can be tattooed onto your body. The process of tattooing starts “by injecting ink into a person 's skin. To do this, they use an electrically powered tattoo machine that resembles (and sounds like) a dental drill. The machine moves a solid needle up and down to puncture the skin between 50 and 3,000 times per minute. The needle penetrates the skin by about a millimeter and deposits a drop of insoluble ink into the skin with each puncture.” (Wilson, 2000) This process leaves an almost permanent image on your skin. I say almost permanent because with the technology of today, there are ways to get tattoos removed (laser tattoo removal) or to fade…
For millennia, men and woman have permanently marked their bodies by applying simple or complex designs with ink. It started as an ancient cultural tradition, then a mark of dangerous associations, or a sign of rebellion. Nowadays tattoos have become a popular and commercialized body modifications. Many are the reasons why people decided and still go through a painful and permanent procedure to mark their bodies. In ancient times, tattoos were applied for medical or religious reasons, in modern era can be considered a rebellious act, a way to proof our own individuality, or to perpetuate a moment or a person in our lives.…
Tattoos were also used as funeral art. Some cultures believed that a person’s soul could not pass on to the afterlife peacefully if the body of that person was disturbed. To prevent a body from being disturbed, tattoos would be placed on the arms and legs of the body so evil entities would not be able to attack the soul. Some of these tattoos consisted of animals and gods that were said to protect the dead. The deceased and their family members would also get at least one matching tattoo. They would do this so they could still have a connection with each other ("Spirituality & Health Magazine",…
In places like the Middle East, bodies have been found containing piercings and tattoos. One corpse, that was frozen in a glacier, was over 5,000 years old and contained multiple tattoos. A 4,000-year-old figurine made out of clay was found in Iran that contained multiple ear piercings. (Zelyck).…
Did you know that the first sign of tattoos were discovered on the “Iceman” dating back over five thousand centuries? These tattoos were simple lines and dots, but the significance is unknown. The word tattoo is said to have two major derivations- from the Polynesian word ‘ta’ which means striking something and the Tahitian word ‘tatau’ which means ‘to mark something’. After reading this, one will know the background and history of tattoos, the evolution of the equipment used to give tattoos, and the medical risks involved with getting a tattoo. People that do not have or agree with tattoos are sometimes labeled as freaks or rebels. People get tattoos to express their personalities or religious beliefs. Religious tattoos and other symbols are nothing new, tattoos were actually discovered on mummies which dated as far back as 3000 B.C.…
The first tattoos seem to have been for more therapeutic purposes, which is evidenced by the fact that early tattoos were positioned on areas of the body that had degenerated (Lineberry, 2007). Surprisingly, the act of tattooing seems to sometimes be a…
Foot binding was a practice in China that began around the 10th century. It lasted for a very, very long time in history – all the way up until the mid-20th century. Foot binding consists of pressing the toes up against the sole of the foot and tying it there. This was done to girls around age 5. The feet would first be numbed before the toes were broken and tied up. After the initial binding was done, the feet would require periodic attention and washing, to avoid serious infections. This process was extremely painful to women and the pain would last through their entire lives. The main reason behind foot binding was to “show-off”. The idea was that a girl who was foot binded came from a family that was rich enough that she didn’t have to work (meaning manual labor). Although, women who were foot binded could still walk, hike, and do minor field work. Women would wear beautiful silk slippers over their now-tiny feet. This fashion still hindered women greatly though. Through life the woman would have to suffer extreme pain and risk infections that could ultimately lead to death. The process would lead to lifelong disabilities. Foot binding has not been known to be implicated since the mid-20th century.…
Tattooing, noted as (“to mark something” in Tahitian) has been in existence since the year 12,000 B.C. (Demello). Borneo women tattooed their forearms with symbols indicating their particular skill, noted in A Brief History of Tattoos. A woman’s prime marriageable status would increase if she were to bear an indicating symbol that weaving is a trade she is skilled in. Believed to ward away bad spirits and illness, tribes tattooed their wrists and fingers. The earliest tattoos in recorded history could be supported in Egypt around the construction era of the pyramids. As Egypt’s empire developed, the tattooing art would broaden as well. Civilized life in areas such as Arabia, Greece and Crete not only picked up the art form but expanded it (A Brief History of Tattoos). To identify rank and communicate, the spies of Greek used tattoos. With tattoos, the Romans marked slaves and criminals, which are still practiced today.…
The practice of foot binding was extensively spread in the 10th and 20th centuries in China. Foot binding usually began when the female…