The link between tattoos and exhibiting troubling behaviors is growing stronger.
The Atlantic’s Isabel Fattal recently discussed America’s fascination with tattoos, referring to these body modifications as both “thrilling” and “reassuring.” What the author failed to mention is that tattoos are often a reflection of an individual’s damaged psyche. Getting a tattoo is not necessarily something to be celebrated. Instead it’s something to be examined, discussed—and, in many cases, lamented.
A more tattooed America means a more troubled America.
The author Jordan Weisman once described the “intensely human act” of getting a tattoo, of taking “some stray momentary emotion” and “cutting it into your body so that it could never heal and never be erased.” He’s not the first one to equate tattooing with self-mutilation, and he certainly won’t be the last. That’s because across the United States an increasing number of people are choosing to ink their bodies.
In 2021, the global market for tattoos was worth $1.75 billion; by the end of the decade, it is anticipated to be worth more than double that amount at $3.55 billion. Of all the countries in the world, the United States is one of the more heavily tattooed. A decade ago, according to Ipsos, one-fifth of the population, regardless of age, had at least one tattoo. Today, it’s closer to one-third of the population, or roughly 110 million people. And many of these enthusiasts are getting increasingly-eccentric modifications such as face tattoos.
https://americanmind.org/salvo/inked-nation/