I have heard it said too many times that tattoos and "exotic" piercings are becoming too mainstream, that people are getting them for the wrong reasons. This, to me, is a total lack of respect for opinions coming from a group of people (such as those who frequent BME) that finds nourishment through individuality and beautiful body art.
At A Glance Author NonStream Contact [email protected] When N/A The mainstream as many people know it is made up of the kind of people who do things for other people, to impress other people, and to be accepted by other people. But that is only a perception, not necessarily a reality. Sometimes, feeling like a part of a group, part of something bigger and better is a comforting thought for most if not all people, being a social animal. Those who belong to "undergrounds" are in their own "mainstream," technically, because they fit in with people just like themselves. This leads me to ask: How is someone of the public mainstream different from anyone else if they get a tattoo or piercing?
The way that many of the editorial writers here explain their opinions is understood easily as this: A tattoo or piercing should be done with some meaning behind it, not just to look cool. But to look cool for whom? And how can you immediately assume that someone did it to look cool? Because maybe they shop at Abercrombie or the Gap?
I do not belong to any preppy, popular mainstream, nor do I belong to the "tattooed underground." I have a piece of flash on my back because I am not an artist, and I lack the ability to throw my creativity on paper in fancy shapes and colors. I chose my art because to me, it was beautiful. To me, it enhanced my appearance. It does not need to speak to people I do not know, it does not need to tell virtual nobodies anything about myself. I did not put it on my back to be "cool" and "different." I chose to have it because I wanted it.
Piercings, whether you have some random excuse shared by many for your particular placement or not, certainly have no meaning behind them except maybe genital piercings. Those, obviously, are to bring pleasure or to, surprise surprise, enhance beauty. So, stop complaining about the tragus piercing becoming too mainstream just because more people may have it now. People are beginning to realize that some things, like the tragus, are beautiful.
Not everyone who is not like you is part of a mainstream. I have my navel pierced. I did not do it because I want to show it off to my friends or random strangers. I do not care about them, and truthfully, a lot of people do not. The people who show off their "strange" and "odd" tattoos and piercings seem more apt to want to impress people. People who join circuses and carnivals as some kind of amazing tattooed freak are the kind who are out to show their obvious "differences," when all they seem to want is attention.
When people ask me why I got my tattoo, the crescent moon with a flower on my shoulder blade, I am proud to say simply, "I liked the way it looked on paper." When people ask me why I got my navel piercing, I am proud to say simply, "It makes me feel sexy." No one really asks about the clit hood piercing, because: 1. Not many people know, and 2. Do you really have to ask?
A society is a group of people living together. A culture is the mores and other beliefs and acts that tie those in the society together. America has many little societies, full of various and very different cultural bonds and ties. Tattoos are obviously cross-cultural. So, what gives anyone the right to judge someone on the reasons why they get a tattoo or piercing? What gives some people (you know who you are) the right to tell someone they are part of some random society instead of part of a culture because their reasoning is different than yours?
I do not believe that it is acceptable to call flash tattoos and art that simply APPEARS to have no meaning stupid because it has become part of the "mainstream." I do not believe that people need to complain about the "mainstream," because they are just doing what they want, just like anyone else.
Just because some Abercrombie and Fitch girl has a tattoo on her ankle of a flower does not mean no one else can get that tattoo now because it has become too "mainstream." Just accept everyone for who they are and stop trying to label, justifty, and judge everything, because very few things can be labeled or justified, and none can be judged accurately.