Tattoos have been increasingly popular in the past couple of decades, although more recently, our generation has become utterly obsessed with the permanent art that decorates their skin. This permanent trend has swept through high schools and has settled itself at Woodside High School.
Miss Marten, an art teacher at Woodside expressed her opinion about tattoos, “I have no good or bad opinion about tattoos, but I think they should be chosen carefully and the placement should be in a place that can be covered.”
Tattoos have been criticized by older generations despite the recent uproar about this painfully beautiful artwork. In the 80’s and 90’s, tattoos appeared on reckless kids, scary bikers, and band members which gave people a specific impression.
“Tattoos can have an effect on employment although less now than in the past 25 years, but some workplaces may still be prejudice against tattoos,” Marten explained.
When talking about tattoos with parents or grandparents, the most common response is that you can get tattoos if you don’t want a job in the future. Despite these unsupportive and biased conversations that are intended to discourage teenagers to get tattoos, sometimes it has the opposite effect.
Natalia Younan, a junior at Woodside, said, “The reason people get tattoos is mostly for self expression, but another hidden reason is because it makes you feel rebellious and powerful to have something that our parents disapprove of.”
In this generation, tattoos are portrayed as a “badass” way to show everyone our true and genuine selves. Teenagers tend to have different opinions about tattoos than their parents because they are growing up in a more progressive environment where things like tattoos and colored hair are more acceptable.
Ms. Marten, who is a devoted mother as well as a teacher believes that, “young people are in no position to have tattoos and I would not allow my children to get them as long as I have a say.”
Although the world is becoming more acceptable to certain things, there are still people who do not feel comfortable with this permanent self expression when it is happening to their own children, but do not have a problem with strangers having them.
Ally Seidl, a sophomore at Woodside, has a bunch of little tattoos that scatter her left arm. She practices stick n’ poke, which is the act of using a single needle with permanent ink and poking the design desired.
Ally Seidl describes the pain of a sharp needle continuously digging into her skin and how the intricate designs that cover her arm reveal a part of herself to others.
Seidl said, “I like them and they look pretty cool as well as have a meaning and are a part of my life.”
