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Buckle JL, Corbin Dwyer S. Embodied meaning making: Memorial tattoos as a visual expression of grief. DEATH STUDIES 2021; 47:1-9. [PMID: 34632966 DOI: 10.1080/07481187.2021.1983889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Memorial tattoos are an increasingly prevalent response to the death of a loved one. This study explored the role of memorial tattoos as an active response to loss and a visual expression of grief. Twenty-two people with memorial tattoos volunteered to be interviewed and to have photographs taken of their tattoos. Through a grounded theory analysis, the core category emerged that memorial tattoos were an expression of embodied meaning making in the grief experience. Under this core category, the themes of creating permanence, constructing control, and symbolizing the bond further elucidated the meaning making process represented in memorial tattoos.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer L Buckle
- Psychology Program, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University, Corner Brook, Canada
| | - Sonya Corbin Dwyer
- Psychology Program, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University, Corner Brook, Canada
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2
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"I'm getting too old for this stuff": The conceptual structure of tattoo aesthetics. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2021; 219:103390. [PMID: 34390931 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2021] [Revised: 08/05/2021] [Accepted: 08/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
While body modifications have increasingly gained acceptance and popularity, how different subpopulations aesthetically appreciate tattoos remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the conceptual structure underlying tattoo aesthetics, focusing on the effects of internalized social norms and expertise. Using a timed free-listing task, three groups (≤49 years, ≥50 years, and experts) comprising 497 participants were asked to write down adjectives that could describe tattoo aesthetics. Statistical analyses of frequency, cognitive salience indices, co-occurrence dimensions, semantic dimensions, similarity measures, and valences were applied and, to directly compare the three groups, a generalized Procrustes analysis was applied. The variance and complexity with which individuals verbally expressed their perceived aesthetic appeal of tattoos were highlighted. However, the results do not reveal a unified concept of beauty, nor do they present a clear bipolar dimension of beautiful/ugly for two of the three groups. Nevertheless, the concept of beauty was found to be prominent in tattoo aesthetics, and aesthetic and descriptive-evaluative dimensions were identified, with terms such as beautiful, ugly, multicolored, and interesting being the most notable adjectives, although not with the highest valence. Possible factors explaining the intracultural differences between the three groups are also discussed.
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Abstract
Tattooing is a permanent form of body art applied onto the skin with a decorative ink, and it has been practiced from antiquity until today. The number of tattooed people is steadily increasing as tattoos have become popular all over the world, especially in Western countries. Tattoos display distinctive designs and images, from protective totems and tribal symbols to the names of loved or lost persons or strange figures, which are used as a means of self-expression. They are worn on the skin as a lifelong commitment, and everyone has their own reasons to become tattooed, whether they be simply esthetic or a proclamation of group identity. Tattoos are representations of one’s feelings, unconscious conflicts, and inner life onto the skin. The skin plays a major role in this representation and is involved in different ways in this process. This article aims to review the historical and psychoanalytical aspects of tattoos, the reasons for and against tattooing, medical and dermatological implications of the practice, and emotional reflections from a psychodermatological perspective.
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When personality gets under the skin: Need for uniqueness and body modifications. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0245158. [PMID: 33657106 PMCID: PMC7928480 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2020] [Accepted: 12/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Do individuals modify their bodies in order to be unique? The present study sought to investigate need for uniqueness (NfU) subcomponents as possible motives for modifying one's body. To this end, the study obtained information from 312 participants about their NfU (using the German NfU-G global scale and three sub-scales) and their body modifications (tattoos, piercings, and extreme body modifications such as tongue splitting). By analyzing the three subcomponents of NfU, the study was able to investigate the differential relationship of the sub-scales with the outcome measures, which facilitated a fine-grained understanding of the NfU-body-modification relationship. The study found that tattooed, pierced, and extreme-body-modified individuals had higher NfU-G scores than individuals without body modifications. Moreover, it seemed that individuals with tattoos took a social component into consideration while lacking concern regarding others' reaction toward their tattoos, although not wanting to cause affront. Pierced and extreme-body-modified individuals, contrarily, tended to display a propensity to actively flout rules and not worry about others' opinions on their modifications. However, although statistically significant, the effect size (d) for the NfU-G differences in the tattooed and pierced participants' mean scores was small to medium in all three subcomponents. The extreme-body-modified group presented medium and medium to large effects. Further, the study observed that the number of body modifications increased with an increasing NfU in tattooed and pierced individuals. These findings demonstrated multifaceted interrelations between the NfU, its subcomponents, and the three kinds of body modifications investigated in the present study.
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Abstract
Recent discourses within breast cancer and gendered studies literature suggest some women are challenging postmastectomy bodies as abject bodies. Tattooing is an emerging body project in contemporary society that can offer women who live disembodied from their postmastectomized body an alternative. We consider embodied health movements, a type of social movement, to explore how acquiring meaningful tattoo art over a mastectomized site can been seen as challenging hegemonic, gendered discourses of the female breast and patriarchal ideals of beauty, post mastectomy. As part of emancipatory practices, tattooed bodies have historically been used to challenge dominant discourses related to identity and is currently evolving into practices of self-expression, healing, and transformation. As an emerging phenomenon among women, it is important for nurses to understand the prevalence and role of tattoos more broadly, and the possible means for women to embody healing and transformation post mastectomy.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Anne Bruce
- Department of NursingUniversity of VictoriaVictoriaBritish ColumbiaCanada
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Lynn CD, Howells M, Herdrich D, Ioane J, Hudson D, Fitiao STU. The evolutionary adaptation of body art: Tattooing as costly honest signaling of enhanced immune response in American Samoa. Am J Hum Biol 2019; 32:e23347. [DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2019] [Revised: 10/03/2019] [Accepted: 10/04/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | - Michaela Howells
- Department of AnthropologyUniversity of North Carolina Wilmington Wilmington North Carolina
| | - David Herdrich
- American Samoa Historic Preservation Office (ASHPO) American Samoa
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Kertzman S, Kagan A, Hegedish O, Lapidus R, Weizman A. Do young women with tattoos have lower self-esteem and body image than their peers without tattoos? A non-verbal repertory grid technique approach. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0206411. [PMID: 30682018 PMCID: PMC6347139 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0206411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2016] [Accepted: 10/12/2018] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Available evidence regarding the reasons for people to acquire body markers such as tattoos is contradictory. The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and body image in young women with tattoos. To this end, the repertory grid technique (RGT) was adapted and used to assess differences between women with and without tattoos in terms of self-esteem and body image. Sixty young women with tattoos and sixty young women without (all aged 18-35 years), performed the Color RGT in order to evaluate the relationship between self-esteem and body image. Compared to women without tattoos, women with tattoos showed significantly lower self-esteem and displayed stronger relationships between three constructs: ideal body, ideal self and tattooed woman status. No significant differences in body image were detected between the two groups. Women with tattoos were characterized by an association between body image and self-esteem, while women without tattoos did not display such a correlation. Thus, it appears that links between self-esteem, ideal body, ideal self and constructs of "woman with tattoos" may play a role in tattooing behavior in young women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Semion Kertzman
- Beer-Ya’akov-Ness Ziona Mental Health Center, Forensic Psychiatry Division, Ness Ziona, Israel
- Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- * E-mail:
| | - Alex Kagan
- The Program for Hermeneutics and Cultural Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies Unit, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
- Department of Neuro-Pathopsychology, L.S. Vygotsky Institute of Psychology, RSUH, Moscow, Russia
- Department of Criminology, Ashkelon Academic College, Ashkelon, Israel
| | - Omer Hegedish
- Beer-Ya’akov-Ness Ziona Mental Health Center, Forensic Psychiatry Division, Ness Ziona, Israel
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Rina Lapidus
- Comparative Literature Department, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Abraham Weizman
- Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Research Unit, Geha Mental Health Center and Felsenstein Medical Research Center, Petah Tikva, Israel
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Nash M. From ‘Tramp Stamps’ to Traditional Sleeves: A Feminist Autobiographical Account of Tattoos. AUSTRALIAN FEMINIST STUDIES 2018. [DOI: 10.1080/08164649.2018.1542591] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Meredith Nash
- School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
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9
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Smith FD. Caring for Surgical Patients With Piercings. AORN J 2016; 103:583-96. [PMID: 27234793 DOI: 10.1016/j.aorn.2016.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2015] [Revised: 04/15/2015] [Accepted: 04/09/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Body piercing, a type of body modification that is practiced in many cultures, creates an unnatural tract through tissue that is then held open by artificial means. Today, professional body piercing is often performed in piercing establishments that are subject to dissimilar forms of regulation. The most frequently reported medical complication of body piercing and similar body modifications, such as dermal implantation, is infection. Patients with piercings who undergo surgery may have additional risks for infection, electrical burns, trauma, or airway obstruction. The published research literature on piercing prevalence, complications, regulations, education, and nursing care is outdated. The purpose of this article is to educate nurses on topics related to nursing care for patients with piercings and similar body modifications, including the history, prevalence, motivations for, and perceptions of body piercings as well as possible complications, devices used, locations, healing times, regulations, patient education, and other health concerns.
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Swami V, Gaughan H, Tran US, Kuhlmann T, Stieger S, Voracek M. Are tattooed adults really more aggressive and rebellious than those without tattoos? Body Image 2015; 15:149-52. [PMID: 26439666 DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2015] [Revised: 09/07/2015] [Accepted: 09/09/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
One stereotype of people with tattoos is that they are more aggressive and rebellious than people without tattoos. However, studies examining differences in these traits between tattooed and non-tattooed individuals are dated and have returned equivocal results. To re-examine this issue, we asked 378 adults from London, UK, to complete self-report measures of aggression and rebelliousness, and to report the number of tattoos they possessed. Of this sample, 25.7% possessed at least one tattoo, with no sex difference in the distribution of tattoo status. We found that tattooed adults had significantly higher reactive rebelliousness, anger, and verbal aggression than non-tattooed adults. However, effect sizes were small and there were also no significant between-group differences in terms of proactive rebelliousness, physical aggression, and hostility. These results suggest that, while stereotypes may contain a kernel of truth, they likely present an outmoded picture of tattooed adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viren Swami
- Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, London, UK; Department of Psychology, HELP University College, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
| | - Helen Gaughan
- Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, London, UK
| | - Ulrich S Tran
- Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Tim Kuhlmann
- Research Methods, Assessment, and iScience, Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Stefan Stieger
- Research Methods, Assessment, and iScience, Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Martin Voracek
- Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Lingel J, boyd D. “Keep it secret, keep it safe”: Information poverty, information norms, and stigma. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2013. [DOI: 10.1002/asi.22800] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jessa Lingel
- Microsoft Research; 1 Memorial Drive; Cambridge; MA; 02142
| | - danah boyd
- Microsoft Research; 1 Memorial Drive; Cambridge; MA; 02142
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Roberts DJ. Secret ink: tattoo's place in contemporary American culture. JOURNAL OF AMERICAN CULTURE (MALDEN, MASS. : 2003) 2012; 35:153-165. [PMID: 22737733 DOI: 10.1111/j.1542-734x.2012.00804.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
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Wohlrab S, Stahl J, Kappeler PM. Modifying the body: motivations for getting tattooed and pierced. Body Image 2007; 4:87-95. [PMID: 18089255 DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2006.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2006] [Revised: 12/11/2006] [Accepted: 12/12/2006] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Body modifications have been prevalent for centuries and are practiced for a great variety of reasons. Lately, tattoos and body piercings have become increasingly popular. Thus, a profound understanding of the underlying motivations behind obtaining tattoos and body piercings nowadays is required. A considerable body of research on motivational aspects already exists, mainly using explorative approaches to describe motivations. In this paper we provide a review of the existing relevant literature. Furthermore, we establish ten broad motivational categories, comprising motivations for getting tattooed and body pierced, for reference in future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silke Wohlrab
- Department of Sociobiology/Anthropology, Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, University of Goettingen, Berliner Strasse 28, 37073 Goettingen, Germany.
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