Having breakfast in Yarraville yesterday, Moondoggie commented on the fact that 'everybody's got ink Mum'. When I looked around I realised he was right. All our waiters had fabulous artwork up their arms, and I'm sure elsewhere - all our friends who are in their 20's also have tattoos and I am sure that Moondoggie and Gidget assume that it is just what you do.
Things have changed quite a lot recently - in the 80's they were rare amongst my friends and girls tended to get small discreet butterflies or flowers where few would ever see them. Tatts tended to belong to bikers/surfers/skaters/or crims in the main. I remember people commenting on Surfer Boy's ink when we started dating. Now one shoulder blade pales in comparison to entire sleeves, torsos and multiple artworks. Tattoos seem to have hit the mainstream which begs the question - will they lose their appeal if worn by the masses? What has changed? Or has it? Is it the decade, Gen Y or merely the area I live in?
2 comments:
Availability? Acceptability? It's definitely not just the area you live in, it's becoming more prevalent in India as well. There it's still seen as a sign of rebelling or being different. Much like it was initially in the West -- the biker, surfer, crims example -- but now it would seen a whole lot of people are being different by doing the same thing. I wonder the same: Will it stop now that everybody is doing it? I think Dylan Moran said it in one of his acts (not exact quote): "2050: old age homes full of people with tatts."
I've got one, my boyfriend has one but only a smattering of our friends have them. I love mine (4 years after I got it) and have been planning a second for some time. They aren't for everyone though and it is important to put some thought into them.
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