Tattoos have been getting more popular and acceptable as time has gone on and now MSHS seniors have bought into the trend.
Tattoos have not always been accepted in our culture, but in recent times more people have begun to get them and at younger ages. Senior Ben Perkins has seen tattoos become increasingly popular. “I think tattoos are becoming more and more accessible to people, and a lot of people want them because more people are getting them,” Perkins said.
Perkins himself has a tattoo in memory of his sister. “I got a bouquet of orchids, they were the flowers at my sister’s funeral,” Perkins said.
Another senior at MSHS, Landon Foster, has deep meanings behind his tattoo. “I got it because I’m Native American,” Foster said. “It’s a buffalo skull and it has bear paw on its forehead, my native name is ‘Bear Paw’, and then on the nose, it says bear in Cherokee.”
MSHS teacher Brian Brown reflected on what tattoos he saw when he was a kid. “People who had tattoos were military individuals, and you would see a group that would almost be the opposite, very anti-establishment, protesters, biker gang guys. It really wasn’t mainstream Americana at that time,” Brown said.
Brown mentioned how this senior class has more tattoos then he has ever seen. “I have never seen this many in any of my classes before and especially visible and the willingness to make them visible. Other classes had them. It just wasn’t as prevalent. Maybe it was under the sleeve, maybe it was hidden by pants, whatever it might be,” Brown said. “But I noticed in this class, a lot of people seem to have them, and they’re very visible for those who do have them.”
Not only are younger generations getting tattoos, but in a professional sense it has become more acceptable, especially for teachers. “I think it’s more acceptable, and if you’re just talking about educators having tattoos, I do see having tattoos to be more accepted by administration, by society,” Brown said. “Education was one of those last careers where society held us to some pretty high standards in terms of how we looked, how we behaved, including outside the classroom and in the community. So I think as society has changed, teachers feel a little bit more liberal in what they can do.”
Tattoos now are a way to express yourself, while in the past they were not as accepted. “Where tattoos might have had taboo associated with them, now they’re art. They’re personalized. There’s special meaning with the individuals who get the tattoos. So I think that helps us, in general, accept the people and accept the whole world of tattooing,” Brown said.
While tattoos are a way of representing something you stand for, they are permanent and must be given serious consideration before getting them. “There are a lot of people that shouldn’t get tattoos because they would get stupid tattoos,” Foster said. “I can see the point in getting a silly stupid tattoo. But then I also remember, in a couple years down the road, I’m gonna have to explain that to somebody.”
Perkins agrees that tattoos should be thought out before getting them. “Of course if you’re getting a full sleeve not everything’s gonna have meaning. But you should always, at least really put thought towards your tattoo. It should never be a walk in, and see something on the wall and get that,” Perkins said.
Tattoos are a symbol of what people stand for and who they are. “I like the idea of how it is becoming more personal with the young students,” Brown said. “I think that’s really good for students to say this is who I am, and it sends a message. People can look at it and go, ‘Oh, that’s a belief that you have,’ and that’s just another way of communicating.”
