Body Art:
From the Stone Age to the Electronic Age
Body art is one of humanity’s oldest ways to express themselves, but throughout history individuals with body art have experienced persecution and ridicule. Tattooing went from being a way to signal out criminals and prostitutes, to being a brand new canvas for artists. Piercings in some ancient cultures showed class levels and riches, while today it means hippie or to the media, a slut. Times change, views change, people and cultures change.
In the very beginning tattoos have been an indication of social status, an emblem of rite of passage, an expression of spiritual devotion, or adornment. Tattoos date back to the Stone Age in 10,000 B.C. Tools for tattooing have been discovered by …show more content…
There is mention of ear and nose piercings in the Bible. There are a range of myths behind ear piercings and their placement and meaning. Nose piercing have been found as far back as 4,000 years in the middle east. Lip piercings and enlarged piercings have been used across Africa, Southeast Asia, and North and South America for centuries (St. Leone, 2010).
Scarification, which is where people get scars permanently etched into the skin. This originated in dark-skinned people, because too much melanin in the skin prevented tattoos from being successful. The scars can be burned or branded into the skin as well (“Tattoodo”, 2015). Another type of body art is implants, which can be done by a surgeon or in a piercing parlor. You can get these implants anywhere on your body. (St. Leone, 2015)
Body art has faced controversies from the beginning. For example, Japanese natives were accepting of body art, but only the women had them. It was prohibited from 1872 until the end of World War II, because the emperor feared it would scare away tourists. At the end of the war the only people in Japan with body art were members of the Yakuza (Levy, …show more content…
But in the case of body art it happens more than it should. Ariana Lacono, a 14-year-old freshman who has a nose piercing. Her piercing caught the school’s attention her first day of school. Ariana wears her nose ring as a religious symbol, as she is a member of the Church of Body Modification. Her school dress codes prohibit nontraditional piercings, and despite having a written exemption Ariana was still expelled from school. The school rejected an appeal on the decision and it was rejected. The school stated that the Church was not a substantial religion, and therefore Ariana was not exempt from the
From the Stone Age to the Electronic Age
Body art is one of humanity’s oldest ways to express themselves, but throughout history individuals with body art have experienced persecution and ridicule. Tattooing went from being a way to signal out criminals and prostitutes, to being a brand new canvas for artists. Piercings in some ancient cultures showed class levels and riches, while today it means hippie or to the media, a slut. Times change, views change, people and cultures change.
In the very beginning tattoos have been an indication of social status, an emblem of rite of passage, an expression of spiritual devotion, or adornment. Tattoos date back to the Stone Age in 10,000 B.C. Tools for tattooing have been discovered by …show more content…
There is mention of ear and nose piercings in the Bible. There are a range of myths behind ear piercings and their placement and meaning. Nose piercing have been found as far back as 4,000 years in the middle east. Lip piercings and enlarged piercings have been used across Africa, Southeast Asia, and North and South America for centuries (St. Leone, 2010).
Scarification, which is where people get scars permanently etched into the skin. This originated in dark-skinned people, because too much melanin in the skin prevented tattoos from being successful. The scars can be burned or branded into the skin as well (“Tattoodo”, 2015). Another type of body art is implants, which can be done by a surgeon or in a piercing parlor. You can get these implants anywhere on your body. (St. Leone, 2015)
Body art has faced controversies from the beginning. For example, Japanese natives were accepting of body art, but only the women had them. It was prohibited from 1872 until the end of World War II, because the emperor feared it would scare away tourists. At the end of the war the only people in Japan with body art were members of the Yakuza (Levy, …show more content…
But in the case of body art it happens more than it should. Ariana Lacono, a 14-year-old freshman who has a nose piercing. Her piercing caught the school’s attention her first day of school. Ariana wears her nose ring as a religious symbol, as she is a member of the Church of Body Modification. Her school dress codes prohibit nontraditional piercings, and despite having a written exemption Ariana was still expelled from school. The school rejected an appeal on the decision and it was rejected. The school stated that the Church was not a substantial religion, and therefore Ariana was not exempt from the