Tattoing
Tattooing
Popularity of tattooing is growing. Dermatology health professionals are often asked questions, such as how many people are tattooed? Several research studies over the past years document an increasing rate of tattooed people from all cultures. While Sperry's estimate in 1991 seemed quite high, his rate of 15% to 25% is now reflective of today's young adult tattooed population, ages 15 to 25. You can definitely see that many people are tattooed on warm days when bodies are exposed. Although an unpublished poll conducted in 1990 by a laser manufacturer showed that 3% of the general population is tattooed and a 5% men are tattooed, recent studies reflect higher rates when examining samples of specific groups of tattooed people (Anderson). But where did tattooing get its start?
The word "tattoo" (from the Polynesian tatau, from ta, meaning" to strike or collide with") came to be used in 1769, when Captain James Cook first "discovered" the Pacific island of Tahiti on his voyage around the world. "Both sexes," he wrote, "paint their bodys [sic] Tattow as it is called in their language, this is done by inlaying the Colour of black under their skins in such a manner as to be indelible. Some have ill design'd [sic] figures of men birds or dogs, the women generally
[sic] have this figure Z simply on every joint of their fingres [sic] and toes."
Tattooing was more than likely most elaborate in the Marquesas, a group of volcanic islands in the South Pacific region known to some as French Polynesia. When Captain Cook visited on his second world voyage, he noted that the men of Marquesas were "Marked from head to foot like a coat of Mail". Polynesian tattooing is in fact a part of "Body Art: Marks of Identity," a Museum exhibition that shows the various ways in which humans have created art on the unique canvas of the body. As the exhibition shows, every culture has practiced painting, piercing, tattooing, reshaping, adorning, or simply...
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