Is Body Art Becoming More Accepted Within Society?
Within society tattoos and piercings have always been a bit of a taboo subject in the UK although they do of course have different meanings and symbolism to different people and are associated with history. In this article we will look at whether body art is becoming more accepted within society and what might be prompting this change.
An Introduction To Tattoos
Tattoos have been around for centuries and have meant different things to different civilisations. One of the oldest and most ancient users of tattoos was the Maori people as well as pacific islanders. These indigenous peoples tattooed various symbols onto themselves as a powerful form of spiritual symbolism. Symbols were often tattooed to protect them in battle or for ritual purposes.
However, since the inception of tattoos they have spread across the globe and have become particularly popular within western society. One of the reasons for their increase in demand and popularity has been the number of celebrities and sports people that are seen to have tattoos. In addition to this sailors who travel the world’s seas have been known to collect tattoos.
This led to tattoos slowly working their way into popular culture. However, in the UK as with many other countries in the past tattoos have been seen to be a negative thing and have not been well received by employers or the general public.
What Challenges Has The Tattoo Industry Faced?
The industry has faced many challenges over the years. But one of the biggest has been the stigma attached to tattoos. Unfortunately, there is still a small segment of society that see tattoos as a negative despite the fact that most employers cannot now discriminate purely based on their tattoos although having said this some tattoos if they are grossly offensive can cause some employers to deny someone a job in exceptional circumstances.
Another major challenge facing the tattoo industry is a large increase in competition from rival tattoo parlours/companies. This has led to some tattoo parlours to cost more leading to a reduction in demand overall as some tattoos can cost several hundred pounds.
How Has The Tattoo Industry Dealt With These Challenges?
There have been a variety of different ways in which the tattoo industry as a whole has dealt with these challenges. One of the most successful ways in which challenges to the tattoo industry have been overcome is through the use of social media. Social media provides a looking glass into the world of tattoos and it is not uncommon for social media users to support local tattoo company
Overall it can be concluded tat there are a variety of methods which can be used to help a mixture of offline and online methods are needed in order to gain traction online. Furthermore it is important to remember that people with tattoos have previously faced much discrimination prior to the introduction of further laws to protect people from being discriminated against in employment.
