Re: Mutilation and ritual

Beth E. Kaminow (kaminow@GWIS2.CIRC.GWU.EDU)
Tue, 16 Jul 1996 10:58:46 -0400

=20
and are actually going into the experience with the notion (maybe only=20
unconsciously) that they can get it removed in a few years. Tattoo=20
removal is a lot more expensive than getting one in the first place. Its=
=20
also a lot more painful, time consuming and doesn't always work=20
perfectly. I also noticed this new "business" when Jerry Springer ran an=
=20
ad during every show for about three months. Very interesting trailer to=
=20
the body adornment fad. I think that many people also go into getting=20
tattooed with a serious commitment to adorning their bodies.
-Beth

>=C2=AA{=B3=F9=F8$=D2~=D2cB=BCL


On Mon, 15 Jul 1996, Rosemary Gianno wrote:

> >In a message dated 96-07-13 11:21:40 EDT, kaminow@GWIS2.CIRC.GWU.EDU (Be=
th E.
> >Kaminow) writes:
> >
> >> Two examples: my last tattoo is on my lower back. The guy that
> >> did my tattoo tells me that that's becoming a fairly popular place fo=
r
> >> woman on account of the cropped shirt coming back in vogue (or actual=
ly
> >> those two styles kind of play off each other). I was recently at a p=
arty
> >> where one of the guests gleefully went about lifting his shirt to sho=
w
> >> his nipple ring.
> >>
> >
> >Beth brings up a good point that reflects something John McCreery discus=
ses
> >in another post. There has always been a relationship between fashion an=
d
> >body mutilations (Steele; Kunzle; Polhemus; Rudofsky, Thevoz; Brain). Bo=
dy
> >mutilations are intended to be permanent and fashion, is by its nature,
> >non-static. Interesting that today, one is hard pressed to find a model =
in
> >NYC or Europe, male or female, who does not sport a tattoo. I can't reme=
mber
> >the last time I saw a CK ad without a tattooed body part in it. Now, do=
es
> >this place tattoos in the same category as blonde, big breasted, "Kate M=
oss"
> >waifism? A trend in the fashion industry? I have always been much more
> >interested in the bodies that wear the clothes than the clothes themselv=
es.
> >So, in response to Beth's comment - which came first the chicken or the =
egg?
> >Are crop tops in b/c they reveal tattoos on the models who wear them, or=
does
> >wearing a crop top lead to wanting a tattoo? Did arm bands become popula=
r
> >during a fashion phase of sleeveless tops?
> >
> >- Adrienne
>=20
> I was just going through the local yellow pages looking for something els=
e
> and happened to notice the subject heading "tattoos removed" and under it
> the UMass Medical center with its 800 number. They had to pay to put tha=
t
> in the Keene, New Hampshire phone book, indicating that this has become a
> business in its own right.
>=20
> Perhaps when people get these tattoos they are looking to show a permanen=
t
> commitment to something and the yellow pages show that this commitment is
> sometimes, sadly, short-lived, as with fashion. It may be symbolic
> therefore, at some level, of a nostalgia that some people have of more
> long-term commitment to ideas, groups, and other individuals.
> Rosemary Gianno
>=20