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TATTOOS AND BODY PIERCING









By
Noel Figueroa


Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of COM 150 Effective Essay Writing at
Axia University

August 10, 2008



The largest organ on the human body is the skin it is no wonder that thirty-six percent of those ages 18 to 25, and 40 percent of those ages 26 to 40, have at least one tattoo, according to a fall 2006 survey by the Pew Research Center. Tattoos are artwork that artists as well as their clients feel very proud to display. Today, an estimated 3% to 5% (est. 7,000,000) of the population has tattoos. (Wellspring Videos. Body Art. New York: 2000 Winstar Productions/Wellspring Media; 2001). Although there may be people out there who feel that people with tattoos and piercing are degenerates, there are those who consider it an art form as well as religious and sentimental.
The word tattoo is believed to have had two derivations- one coming from the Polynesian word “ta” meaning strike something and the other from the Tahitian word “tatau” which means “to mark something. (http://www.designboom.com/history/tattoo_history.html) On December 8, 1891 the first electric tattoo machine was registered for patent by Samuel O’Reilly. Samuel’s machine was based on a machine invented by Thomas Edison in 1875 which was used to embroider fabric. But tattoos have been around longer than that. The first discovery of tattoos known to man came from a well preserved mummy nicknamed Otzi. Otzi was a man believed to be from around 3300 B.C. and was discovered in a glacier near the border between Austria and Italy. Otzi had 57 tattoos on his body, scientist believe that the positions of the tattoos were probably placed there for therapeutic reasons. Scientist believes that the very first tattoo was probably made by accident. They believe that...