Standards of Beauty

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Consequences of Popular Culture SOC105 – Introduction to Popular American Culture Professor Bernadette Porter-Drayden November 24, 2004 Learning Team Three: Consequences of Popular Culture Paper Standards of Beauty: Tattoos & Body Piercing By Rosella Briggs Rolanda Cook-Witt Karen Miles Preston Walker 1 Consequences of Popular Culture 2 Standards of Beauty: Tattoos & Body Piercing Introduction The standards of beauty have evolved and transcend from multiple cultures. This document will focus on body piercing and tattoos, as a standard in beauty. The document will put emphasis on body piercing and tattoos from a universal perspective (such as negatives, positives, history, and financial perspectives). It appears in recent years, based on the number of body pierced and tattooed people, and especially during the hip-hop “phase”, that body piercing and tattooing have become the “in thing” among youth. However, body piercing and tattooing have been around for centuries. According to Welch (2001), “Tattooing and body piercing are time honored traditions in cultures throughout the world.” These two forms of body art prove the fact that history repeats itself. As far back as biblical days, body piercing and tattooing were practiced among different cultures and in different geographical regions. “Early Christians used tattoos as symbols of recognition until 787 AD, when tattoos were banned by papal edict. Captain Cook is credited with bringing this tradition to western culture following his Tahitian expedition in 1771. He coined the term tattoo from the Tahitian word tatauâ, which is onomatopoetic to the sound a tattooing instrument makes. In the early 19th century, tattooing became very popular with criminals and the working class in Britain and the US. Toward the end of that century, it became [popular] among the elite. Body

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