On Teenagers a Nd Tattoos

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O n Te e n a g e rs a n d Ta tto o s Andres Martin Tattooing and piercing have an almost magnetic appeal to many teens. While they may be seen as adornment by adolescents, they can become a battleground with adults. A psychiatrist examines the motivation and func­ tion of body sculpting by contemporary adolescents. The skeleton dimensions I shall now proceed to set down are copied verbatim from my right arm, where I had them tattooed: as in my wild wanderings at that period, there was no other se­ cure way of preserving such valuable statistics. -Melville/Moby Dick Tattoos and piercing have become a part of our everyday landscape. They are ubiquitous, having entered the circles of glamour and the mainstream of fashion, and they have even become an increasingly common feature of our urban youth. Legislation in most states restricts professional tat­ tooing to adults older than 18 years of age, so "high end" tattooing is rare in children and adolescents, but such tat­ toos are occasionally seen in older teenagers. Piercings, by comparison, as well as self-made or "jailhouse" type tat­ toos, are not at all rare among adolescents or even among school-age children. Like hairdo, makeup, or baggy jeans, tattoos and piercings can be subject to fad influence or peer pressure in an effort toward group affiliation. As with any other fashion statement, they can be construed as bod­ ily aids in the inner struggle toward identity consolida­ tion, serving as adjuncts to the defining and sculpting of the self by means of external manipulations. But unlike most other body decorations, tattoos and piercings are set apart by their irreversible and permanent nature, a quality at the core of their magnetic appeal to adolescents. Adolescents and their parents are often at odds over the acquisition of bodily decorations. For the adolescent, pierc­ ing or tattoos may be seen as
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