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Toleranz der Generationen gegenüber Tätowierungen.

Toleranz der Generationen gegenüber Tätowierungen.

How about grandma! Generational tolerance of tattoos.

Tattooing is a common and popular phenomenon. We are urged to get them done by the desire to express and emphasize our individuality, aesthetic issues of having a nice and distinctive design or in the least - social conditioning and group affiliation. 

But how did earlier generations now approach and perceive tattoos over the years? 

From this article you will learn:

  • About the perception of tattooing by generations

  • Social tolerance of body adornment

  • The generational difference 

Ok boomer

A phenomenon typical of the younger generation is the opposition and contestation of the lifestyle of their predecessors. The boomers expressed it by bucking the hippie movement, Generation X by nihilism and traversing an unknown future, the igreos by daring to protest the ossified uncertainties of the inter-establishment transformers and digital openness, and the youngest zetas by their plasticity, here-and-now and decadent experiences.

Each of these generations emphasized their body aesthetics differently. Each approached tattooing differently. Boomers are an old faith of traditional tattoos - American old school. This tattoo was a symbol of memorabilia and lessons learned. It was thanks to them that in the 1960s tattooing was no longer seen as something illegal, forbidden. 

Come as you are

In contrast, the Kurt Cobain generation, reaching adulthood in the 1980s, did not seem to adorn their bodies with tattoos as eagerly. Although at the time there was a cult of a beautiful, healthy body, and the previous generation had unlocked a tolerance for tattooing that was becoming more common, this period is not particularly notable for its elaborate style and popularity.

It wasn't until 10 years later, in a wave of geopolitical changes, that tattooing became a great way to emphasize one's creativity and individuality or a desire to match the style of one's favorite - inspirational - celebrity. However, in Poland itself, tattoos still had to be hidden at the time. They were associated with a low level of intelligence, a propensity for daring bravado and risk, light-heartedness of manners, a served sentence, and social marginalization. And certainly it was associated with a high risk of being unemployable. That's why the Polish tattoo scene was still in the shadows, while tribals, roses, butterflies and other realistic designs reigned supreme.

Can't touch this

The change came with the spread of Western culture as we approached the 21st century. Music videos by foreign artists, the fashion for Californian punk, and tattoos of naughty singers made millenials accustomed to the controversial appearance of the ornaments, but their igreek parents stood their ground, unanimously claiming that with such an appearance their children would not find work, and developed an almost legendary term for a tattoo done on the lower back as much as possible. 

Does this mean that we didn't tattoo back then? Still how! But still with a method such that the tattoo could be both exposed and easily hidden. That is, on the cross, back, biceps. One had to be extremely audacious to indulge in an entire sleeve or a conglomeration of random patterns, in which one could hardly find a coherent composition.

YOLO

Only the adult millenial generation has shown that a visible tattoo is no bad thing. Nearly 40% of them have at least one such decoration. 

And big compositions took off - full sleeves, legs, backs, chests, symmetry began to reign. But still composed so that they could be covered by a shirt sleeve and a white collar. Which was ignored only by the igreos, who entered the professions more open, creative, independent, with less risk of stirring up controversy and direct contact with the other - random - people.

What's different is the zetas. These ones are even crazy about small, ironic tattoos. For them, symbolism is a secondary issue, and the most important thing is aesthetics. They are the ones who allow themselves to tattoo on their faces, eyelids, eyebrow arches, the insides of their hands. They have reversed the systematization of the meaning of symbols - instead of lofty sentences and quotes, they prefer ironic words of the mother. It is this group that relies on individual understanding of the aesthetic consciousness of the body. They prefer those designs that are not necessarily nicely made, but break further conventions.

Summary

What does grandma have to say about it? The oldest generation of our great-grandparents understands perfectly the desire to express their individuality, because they grew up in a period of difficult times. Our grandparents have a harder time understanding the desire to adorn their bodies with tattoos. Similarly, our parents do not like tattoos, because their period of growing up and being in the labor market was often associated with uncertainty, instability and turbulent political changes of an uncertain tomorrow, but they are nevertheless quite tolerant in this matter. Today's thirtysomethings are only slowly becoming consistent in their established views of conservativeness or tolerance, but their access to the Internet has shaped in them a high level of desensitization to the shocking. And the youth? They are voicing their opposition, which we will only judge in a few years.