It is undeniable that there is a tattoo problem in the world. While it affects almost every age group, millennials in particular have taken to the pseudo art form and scarred themselves, in many instances, irreparably (it’s as artistic as cartoons or notebook doodles; we’ve lost the meaning of the word ‘art’). Is there any surprise that tattoo removal is now a booming business? I, like most, have noticed the trend towards tattooing by a generation that is known as impulsive, lacking in foresight, and narcissistic while demonstrating it openly with a poor aesthetic sensibility for all to see. Where once tattoos were historically the marks of pagans and tribal warriors, and then appropriated by military servicemen and violent gangs, they have now become the fashion statements of the short-sighted and impulsive, and in some cases the mentally ill. Multiple studies are starting to emerge that give us some insight into the tattooed in our midst. Just look at the #facetattoo hashtag on Instagram and see the mental illness of many people on full display.

At their very core, tattoos seek to modify not only one’s body, but the self-esteem of the recipient as well. It is a way for many people to envision a more perfect self, and in so doing, admitting their un-tattooed self is imperfect. Rather than working on the inner self and dealing with the esteem and body-image issues, many people have taken to scarring themselves as a bandaid solution for the greater internal problems not dealt with. An article in Psychology Today put it like this:

Today, tattoos have proliferated. While rationales can be as varied as the designs, all tattoos modify self-esteem as well as bodies. Like cosmetics, tattoos are prosthetic, since like an artificial limb they make up for something felt to be missing or inadequate. We’re always devising ways to enhance parts of our bodies, from diets and wigs to a Michael Jackson makeover. Once we’re self-aware, there’s really no such thing as a wholly “natural” body. We compete with others and ourselves to envision a more perfect us.

It should not surprise us that many people, especially millennials, feel lost in the world and are almost begging to be noticed. They feel unnoticed by the masses around them and tattoos, it is thought, will get one the needed attention and make them stand out as an individual. It is thought to be a method by which to improve one’s status in the world, albeit a shallow one.

Tattoos promise to make you attractive, as if you have a personal force akin to gravity. Notice me. The more attraction you command, the more attention you get, and the more life you have—as we see in the public’s devotion to celebrities and leaders. As the name says, hero-worship, too, has a religious character, and if you’re the hero, you’re superhuman. The more people you have thinking about you, the more of you there seems to be. In the wisdom of slang, you can be, if not godlike, at least a “bigshot.”

Sadly, what was once seen as rebellious to societal norms has become the norm as we’ve witnessed the inversion of virtue on a grand scale. It is no longer individualistic and daring to do exactly what everyone else is doing, yet this seems lost on the many who think they are exactly that.

While the statistics about men tattooing themselves are interesting, and do somewhat mirror the statistics pertaining to women, the stats that emerge about tattooed females tell a much bleaker tale of our cultural drift towards the nihilistic and banal. The most highly tattooed demographic is women in their 20’s (several studies conclude close to 40%) which indicates a massive rejection of classically feminine traits. Women of today have traded in their feminine power of natural beauty for trite and meaningless “girl power individualism” by adding the outward ink markings. The true power of the feminine has been abandoned for the traditionally masculine procedure; and this has been to the detriment of tattooed women and how they are viewed. (And any society that allows their men to be feminized and their women to be masculinized will not survive more than two generations. We are in the last stages of final decline). Studies have shown that men assess tattooed women negatively.

The few studies that have focused on men’s perceptions of tattooed women have found that these women are seen in a generally negative light. One study, for example, asked men to rate a 24-year old woman seen in a photograph on a range of personal characteristics. Some men were shown the photo with a black dragon tattoo on the woman’s upper left arm; others were shown the photo without the tattoo. When men saw the woman with the tattoo, they judged her as less athletic, less motivated, less honest, less generous, less religious, less intelligent and less artistic than when she displayed no tattoo. But Guéguen noticed one curious set of findings in this thin research area: While men see tattooed women as less attractive, they also see them as more promiscuous.

There exists a healthy body of research that indicates men exalt beauty in both long-term and in short-term mating, and in every one of them a women with tattoos is predominantly seen as a short-term partner; ie. not a quality long-term partner or responsible parent. This is why tattoos are considered “sexy” by men. Tattoos don’t make women any more attractive (in fact, in scarring herself she becomes less so), they simply provide an easy method of quickly identifying that she is more readily accessible sexually than her un-tattooed counterpart. Studies also show that various aspects of female appearance are used to evaluate their “mating value” and tattoos are always seen as a decrease in that value as women with tattoos generally engage in riskier behaviours.

After adjusting for all other variables, women who currently used tobacco and those who had used cannabis in the last 12 months were more likely to have been tattooed than women who did not use tobacco or cannabis. Increasing number of lifetime sex partners was also associated with a greater likelihood of being tattooed: 3% of women who reported one sex partner or none reported being tattooed compared to 30% of women with 11 or more lifetime sex partners.

And this comports similarly with the behaviours found in men that were associated with tattoos:

A number of behaviors were associated with having a tattoo for men. Men who smoked had twice the odds of having been tattooed. Men with more lifetime sexual partners were more likely to have a tattoo, eg, 1 in 25 men who reported one sex partner or none reported a tattoo compared to 1 in 4 men who reported 11 or more lifetime sexual partners. Men who reported ever being told by a doctor they have depression had 1.3 times the odds of having a tattoo after adjusting for all other variables.

In other words, tattoos are a marker for riskier and more unhealthy behaviours (in both men and women) and correlate highly with those who are impulsive and value short-term gratification over the lost virtue of self-control; who have a greater chance at having an unskilled job and lower level of education; who smoke; who do drugs (4 times the likelihood); who have 3 to 5 times higher the number of sexual partners than average; who have more than double the likelihood of having had an STD; who are more likely to identify as non-heterosexual; and who suffer from depression or other mental disorders. Tattoos are a window into the psyche and makeup of people, and if looked through clearly, reveals something underneath that is an unpleasant reality for many.

I don’t disagree that one persons “body art” is another persons tramp stamp; that on the surface tattoos can be viewed differently as perspectives can change over time. BUT, the research is pretty clear that across the board, tattoos are generally markers of deeper problems. I do feel some sympathy for early childhood sex abuse victims who are prone to tattooing themselves as a way of coping with their inner pain. But again, as mentioned previously, this just confirms that it is an outward sign of something mentally or emotionally wrong within.

…It was found that women with tattoos were more likely to be younger, to drink more alcohol, to have more psychiatric symptoms and to show borderline personality features than were the non tattooed women.  They were also more likely to report child sexual abuse and the conclusion is that tattoos in women are statistically linked to child sexual abuse, and to later psychopathology in some women (Archives Of Women’s Mental Health).

These criticisms do not come from a misunderstanding of different generations; it is not a generational difference that allows tattoos to be viewed differently. Millennial’s, overwhelmingly, are a broken generation and they use tattoos as a band-aid for their brokenness as the data so clearly illustrates. In fact, Generation Z, which follows the Millennials, by and large, have a much greater disdain for tattoos than their predecessors which means this trend is already lessening.

I fully support the freedom for people to ink themselves as they please, but not without judgement. We all make judgements every minute of every day and the research is clear that tattoos outwardly tell a story and reveal the inner psyche of the person who has purposely scarred themselves. The pendulum will eventually swing back, as fashion trends so often do, and many will be left with permanent reminders of their impulsiveness and poor choices in the blurred ink covering their body parts.

We should reject modern tattoo culture and the short-sighted view of life it embodies. Tattoos aren’t edgy anymore; they are a clichè. We should yearn for those things that are good and pure and look first to fix our problems from within, rather than mask them from without. The naysayers will say, “I love tattoos and will continue to get more!” That is their choice. But the studies and evidence are overwhelmingly clear that the tattooed reveal far more about themselves and their instability than merely their taste in “art” so-called.

(Sebastian Maniscalco, capturing as nearly as perfect as one can, the modern day mentality around tattoos):