4 ms·

Association of childhood abuse and neglect with tattoos and piercings

36 points by davikr 4y ago

ars 4y ago
I don't have an association of tattoos with abuse, but I certainly do with crime. Tattoos are so common now that I have to consciously tell myself to ignore my association, but it's not something that will go away.
- klyrs 4y ago
  My mom (boomer) still associates them with sailors in the Navy, because that's who had them when she was a kid.
- smackeyacky 4y ago
  This might drop off with age. I'm in my early fifties and only ever saw tattoos on bikers, sailors, manual labourers and Bon Scott. I don't think criminality was ever the main association, although I always assumed the tattooed men knew criminals from watching TV news. Younger people would have never made those mental associations but like you, I do struggle to disassociate tattoos with lower class people. I often wonder what some of these young people are going to do as they get older, as the heavily tattooed amongst them just look like an indiscriminate mess of green and black bad decisions.
Peach_blue 4y ago
That's pretty weird, because just a couple of days ago I thought to myself that this exact connection surely exists. It was just an observation about myself and many people who I know well enough to make a judgement about that particular thing. You can probably correlate a dozen more things with childhood abuse. Alcohol and substance abuse, academic underachievement, depression, chronic illness, incarceration, accident proneness, anxiety... Some psychologist whose name I can't remember once said that if childhood trauma was understood correctly, the DSM-5 would shrink to the size of a small pamphlet, because 95% of all mental illness is merely a symptom of childhood abuse or neglect. Especially the effects of emotional abuse are grossly underestimated in western society. We are so entrenched in it that we can't see it anymore. Like fish don't see water.
gxt 4y ago
Self-esteem and self-mutilation often go hand in hand. Don't like yourself, then find a way to change yourself so you can move on mentally. Workout, learn, create, etc. Those that have nothing but the skin on their flesh get tattoos. Those who have tried all they can think about then mutilate themselves a bit more with piercings, and more than that it's just general depressiveness and a downward spiral. To do a shody parallel, pilots in downward spirals can recover, by identifying the situation, and providing input to counter the movement, I think bodies and minds are a bit like that, so don't give up, find out what's bringing you down and counter it until you soar above the clouds.
- Fargoan 4y ago
  I don't have any tattoos. My nipples are pierced. I have a magnet in my left ring finger, and an NFC chip in my left hand. I haven't mutilated my body. The nipples are for aesthetics. The implants are functional. Besides, piercing can be removed and tattoos not really. So if you consider any of it mutilation I'd say the tattoos are more mutilation than the piercings.
  - GameOfFrowns 4y ago
    >The [pierced] nipples are for aesthetics. I'm sure tattooed people would say the same about their tattoos. People are very bad at uncovering the origin of their behaviour and very good at retroactive rationalization. The question remains is, which desires shaped those "aesthetics"? Was it a wish for self-harm or perhaps showing conformity with an in-group? Do you know other people carrying the same types of modifications?
    - Fargoan 4y ago
      And I would agree with tattooed people about the aesthetics. This definitely isn't retroactive rationalization. I thought about it for months before getting it done. Of course I know people with piercings and tattoos; I live in the United States.
reanimus 4y ago
Given that tattoos and piercings are often an expression of bodily autonomy and self-expression, I don't find it too shocking that people who've experienced abuse (and often lack of those very things as part of it) would gravitate to it.
- GameOfFrowns 4y ago
  >are often an expression of bodily autonomy and self-expression In the same way that anorexia is an expression of "bodily autonomy and self-expression"? Tattooing, piercing or cutting rather see to be forms of self-mutilation and self-punishment or chasing the short high of the pain in contrast to emotional numbness.
aaron695 4y ago
LinuxBender 4y ago
Anecdotally in support of the article a friend of mine was a model and obtained what I can only describe as hideous tattoos all over her body that forced her out of modeling. She was indeed in a highly abusive relationship even by law enforcement standards. I'm happy that she escaped that mess but now has a tattoo head to toe to remind her of it. There are some places that this theory probably breaks down in some way? For example everyone on "The Max" in Portland Oregon knew I was not from there for a lack of tats. There are some parts of Mississippi that people without tats will also stand out. Most of the places I can think of where I saw more tats than not were places of poverty, highly artistic people, very socially liberal. Most of these places also had lot of biker bars, night clubs, good music and good food.

36 points by davikr 4y ago

ars 4y ago

I don't have an association of tattoos with abuse, but I certainly do with crime. Tattoos are so common now that I have to consciously tell myself to ignore my association, but it's not something that will go away.

klyrs 4y ago
My mom (boomer) still associates them with sailors in the Navy, because that's who had them when she was a kid.
smackeyacky 4y ago
This might drop off with age. I'm in my early fifties and only ever saw tattoos on bikers, sailors, manual labourers and Bon Scott. I don't think criminality was ever the main association, although I always assumed the tattooed men knew criminals from watching TV news. Younger people would have never made those mental associations but like you, I do struggle to disassociate tattoos with lower class people. I often wonder what some of these young people are going to do as they get older, as the heavily tattooed amongst them just look like an indiscriminate mess of green and black bad decisions.

Peach_blue 4y ago

That's pretty weird, because just a couple of days ago I thought to myself that this exact connection surely exists. It was just an observation about myself and many people who I know well enough to make a judgement about that particular thing. You can probably correlate a dozen more things with childhood abuse. Alcohol and substance abuse, academic underachievement, depression, chronic illness, incarceration, accident proneness, anxiety... Some psychologist whose name I can't remember once said that if childhood trauma was understood correctly, the DSM-5 would shrink to the size of a small pamphlet, because 95% of all mental illness is merely a symptom of childhood abuse or neglect. Especially the effects of emotional abuse are grossly underestimated in western society. We are so entrenched in it that we can't see it anymore. Like fish don't see water.

gxt 4y ago

Self-esteem and self-mutilation often go hand in hand. Don't like yourself, then find a way to change yourself so you can move on mentally. Workout, learn, create, etc. Those that have nothing but the skin on their flesh get tattoos. Those who have tried all they can think about then mutilate themselves a bit more with piercings, and more than that it's just general depressiveness and a downward spiral. To do a shody parallel, pilots in downward spirals can recover, by identifying the situation, and providing input to counter the movement, I think bodies and minds are a bit like that, so don't give up, find out what's bringing you down and counter it until you soar above the clouds.

Fargoan 4y ago
I don't have any tattoos. My nipples are pierced. I have a magnet in my left ring finger, and an NFC chip in my left hand. I haven't mutilated my body. The nipples are for aesthetics. The implants are functional. Besides, piercing can be removed and tattoos not really. So if you consider any of it mutilation I'd say the tattoos are more mutilation than the piercings.
- GameOfFrowns 4y ago
  >The [pierced] nipples are for aesthetics. I'm sure tattooed people would say the same about their tattoos. People are very bad at uncovering the origin of their behaviour and very good at retroactive rationalization. The question remains is, which desires shaped those "aesthetics"? Was it a wish for self-harm or perhaps showing conformity with an in-group? Do you know other people carrying the same types of modifications?
  - Fargoan 4y ago
    And I would agree with tattooed people about the aesthetics. This definitely isn't retroactive rationalization. I thought about it for months before getting it done. Of course I know people with piercings and tattoos; I live in the United States.

reanimus 4y ago

Given that tattoos and piercings are often an expression of bodily autonomy and self-expression, I don't find it too shocking that people who've experienced abuse (and often lack of those very things as part of it) would gravitate to it.

GameOfFrowns 4y ago
>are often an expression of bodily autonomy and self-expression In the same way that anorexia is an expression of "bodily autonomy and self-expression"? Tattooing, piercing or cutting rather see to be forms of self-mutilation and self-punishment or chasing the short high of the pain in contrast to emotional numbness.

aaron695 4y ago

LinuxBender 4y ago

Anecdotally in support of the article a friend of mine was a model and obtained what I can only describe as hideous tattoos all over her body that forced her out of modeling. She was indeed in a highly abusive relationship even by law enforcement standards. I'm happy that she escaped that mess but now has a tattoo head to toe to remind her of it. There are some places that this theory probably breaks down in some way? For example everyone on "The Max" in Portland Oregon knew I was not from there for a lack of tats. There are some parts of Mississippi that people without tats will also stand out. Most of the places I can think of where I saw more tats than not were places of poverty, highly artistic people, very socially liberal. Most of these places also had lot of biker bars, night clubs, good music and good food.