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32% of Americans have a tattoo, including 22% who have more than one
- midoridensha 3y agoAs someone who grew up in America, this cultural shift seems seriously weird to me. I guess it's just a symptom of Americans' extremist individualism, just like the trend in the last couple decades for parents to invent utterly ridiculous names for their kids.
- rootusrootus 3y agoIt's pretty close to the same for Britons (26%). So it's not just Americans' "extremist individualism."
- retrac 3y ago38% apparently in Canada. https://news.westernu.ca/2021/07/tattoo-ink-chemistry/ https://news.westernu.ca/2021/07/tattoo-ink-chemistry/ I think around here with my demographic, I might be in the minority with no tattoos. Makes me feel rather countercultural.
- amanaplanacanal 3y agoAll names are completely arbitrary. Having a unique one seems pretty practical to me.
- dudul 3y agoWhy? I only see the inconvenience of having to spell it when the other party is trying to write it down.
- petre 3y agoBecause your kids get their names misspelled and have to correct whoever is writing their name?
- seattle_spring 3y agoNot really, because most "unique" names I hear of nowadays are just common names or nearly common names spelled weird. "This is my daughter Jossilyn and her sister Payzlei!"
- sidongio123 3y agoNames are not arbitrary in the least. They are deeply connected to history, family, religion, and ancient tradition. They are meaningful in just about every way a thing can be meaningful. You can consider those things unimportant, but society as a whole does not agree with you.
- midoridensha 3y agoConsidering all the completely wacky names that American parents are choosing for their kids these days, it seems that modern American society no longer agrees with you.
- syndicatedjelly 3y agoSorry to hear that, my name certainly has a meaning and reason.
- amanaplanacanal 3y agoIf people choose their own names, that would make more sense, syndicatedjelly. My first name was a common baby name when I was born, and as far as I can tell has no connection with my family history or anything else. Probably my parents just liked the sound of it.
- syndicatedjelly 3y ago> All names are completely arbitrary. Having a unique one seems pretty practical to me. Oh wow so you're just going to stand by this outrageous statement then
- mr_toad 3y agoIn many places around the world tattoos are not extreme nor individualistic. Maybe it’s just the growing influence of other cultures.
- pengaru 3y agoIt doesn't strike me as that weird. We just don't have as much reefer-madness level of propaganda brainwashing the public into associating tattoos with motorcycle gangs that tear through town and rape your daughters. I think the criminal association threshold has moved to facial tattoos having offensive content, suggesting incarceration.
- wkat4242 3y agoI noticed in Ireland many people still have this attitude towards body tattoos. They're really normal in Spain. So it depends on the culture too.
- namegulf 3y agoWow that's a huge number, although not surprising given the number of people we come across, still didn't expect that high of a number! Wondering why people do it, art or what are we missing?
- gumballindie 3y agoProbably status.
- namegulf 3y agoSo far i haven't seen much in business circle, wondering what will be the reaction?
- defrost 3y agoThe 22% figure reflects tattoo lovers better, the 10% single tattoo figure will include a lot of * Blood type, DNR, med info, service ID, etc, * Name &/or death date of loved one, * moment of youthful|drunken excess tattoos.
- wkat4242 3y agoHmm I love tattoos but I have only one and not of those categories :) I plan to have more eventually but I'm not in any hurry. I've found a few great artists but the biggest problem is actually getting time in their calendar. But my point is: now that tattoos are becoming more popular, there will be more 'beginners' like me.
- defrost 3y agoSure - not everybody with a single tattoo has a "pragmatic | commemorative" tattoo. The main point of my comment above was to point out the obvious, that not everybody with a tattoo is into tattoos for the same reasons .. and a number of people with tattoos aren't neccesarily even into tattoos per se. It's a trite point for a HN crowd - no one should assume the analytics on a group are homogenous.
- 3y ago
- goldenkey 3y agoThe inks have unknown effects. I have a tattoo. I would not recommend them considering long-term lymphatic and mutagenic properties. Eh. You feel good at first, more aligned with your mind, then you realize you could have just put a poster on the wall that doesn't come with the risk of cancer or autoimmune disease. Not to be unkind, but I believe this is very similar to other irreversible decisions folks make. We're all suckers, trying to make ourselves feel better through deals with the devil.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- seattle_spring 3y agoCitations for what makes you think the inks have "unknown" effects, and/or cause cancer or autoimmune disorders? If you don't have a source, what has led you to believe it's true? I'm talking normal color inks, not unconventional ones like the ones that glow in the dark. I would think that if a third of the population has a tattoo, we'd actually know with almost certainty what the effects are.
- copperx 3y ago> I would think that if a third of the population has a tattoo, we'd actually know with almost certainty what the effects are. I wouldn't count on it. It took us 100 years to find out smoking was extremely bad, even though the majority of the population was doing it.
- bongoman37 3y agoWe knew smoking was bad for a long time. It took time to push through tobacco industry's lobbying and massive amounts of advertising convincing people against what they could evidently see in front of them. I don't think tattoo industry has remotely near that level of push.
- wkat4242 3y ago
- Havoc 3y agoWow - a lot higher than I would have guessed
- rahimnathwani 3y ago25%, not 32%, as the survey covered only adults, who comprise <80% of the US population.
- true_say 3y ago[flagged]
- LocutusOfBorges 3y ago…What?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- yieldcrv 3y agothe graph shows it is still a class system where tattoos cement the wearer into a lower caste, as in likely harder to traverse the socioeconomic classes with them than without formally educated people with the associated support system to get the degree are the least likely to have tattoos while all their bastards and the alt single parent that both get ignored forever get and have tattoos, should be a much larger population, which tracks
- LiquidSky 3y agoReminds me of this Rob Delaney tweet from 2011(!): >A neck tattoo used to say "Watch out, motherfucker." Now it says "I'd love to read you a poem about my vegan bicycle!" https://twitter.com/robdelaney/status/64775497468485632?lang=en https://twitter.com/robdelaney/status/64775497468485632?lang... Though now I think even that hipster association is gone, tattoos are just another aspect of fashion these days.
- aaron695 3y ago[dead]
- 7e 3y agoIn other words, no longer cool.
- wkat4242 3y agoIt depends what tattoos you have. I only get once-off designs made by artists I like. Most people I know do the same and it's great admiring them.
- moomoo11 3y agoI’d get one but I can’t make up my mind on what I’d get.