With the tattoo convention occurring in Philadelphia this past week, it brings up the question; are tattoos still a popular thing for teens and college students to get?
The tattoo convention was held at the Philadelphia Convention center from Feb. 10-12. Hundreds of people lined the streets of center city, waiting to see the many different booths and new designs for this year.
The people attending ranged from having one tattoo and looking for a possible new one, to one man who was completely covered from head to toe, including his neck and parts of his face.
While all of these people gathered in the city for the convention, I couldn’t help but wonder how this would translate to Bucks students. Are Tattoos even relevant anymore?
Obviously they are since hundreds of young adults attended this year’s convention. The question is, are they something that a Bucks student would want to get.
Talking to Bucks students, opinions vary greatly.
Vanessa Amber, 18, journalism major, has two of them and is planning to get more. “They aren’t something that I ever planned to get but they mean something to me so I know I will never regret it.”
She has one on the inside of her wrist that is a picture of a book and has the word “write”. She went on to say, “Writing is my passion and I am going to be doing it for the rest of my life.”
Lauren Davis, 24, journalism major from Levittown says, “Tattoos are the norm now, and in twenty years everyone in my generation will most likely have them and nothing will be thought of covering them up.
“Most businesses are accepting this and changing the rules,” Davis says. “I got interviewed at an insurance company and got the job, and I have a full sleeve and a chest piece.”
Another student, Timothy Hutton, has a “sleeve” going from his shoulder down his arm of a tribal pattern. He said, “I just always wanted a tattoo since the time I was young, I would never think about removing it.”
A big part of this for all of the students that were interviewed was that almost everyone with tattoos, or aspirations of getting them, agreed that they should be in a place where they can be covered up if they wanted to.
Anna Livitsky, an art major at Bucks agrees. “Why would I want something on my body that can always be seen? I don’t want to see a tattoo in my wedding pictures.” This seems to be an ongoing trend with all of the students interviewed. The idea of being able to hide their tattoos when they don’t want the world to see them, is a commonly agreed upon stand on the issue.
So why would people want to get something so permanent? Vanessa Amber said, “I will always love writing and it’s an expression of what is meaningful to me.” This is something that is personal and means something to her so she will always want her tattoo.
Tattoos are not easily removed and if they are, it costs thousands of dollars, and is a painful procedure. The act of getting the actual tattoo is painful, but nothing compared to the pain of getting it removed. “I think that if someone wants a tattoo they should go for it!” Zach Sanders, a 20 year old, second year student said. “I just know that I personally don’t ever want one.”
So while students are mostly in agreement, and we continue to see television shows like Miami Ink, tattoos are becoming less and less popular. We are fascinated by them and some students want them but it comes down to personal choice. “If people want to “ink their whole body”, then let them. Everyone can do what they want” said Sanders. However, almost everyone agrees, if you’re going to get them just make sure you can cover them up when you don’t want them to be seen by everyone.