Teens and tattoos free essay sample

Youth likes to be heard, and they ensure that it is in so many ways. The article on â€Å"On Teenagers and Tattoos† by Andres Martin, published by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, explains how youth use tattooing and body piercing to express their way of thinking and how they feel. It also explores the various key reasons that lead to the decisions of youth to tattoo. Youth and tattoos is a growing trend in the US and parents of these teens that decide to have tattoos and piercings are concerned with their decisions. In this article Dr. Martin views tattoos in a positive way. This is shown in the last paragraph where he mentioned, â€Å"they (tattoos) can often be understood self-constructive and adorning efforts, rather than prematurely subsumed as mutilatory and destructive acts† (Para 12). He does not view youth having tattoos as a negative thing; instead he feels that it may be a form of symbolism for these youth. The intended audience of this article is to the psychiatrists, exhorting them to have another way of analyzing youth, and secondly for people who view youth having tattoos in a discriminating way. Dr. Martin brought up three main good reasons why youth get tattoos. The first reason that teenagers get tattoos and peircings can be subject to single them selves out and be unique. Secondly, tattoos can be treat as a tool to help cultivate the memory bringing back memories of a relationships or even an object. And last, is that teenagers get tattoos to symbolize their own experiences and get a tattoo that is showed on their skin to permanently have a relationship with that tattoo. Some youth might get tattoos to last them a lifetime rather than something that comes and goes. Like what Dr. Martin commented, â€Å"tattoos, unlike many relationships, can promise permanence and stability† (Para 9). The purpose of this article is to allow the intended audience understand the key reasons of youth tattooing and perhaps, change their judgmental views on youth with tattoos. I feel that Dr. Martin has covered some reasons and has come to his clinical conclusions on why youth choose to have tattoos on their bodies, but I also feel like something might have been left out. Perhaps some youth might get tattoos for the simple joy of the body art or because they like art and want it tattooed on their own bodies. I feel that most of the points are accurate by Dr. Martin in this article. For example, he mentioned, â€Å"tattooed adolescents can become unambiguously demarcated from others and singled out as unique† (Para 4). I strongly agree with this point because youth are always trying to find a way to make them-selves stand out and some try to start a new trend just to be unique or to be looked in a different way by their own peers and society. It may just be what they need to feel unique and trendy in their own way rather than following a same kind of trend that other youth follow. Their peers may have the same clothes or even hairstyles, but what sets them apart from their peers would be the tattoo or even piercing that they have on their bodies. Being different helps youth develop their own identity weather it is on tattoos or even clothing that they choose to wear. Youth may also mark out their identities by having tattoos of certain designs, colors and areas they choose to have tattoos done on their bodies. Dr. Martin pointed out that, â€Å"tattoos and piercings can be subject to fad influence or peer pressure in an effort toward group affiliation† (Para 1). Youth are often peer pressured into doing things and one thing they don’t do is reject any type of challenge their peers put on them. Being influenced and around their own peers with tattoos might make them feel like they need to fit into the â€Å"fad† or ‘trend† in order to be accepted by their peers. However, I do not agree with Dr. Martin’s view on tattoos being â€Å"self constructive†. On the contrary, I strongly view it as a form of â€Å"destructive act†. This is because youth may get tattoos simply because they want to experience the pain or thrill during the process. According to Dr. Martin, youth may feel that they have no control over the changes in their bodies, and â€Å"by indelibly marking their bodies, adolescents can strive to reclaim their bearings† (Para 5). For this reason, by tattooing, these youth may feel that they are in control of the pain weather it be inner pain caused by family issues they can feel like they are in control of their own bodies by conflicting bodily pain, which can be an act of self-harm that they can actually control. And in conclusion these youth take a â€Å"destructive act† towards their own bodies. Dr. Martin commented, â€Å"At a time of normative uncertainties adolescents may maladaptively and all too readily commit to a tattoo and its indefinite presence† (Para 11). I agree with this statement because some adolescents get tattoos not taking in consideration that tattoos are markings that stay with you for the rest of your life. Some regrets come after years of choosing a particular design or a particular symbol that they got at a younger naive age. Youth seek fashion and trends not only in tattoos and piercing but also in styles of clothing, make up for women and some on men. And as with these trends comes a sense of uniqueness they also seek. These differences in dressing or fashion bring out the different outlooks, views or even cultures in youth. The different trends youth look for reflect on their cultures and some start a new trend to create their own identities. My final thought is since tattoos will remain with a person for a lifetime, I feel that youth must take into considerations several factors before tattooing themselves. Especially in a conservative society like my country, El Salvador, many people are still not very opened minded with the idea of tattoos. People with tattoos in my country are often being portrayed as troublemakers or heavily involved in gangs and crime, and by having tattoos they portray themselves as criminals and get looked in a wrong way by society.