{"id":1319,"date":"2016-12-13T12:21:28","date_gmt":"2016-12-13T17:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=1319"},"modified":"2016-12-13T12:21:28","modified_gmt":"2016-12-13T17:21:28","slug":"beneath-the-ink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=1319","title":{"rendered":"Beneath the Ink"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Erykah Benson & Sydney Simoncini
\n<\/strong>The Tower
\nGrosse Pointe South HS
\n1st Place
\nDivision 1, News Writing
\nIn-Depth Feature<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to be a cluster of old fashioned flowers, Emily Tujaka \u201816 said. She imagines an palette of whimsical reds, muted pinks and beiges blooming from the middle of her arm — not too distracting or bright, but a subtle decoration that compliments her identity.<\/p>\n

With a countdown on her phone for the past three years, Tujaka has long-awaited the day when she would turn 18 and be able to legally get her first tattoo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m planning on getting a tattoo the week after I turn 18,\u201d Tujaka said. \u201cIt\u2019s about a month and a half away\u2026 and it\u2019s a huge deal to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tujaka is making sure everything goes as planned. After researching and looking at multiple artists, she came across the one with the style she wanted. Her artist, Ryan Metric, works at Chroma Tattoo in West Bloomfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Metric) randomly followed me one day and liked one of my photos, and I looked through his work, and it totally blew me away. Riley Lynch actually designed me a tattoo that I\u2019m going to take to my tattoo artist when I go for my consultation.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the legal age to get a tattoo is 18, teens are allowed to get a tattoo with parental consent as early as age 16. However, Tujaka said her mother will not allow her to get a tattoo until she becomes of age. .<\/p>\n

\u201cI had asked my mom a few times, and she just wanted me to wait until 18 so it would be more special\u201d Tujaka said.<\/p>\n

The unique permanence of a tattoo makes commitment essential, according to Rae Woodman \u201817.<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally wouldn\u2019t want to get a tattoo at that age because I feel like I need more time to be clearly thinking of what I\u2019m doing to my body,\u201d Woodman said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to get one at least until my 20s, because it\u2019s so permanent, and you\u2019re going to want to get something you want to keep forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Woodman said, she is content with drawing on herself and using henna (crushed pigments from a plant of the same name), a form of temporary body art, according to Silk & Stone.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like doing that kind of thing, it\u2019s not completely permanent, and it goes away within a couple of washes,\u201d Woodman said. \u201cAnd for now, that\u2019s fine for me, because I don\u2019t need something to be completely permanent, because I haven\u2019t decided what I\u2019d want to have on my body for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others are not so patient. Instead, some teens may resort to alternative, and possibly dangerous methods of body art.<\/p>\n

Stick-and-poke tattooing, for example, is a popular do-it-yourself method that people often use instead of getting a tattoo professionally done. On websites like instructables.com and wikihow.com, anyone can look up how to take a bottle of black ink, rubbing alcohol and a needle to become their very own tattoo artist.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s a terrible idea, according to tattoo artist Karlos Kowaleski from Chroma Tattoo in West Bloomfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no pros to it whatsoever,\u201d Kowaleski said. \u201cIt\u2019s dangerous, and it\u2019s unprofessional. A tattoo by nature is a permanent thing, so if you have a large portion of people walking around with shoddy little amateur work like that, then the general public, the general consensus is going to be that that\u2019s some kind of benchmark for tattooing and what to expect from tattoos. So it kind of besmirches the fine art side.\u201d Woodman agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally would hate to get stick and poke. It can be dangerous, even if the person that\u2019s doing it knows what they\u2019re doing,\u201d Woodman said. \u201cEven though everything is sterilized, there are things that can go wrong, and your tattoo can end up looking not the way you wanted it to. If you don\u2019t get the ink deep enough, then it can run under the skin, so it looks smeared but you can\u2019t fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This unconventional method, while growing in popularity, also has the potential to spread harmful bacteria as result of dirty needles, which pose a high risk of contracting diseases like HIV and hepatitis if needles are not properly sterilized, according to the Food and Drug Administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s literally a needle repeatedly going into your skin, and it\u2019s so easy to transfer the germs and get really sick from it. I\u2019m okay with them as long as everything is done super carefully and mindfully,\u201d Tujaka said. Regardless of the method used, body art has often been seen as a taboo
\nin society, especially in the professional world. Studies by Salary.com, a job searching site featuring tips on applying for a job, found that 39 percent of people say tattoos and piercings give employers a negative outlook on their employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think (the negative outlook) is really stupid, in short,\u201d Woodman said. \u201cBut, the reason I think it\u2019s so stupid is because it\u2019s mostly in the corporate world that has a problem with tattoos … And I think that by not hiring people with large amounts of tattoos, that they\u2019re kind of enforcing their stereotype of being robots and not having feelings.\u201d However, certain tattoos come off better than others.<\/p>\n

\u201cTattoos on the neck would be perceived more negatively than a small tattoo on the wrist or ankle,\u201d Tom DiDonato, Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Lear Corporation, said. \u201cAnother critical factor would be the subject matter of the tattoo. Anything vulgar would be a big issue, while a butterfly would not be a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

When interviewing for a job, employers may also be more negatively biased towards visible tattoos than others.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion, a tattoo would never provide a hiring advantage,\u201d DiDonato said. \u201cAt best a visible tattoo would be neutral but could, depending on the interviewer, be a big negative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though large corporations may be strict when it comes to body art, law firm\u2019s views can be much more severe, DiDonato said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaw firms tend to be quite conservative, and since they must always sell business, they might be reluctant to have anything that might inhibit a potential client from hiring the firm,\u201d DiDonato said. In addition, DiDonato said the public\u2019s view of tattoos has changed in the last decade, both inside and out of the business world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile perceptions of tattoos have changed over the last 10 years, they still have a long way to go before they are viewed as a positive attribute in a firm or business,\u201d DiDonato said. \u201cGetting a tattoo is a personal decision, but if a person ultimately wants to join a business or firm and they really want a tattoo, then they should consider getting one that is not visible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The difference isn\u2019t just noticeable in the corporate world, but also in the media, Kowaleski said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look around you can see tattoos everywhere,\u201d Kowaleski said. \u201cThere\u2019s like seven different tattoo reality television shows on TV currently, so it\u2019s definitely part of our culture and whatnot, so I do think that clients still carry that edge. But I think it\u2019s a self-appointed stigma. I really think if people stopped worrying about it that way, then it would pretty much disappear right away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Age also plays a role in the perception of tattoos in the workplace. According to salary.com, those between the ages of 18 and 25 have a 78 percent tolerance towards tattoos while those 60 and older have a 27 percent tolerance.<\/p>\n

As younger generations flood into the workforce, the tolerance for tattoos has also changed over time, Tujaka said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSociety is moving into being more accepting of tattoos in the workplace,\u201d Tujaka said. \u201cI\u2019m really excited about that. That shouldn\u2019t be a determining factor in getting a job, because it is an extensional reflection of who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

For others, a tattoo is a creative way to commemorate important, or emotional moments in their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandpa is also a really huge tattoo fan,\u201d Tujaka said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a zipper tattooed over his scar from open heart surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n

While tattoos can be strategically placed over top of scars, they\u2019re still often used simply as a form of self-expression.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandma has tattoos all over,\u201d Woodman said. \u201cShe\u2019s got a sleeve. And I think that\u2019s awesome. It\u2019s awesome because she rocks it. She\u2019s in her late 60s, and she\u2019s got all these beautiful tattoos. And I\u2019ve seen them as she\u2019s gotten older, and they haven\u2019t got them any less beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

After her first tattoo, Tujaka said she wants to get more later in life, maybe even a quarter sleeve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just going to see where life takes me and go from there in terms of what I want to get and when I\u2019ll be getting more,\u201d Tujaka said. Now rising from the depths of taboo, Tujaka said tattoos are becoming symbols of individualism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that tattoos are great, and one of the best ways to express yourself,\u201d Tujaka said. \u201cI love the way they have evolved throughout history, when they started out as being a cultural thing, and now it has also become an art form.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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