Tattoos--Good or Bad for the "self"?

According to Holstein & Gubrium's book, "The Self We Live By," Charles Cooley's "looking-glass self" has three parts: "the imagination of our appearance to the other person; the imagination of his judgment of that appearance, and some sort of self-feeling, such as pride or mortification." If we take the word "appearance" in Cooley's definition of the self as a physical appearance, tattoos would be a huge part of who our "self" is.

I can see some situations where a tattoo could be positive for the self. My cousin has a tattoo of a four leaf clover on her back because she says its cute and its a tribute to her Irish heritage. Her tattoo is small, subtle, and on her back, so she can live a professional life free of questions about the tattoo, but still in a public enough area that when she goes out on the weekends, she can show it off and build positive feelings for her self.

In a completely different situation, one of my distant relatives lost her baby to a cruel murder, and that is a negative feeling that will live with her forever. However, by having a tattoo of a cross with her baby boy's name and dates of birth and death, she feels that she can keep positive memories of him alive and when the tattoo comes up in conversation, she tries to remember the pleasant and loving relationship she had with him. I personally feel that something like an "in memory of..." tattoo could have positive or negative influences on her self, depending on how she chooses to interpret other peoples' views of her appearance.

But, there seems to be a hugely negative side to doing something so permanent to your body. In "On Teenagers and Tattoos," Andres Martin makes the comment that some tattoos that say the name of a past significant other can become "the only evidence that there ever was such a bond." But honestly, what if two weeks after you get the tattoo, the relationship takes a turn for the worst? What if that person you loved stabs a knife in your back (metaphorically speaking, I hope)? Then, I assume every time you saw the tattoo or someone commented on it, you might become angry or depressed. Not only would the physical tattoo be seen by others, but the tone of your voice would probably change or you'd just try to change the subject. Then, you may wonder whether the other person thinks of you in a negative manner as too impulsive or ignorant to the possible consequences of your actions and this may bring what Cooley would call a negative "self-feeling." This could be bring a lot of negativity to the inner self, especially if the tattoo was on a exposed portion of your arm where it was constantly seen. Perhaps the negative feedback would one day be too much that one day you would want to get the tattoo removed. But have you ever seen someone who has had a tattoo "removed"? The other day I was walking around the mall and saw a girl in a tank top who had some sort of tattoo "removed" from her back. I put the word "removed" in quotation marks because there were still blotches of ink, and the scarring in the remaining patches of skin looked horrific. Then, this scar would probably come up in conversation anyway leading to more negativity. In the end, a tattoo like this just doesn't make sense to me, and I feel like thinking about one's "self," anyone who thinks of getting a tattoo should really contemplate future consequences.

Furthermore, I don't mean to insult anybody who's reading this, but I find many tattoos to be tacky and meaningless. Many people get tattoos of Chinese words or sayings, but why not just get the saying tattooed in English? My first impression of someone with a tattoo like this is, do they even really know what it says? Just because the tattoo artist tells you that what he tattoos means "happy" in another language, as far as you know it could really mean "moron." Unless someone who reads the language reads it and feels the duty to tell you what it really means, you'll never know. Of course, it you thought it meant happy though, you might think positively of the tattoo, think other people find it to be mysterious or artsy and that would bring positive self feelings. What about when someone has a conversation with you and skeptically stares at your tattoo, would you then start to develop a more saddened self? What about people who get a lower back tattoo and later find out that it is more commonly referred to as a "tramp stamp." This seems like it would have to change how they think other people think of them, and only leaving the person with a wounded self. Is getting a tattoo that the general public finds to be trendy now but may be referred to as trashy or disgusting later worth the possible future damage to your self?

Maybe I am skeptical of tattoos because I am terrified of the process. The fact that someone would poke me with a needle that goes back and forth constantly stabbing me and injecting ink seems totally unnecessary. Then again, perhaps I would feel differently and explore the possibility of getting a tattoo if there was something that I felt more passionately about. To this point in my life, I have been fairly fortunate to have not lost anyone particularly close to me where I would even put a "In loving memory of..." bumper sticker on my car, much less ink in my skin. And although I'm proud of my heritage, I don't feel passionately enough to have the Polish eagle become a part of me I want everyone to see.

In the end, I know that we shouldn't worry about what other people think of how we look, but Cooley's "looking-glass self" is too often too true, and I feel that tattoos can be a great way to build up the self, but only if we're sure that they are something we are proud of now and will always be proud of in the future.