What is it that makes tattoos, particularly erotic tattoos, so intriguing to some people, and so off-putting to others? There are lots of associations and meanings assigned to them and those who have them, of course, with generally disreputable origins ranging from drunken sailors to biker gangs and prostitutes.
Then there is the closet tattoo enthusiast such as businessmen or lawyers who gets erotic tattoos on more hidden skin as a way of 'going against the grain' or expressing a hidden side without risking their professional respectability.
Tattoo Design by Mazin My Way Skin Art, Tokyo - © Tao of Tattoos
There is something empowering about claiming absolute ownership of our bodies, free of the judgment of others and the restrictions of a culture that is profoundly suspicious of the body, its desires, and its pleasures. The idea that our bodies are fully available to us to use however we choose -- to offer us pleasure, well-being, and identity (and babies only when we want them) -- is still a controversial one in this culture.
"Your body is like a house [you] live in," according to Fakir Musafar, one of the most outspoken proponents for body modification and erotic tattoos, in a brilliant interview published by ReSearch magazine. "It's your house, and you can do with it as you please. If you want it pink, you paint it pink. People like Australian aborigines know something that people here don't know, and that's the reason they can poke holes in the body, they can tattoo it, they can decorate it.
Fakir Musafar speaks of body modification as a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood several people who have gotten tattoos have done so as a way of reclaiming their bodies from child traumas involving physical or sexual abuse. There is a definite sense of transition that comes from knowing you are making an unmistakable, permanent change in your body's appearance.
Aside from obvious aesthetics, the real significance of the tattoo process is the realisation of how much is possible once we overthrow the kind of cultural conservatism that would limit us to a tiny fraction of our full potential for life and personal expression.
Fakir Musafar says it well. "A whole part of life," he notes, "seems to be missing for people in modern cultures. Whole groups of people, socially, are alienated. They cannot get close or in touch with anything, including themselves. Why? What's going on here?
For a long time Western culture has dictated - don't f**k with the body; it's the temple of God. But finally people are starting to see things in a different way. People need these rituals so desperately. That's why piercing and erotic tattoos have blossomed.
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