Libby Storts wanted a tattoo.
Her dad told her no.
On her 18th birthday, Storts’ father gave her a letter in which he wrote “God created you to do amazing things.” Overcome by the joy in her dad’s encouraging words, Storts had an inspiration. She took the letter and got the phrase, in her father’s handwriting, tattooed on her back across her right shoulder.
The next day, Storts approached her dad. “Hey dad, guess what I did,” Storts said.
“Please tell me you didn’t get a tattoo,” he replied immediately.
Turning to show him his words, in his handwriting written in ink on her skin, she beamed with pride while also worrying about his reaction. Storts said her father looked at it for a minute before saying, “I guess this one is alright but no more.” The tattoo is not often talked about in the Storts house, but her dad can’t help but smile each time he sees it.
Tattooing has become more mainstream and “normal” with each new generation, but still seems provocative and divisive, to a degree. To some, people with tattoos are assumed to be almost criminal, without morals, barbarous or unintelligent. To others, having tattoos is not a statement of a person’s character or work ethic but rather an art form that exudes individuality.
The second group of people seems to grow dominant as time goes on. As a result, more college-aged students have tattoos now than ever before, including Libby Storts.
Humans have marked their bodies with tattoos for thousands of years for a multitude of reasons. Some have been intended as status symbols or to show religious beliefs. At the opposite extreme, tattoos have even been forms of punishment, amulets and even signs of a death sentence across numerous cultures and civilizations.
According to the Smithsonian, the earliest evidence of tattooing was on Otzi the Iceman. While carbon-dating tells us that Otzi the Iceman lived nearly 5,200 years ago, he wasn’t discovered until September of 1991 near the border between Italy and Austria. He had 61 tattoos that were created with soot or ash. In virtually every culture since, there has been evidence of tattooing as a fairly regular, if not common practice.
Authority Tattoo, an independently fact-checked and medically reviewed organization dedicated to accurate tattooing information, detailed the expansive history of tattooing across the world. In China, some tattooed mummies date as far back as 2100 BC and were considered barbaric and highly stigmatized; tattoos were a warning to society that the bearer could not be trusted.
In Egypt, where evidence of body art dates back to 2000 BC, tattoos were used for decorative purposes on the skin of women. In Samoa, where tattooing has been practiced for more than two thousand years, tattoos indicated a younger chief’s ascension to a leadership role within society, representing and celebrating dedication to the culture and great endurance.
Tattooing was also evident in ancient Greece and Rome. Athenians tattooed owls onto the Samians after defeating them in battle. Soldiers as well as arms manufacturers would get tattoos to show their occupation, and slaves were marked with a tattoo in Ancient Rome to show they had to pay their taxes.
In modern culture and particularly in western worlds, tattooing has also significantly changed from the days of marking slaves or defeated warriors from the battlefield. Still not prevalent, common, or socially acceptable until the late 20th century, with time, tattoos have become more and more common, if not “normalized.”
Ink for entertainment became popular in the 1800s with entertainers like John O’Reilly and Emma de Burgh. At this point, tattooing was almost strictly used for entertainment and performing. To society, tattoos still carried a stigma of barbarous practices—they were considered by many to be hideous. However, throughout the 20th century, negative opinions of tattooing grew less prevalent as time passed.
Tattooing was used mainly for entertainment up until the 1940s, with the exception of cosmetic tattoos. Colored tattoos, pioneered by Norman Keith Collins in the ’40s, led to a fundamental shift in tattoo design, which in turn led to a shift in tattoo popularity. The ‘50s saw a slight shift backward with tattoos again portraying the mark of an outcast.
The next five decades reveal a sharp increase in tattoo popularity and acceptance. Celebrities began inking themselves in the ‘60s, making them more mainstream and popular, subsequently leading to regular people seeking tattoos out and getting them. Tattoo designs got brighter and bigger in the ‘80s, and from that point on, more and more people bought into the world of body art.
Tattoo artists are on the leading edge of this trend. Michelle Balhan, owner and operator of Velvet Lotus Tattoo in Iowa City, Iowa, is no exception. Balhan entered the tattooing industry in 1993 and began tattooing in 1996.
Balhan originally got into the tattooing industry on the business side before she became an artist, which she says gave her a closer connection to the customers as well as the provider’s perspective. Balhan’s expert work has attracted customers from places far beyond the borders of her home state.
According to Balhan, when she first began tattooing almost 25 years ago, she began to see more doctors, lawyers, moms, and college kids getting tattooed than ever before as people were learning tattoos could be a tool for expression. Despite this, Balhan said the majority of society still believed tattoos represented people of bad interest. As time progressed, Balhan said that “people started realizing what could be done and how you can personalize [tattoos].”
Today, in a different era of tattooing and body-art obsessed individuals, Balhan claims those with tattoos have never been more widely accepted. There is still that bit of negative stigma surrounding tattoos, which Balhan said is likely to always exist. Despite that stigma, Balhan has observed only a steady increase in tattoo popularity over nearly three decades.
“More of society realizes [tattoos] don’t change someone’s personality, more of society today realizes that [tattoos] are not going to dictate whether you do an efficient job or not, and more of society today appreciates the fine art it has become,” Balhan said about society’s opinion of tattoos today.
While tattooing is much more widely accepted today, there is still a wide range of people’s perceptions of tattoos, as well as their perceptions of tattoos gaining more popularity.
Laurie Sorensen, a Waukee, Iowa, mom of three and the Business Initiative Manager at Wells Fargo’s Des Moines office, has three tattoos—a matching sun tattoo she got with friends, a heart she got with her mom, and a cross on her wrist made up of her kids’ names.
“I believe tattoos are leaning towards being more acceptable today, but there are still older generations who will say they are not acceptable,” Sorensen said.
To avoid possible issues, she made sure to get the tattoos in a place where she could cover them. As a woman in business, Sorensen said she had seen people associate tattoos with a bad work ethic, but she herself has never felt that way.
Many people believe tattoos do not represent a bad work ethic, but rather tattoos could influence what type of role an employer is comfortable placing an employee. For example, Des Moines Golf and Country Club relaxed their “no visible tattoos” policy in 2017, citing the need to hire the “best talent” to serve their clientele, amid the prevalence of tattoos as expressions of personality by those talented servers. In other words, they weren’t going to hire the best talent possible if they were restricted to individuals with non-visible tattoos.
Jon Holstrom, Chief Financial Officer at Willis Automotive in Des Moines, Iowa, has worked professionally for nearly 25 years. He is involved in interviewing employees at least 20 times a year. Personally, Holstrom does not have any tattoos. Recently, Willis Automotive eliminated their strict tattoo policy that required all tattoos to be fully covered.
Holstrom’s opinion of tattoos upon first entering the professional world was that a tattoo was “probably a drunken mistake that the person wishes they had not made.” Today, he sees tattoos as an individual’s expression of something personal to them but believes there are still some aspects that individuals take too far.
“You never want to give an employer a reason to ‘not promote you,’ ‘not hire you,’ ‘not take you to a dinner with an important customer,’” Holstrom said as his piece of advice to younger individuals wanting tattoos. “I do believe there are industries that actually support individual expression at work so what is acceptable in one place may not be acceptable in another.”
As more people evaluate their own perceptions of tattoos, it is clear that younger generations feel more comfortable getting tattoos. Whether a fun form of expression, an outward sign of healing, or a representation of things one loves, for many, tattoos have become a way of keeping someone or something close. It’s common to see tattoos symbolize a hobby, a love, family, friends and more.
Nic Davis, a law student at Gonzaga, currently has eight tattoos on his leg, many without meaning. While Davis said he never feels out of place when surrounded by people of his own age, he does feel out of place when he is with “old school or traditionally formal business people.”
Maddie Wallace, a junior at the University of Texas at Austin studying psychology, has one visible tattoo on her ankle. Her family, on a vacation to Thailand, decided to spontaneously get matching triangle tattoos on each of their ankles.
“I was nervous about getting a tattoo for possible work implications, but I felt like society is evolving, and by the time I get there, it won’t be as much of an issue,” Wallace said. “I also got it in Thailand complete randomly and it was a really fun memory, so it was definitely worth it.”
Isa Perdicizzhi, who is currently the Director of Public Relations for Berkshire Hathaway Georgia Properties and is launching her own consulting business, has one tattoo—the word “lover” tattooed on her ribs, inspired by singer Taylor Swift. Perdicizzhi got her tattoo on her ribcage so it would be easy to hide.
“I think people get tattoos to make themselves feel better and to represent themselves. It gave me a sense of control over what happened in my life,” Perdicizzhi said. After a year of many trials—including COVID, the death of her grandparents, the death of her step father, and battling depression as well as an eating disorder—Perdicizzhi said that her tattoo brings her genuine joy whenever she sees it. It reminds her of healing and her own beauty.
On campuses around the United States, students are constantly challenging the myths of tattoos. Many do not understand why there is a stigma at all, just like Libby Storts and her father.
“I don’t believe there should be any negative energy towards people who get tattoos,” Storts said. “I’m the exact same person as I was without a tattoo, the only difference is the added piece of artwork.”
Other students are no different. Jared Gardner, a junior majoring in human physiology, agrees with Storts. Gardner said that his life barely changed after getting his tattoos and that he has never regretted getting them.
Gardner has three tattoos, all incredibly meaningful to him. The first and most recent is a half sleeve on his left arm that represents his family, the outdoors, and their loved ones who have passed “looking over them.” The second is on his left bicep, a sibling tattoo he has with his brothers. The third reads “GAWKS” on the inside of Gardner’s lower lip, which Gardner and his friend got just for fun. Gardner also decided to get his tattoos in places that are easily coverable with certain clothes as he plans to start a career in medical device sales.
“While I understand there is a stigma surrounding tattoos, I personally believe that this stigma is dissipating,” Gardner said. “As more and more young people get them, more and more people are accepting them.”
Gardner’s tattoos are his own way of displaying on the outside what he holds most important on the inside—his family.
Likewise, another University of Iowa student, Shaye Coughlin, uses tattoos to hold her family and heritage close. Coughlin is Irish and her family is highly involved in the Irish culture. Growing up, she traveled the country to compete in Irish Dance competitions. She danced for eight years and went to Ireland in 2018 for the All Ireland Competition. Coughlin not only was born into an Irish family but personally surrounded herself with the culture through both performing and teaching Irish dance.
With three tattoos on her ribcage, Coughlin visually represents her family. The first reads “1496” on her left side, a combination of her family’s favorite numbers. Below it is a Claddagh, a traditional Irish ring that symbolizes love, loyalty and friendship—Coughlin also has an actual claddagh that she wears on her finger every day. Lastly, on her right side, Coughlin has a Celtic motherhood tattoo that she got with her mom and grandma.
“I got my tattoos on my ribs because they are practically never seen,” Coughlin said. “I still wanted to get them, despite hiding them, because I knew they were special to me.” Coughlin is one of many students who purposely gets tattoos solely for self-expression and not for others to see. Coughlin also said that her life and people’s perceptions of her have not changed with her tattoos as well.
Society’s perceptions have consistently fluctuated on numerous topics over time, inspiring younger generations to become trailblazers. Today, many college-aged kids are getting tattoos, some with their parents’ knowledge, and others without it. Perhaps they’re just simply not sure how their parents will respond, while hopeful they’d react the way Storts’ father did. While tattoos are becoming more mainstream, it seems that the way others perceive tattoos still leaves young adults facing a dilemma.
“I am excited for when I can get a tattoo and not be afraid of my parents’, my boss’, or a stranger’s judgment of me for it,” Storts said. “[Because] I can’t wait to get a second one.”