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Long considered a hallmark of American deviance, the tattoo has undergone drastic redefinition in recent decades. No longer the purview of bikers, punks and thugs, tattooing is increasingly practiced and appropriated by mainstream, middle class individuals (DeMeIIo 41; Irwin 50). For many young Americans, the tattoo has taken on a decidedly different meaning than for previous generations. Estimates on the number of Americans with tattoos generally range from one in ten to one in five (Kosut 1036; Stirn, Hinz, and Brähler 533).
Despite the fact that millions have been tattooed, not all tattooed bodies are equal in American culture. There is, indeed, a difference between people who have tattoos and the tattooed people (Bell 55-56). People who have tattoos usually have one to a few tattoos strategically placed on areas of their bodies that are easily hidden. While such tattoos may represent the self, they are not usually part of one's (public) self. Tattooed people, on the other hand, get tattoos that are always visible to others. Bold tattoos on the hand, neck and/or face are a prerequisite for tattooed people. Tattooed people readily and regularly display their tattoos to the world - to cover one's tattoos would be to deny one's true self. Though the number of Americans with tattoos has boomed, those who have tattoos and those considering tattoos typically recognize becoming a tattooed person necessitates "fully embracing marginalization" (Bell 55-56), limiting the number of tattooed people. According to Laumann and Derick, more than ninety percent of American tattooees can be classified as people who have tattoos (416).
The aim of this article is to better understand how and why people who have tattoos - those with no desire to be associated with the "freak show" surrounding tattooed people (Bell 56) - negotiate their status as tattooees and transition through mainstream society. Considering the vast expansion of tattoos among mainstream Americans since die late 1980s and early 1990s (Rosenblatt 300), the reluctance of social scientists to investigate tattoos as a nondeviant, mainstream phenomenon is noteworthy. While the "Tattoo Renaissance" (Sanders, "Marks" 401) has led to a dramatic shift in the attitudes and arguments put forth by academics concerning tattoos, by no means are the old attitudes disappearing from the literature:
[DJespite... path-breaking analyses...