This Should Have Been Called: "Get A Tattoo or Body Piercing And Burn In Hell"

Have you ever read a book that insulted you? No, I don't mean it started making fun of you or mocking your cooking skills. I'm talking about one that comes off like it is preaching about something that it is clueless about. That, in a nutshell, is what I felt like when I got done reading Body Piercing And Tattoos by Paul Mason. Think of it like this, if you have no idea how to fix a leaking pipe, are you going to write a 'how to' manual about the subject? Being someone that is in the ink industry I try to read all the books I can on the subject; not just to stay on top of things but to get a good chuckle from people who talk about tattoos as if they were the second coming of the antichrist. Books like this always have some hidden agenda, in regards to this one it is painfully obvious that the underlying statement here is .. tattoos and piercings are something that are a complete no-no. I tried to remain objective when I was reading this but when I finished it not only did I feel insulted but felt a true sadness for any teen that was forced to read this. I wish I could say that the factual information in this book outweighs the 'blown out of proportion' pieces but that just isn't the case.

Just The Facts: Body Piercing And Tattoos

While I won't deny that the book presents the facts about tattooing and piercing you can't help but get this weird vibe when you are reading it. Sort of like some subliminal message coming through the pages and pictures telling you that getting a tattoo or piercing will ruin your life, make you fall in with the dregs of society and only "those" people get ink or piercings. I understand that this book is written to try and inform younger people about the dangers of getting a tattoo but as someone that works in this field I can say that the legal ramifications of working on someone under age or under the influence are things that come into play almost every single day. As the book points out, there are shops that don't care about the well-being of the customer, to them it is how much money they have at the end of the day regardless of how it gets into the cash register. To me it's almost like the author of the book is hell bent on trying to convince everyone that tattoos and piercings are nothing more than a tool for the devil. No, he doesn’t come right out and say it in so many words but when you are reading it, the vibe is there.

You get started with the basics of both subjects including the history of them, how they are done and what might prompt someone to get one. Cosmetic tattooing is something that I didn't expect the book to mention but in all honesty, it isn't something that most people will ever consider because there are too many negatives to the procedures. This reminded me a of a lady that I knew some twenty years ago; every time I saw her she had black eyeliner perfectly applied to her eyelids. Be it five in the morning or eleven at night, she never had a smudge or was without it. When I asked her about it she said that she had her eyelids tattooed and I thought she was joking about it. When I got into the tattoo business and started reading about it I got in contact with her and asked her about her experience with it. She said that she did have some regrets about doing it but was glad that she didn't have any scarring or vision loss, something that can happen regardless of how skilled the artist is. That is something that the book doesn't come out and say; they throw out the basics of getting a tattoo but back it up with lines like, "tattoos are permanent" and "getting them removed is more painful and costly than what the tattoo cost in the first place". To me this type of 'preachy' format is going to do more harm than good; ever try to tell a teenager that they can't do something? More often than not that just adds fuel to their fire. That is where parental guidance comes into play.

There are a lot of photographs in the book but a majority of them look staged; the facial reactions of the people getting tattoos or piercings are so fake that you are forced to give an honest 'laugh out loud' reaction to them. Never do they pass up the opportunity to dwell on bad experiences; the best example is that of Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie and the tattoos that they have of each other's names. Umm, that's one of the reasons why most of the artists I know won't do names unless they are a tribute piece or the name of their child / children. There's also a lot of false information in the book, one that had me laughing and enraged at the same time was this one, "Some piercings are like minor surgery, and occasionally an ethyl chloride spray is used to numb the area before a piercing is done". There is nothing wrong with numbing an area before you get it pierced but that drastically increases the chances that the piercing is going to be uneven when the swelling goes down. If you can't handle the pain of a piercing then don't get it done.

The Series

This is part of an ongoing "Just The Facts" series of books that cover topics such as steroids, eating disorders, a variety of sexually transmitted diseases, teenage pregnancy and drugs such as ecstasy, marijuana, amphetamines and painkillers. These are geared towards teens and tweens to give them some basic information about the topic but ultimately it is the parent's responsibility to educate their child on such subjects. Having these books as a 'turn to' guide for information could be a benefit but some of the information needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

The Bottom Line

Yes the book does present the facts about tattooing and piercing, yes it does give you some general information about the history of the two but this – in my opinion – a very closed minded view of the topics. Moreover, I was highly offended that this was included in a series of books that deal with teen suicide, pregnancy, drug use and sexually transmitted diseases. Its almost as if they are saying killing yourself or doing methamphetamines is as bad as getting a tattoo or body piercing. Parents are forgetting who is in control, if you say "no tattoo" or "no navel piercing" then that should be the end of the discussion. Shop owners do have responsibilities and while there may not be steadfast rules in place in regards to who they can and cannot work on, ethics do come into play. If this book were written differently or perhaps included in a different teen series then I may have given this higher marks but as it stands its nothing more than someone standing on a soap box preaching away about a subject that they researched online and have had no personal experience with.


As always, thanks for the visit…

~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~

© 2006 Freak369


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