If you’re a deviant, and you know it: get a tattoo
Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife
Just the research I’ve been waiting for to prove what a bad-ass I am.
A study by Texas Tech University sociologists has concluded that there’s a connection between “multiple pieces of body art” and “deviant behavior.” Somehow, TTU thought it would be a wise idea to create an entire “Body Art Team” to investigate the sordid details. Upon surveying 1,753 students at four Midwestern and Southern universities, the team had bad news for parents of college kids with four or more tattoos, seven or more body piercings, or (heavens!) piercings located in their nipples or genitals. Those with inked arms and bejeweled penises were more likely to admit to marijuana use, a history of arrests, cheating at school, binge drinking, and multiple sex partners.
And that was just at Midwestern and Southern schools! Can you imagine what the tattooed kids at NYU are getting up to? Probably piercing their own genitals while smoking a joint – outside of a police station – and videotaping the entire thing.
Good news – I guess – for parents of the dweebs who’ve only got bellybutton rings or cute little flower tattoos on their feet (ugh): the study showed “sharp differences in the levels of deviant behavior among those with just one tattoo vs. those with four or more, and among those with just one to three piercings vs. those with seven or more.”
This is a bit of a wake-up call for me. Apparently, I’ve got some binge drinking to catch up on.
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Hm, this is going to be quite a surprise to all the tattooed straight edgers.
I’ve never understood anyone’s need to deface (my word) their bodies, but it’s done in many countries. And although the preceding is true, most people, I think, frown on multiple or exaggerated body cacmarkings or trinket piercings. The survey doesn’t surprise me, although there are surely exceptions to be found.
Deidre: Amen!
Palavering: I’d be inclined to argue that there are *a lot* of exceptions to be found. I have five tattoos and four piercings, and haven’t had more than a glass of wine in three years. Deviant, I am not.
Katie: I know of no one personally that has as many markings and piercings as you (and I’m ancient), so I would refute your claim that there are “a lot” of people like you. I do not, however, claim that most of them are miscreants, deviants, or criminals; the survey suggests such, not I. Perhaps, in your case, an apotheosis is in order?
In response to another comment. See in context »Besides, what’s the psychology behind marking your body in such an unusual way?
Katie, you’ll feel better when you finally accept your deviantcy, cey, ness, itis??
Maybe I will! Off to flash school-children this morning…
In response to another comment. See in context »Wow Katie, I’m a lot more deviant than you, and I don’t have a single tattoo. But it seems to me people who are really into ink are more comfortable flouting convention than the rest of us stuffed shirts. Aren’t tattoos kind of rebellious acts?
Rebellious? Definitely, for some people. For me, no. They’ve been tributes, bonding experiences, aesthetic decorations, nostalgic markers…never rebellions. But I’m young. There’s still time for me to rebel against something with flesh art.
In response to another comment. See in context »It baffles me why people will permantly put a piece of art on their bodies that they wouldn’t put on their wall.
I find it interesting that the researchers are taking college kids’ word on their own “deviant” behavior. It’s entirely possible that those with few or no tattoos feel a greater need to bow to social convention, and are more likely to give the “right” answers when asked about their behavior. The tattooed folks are perhaps more likely to wear their hearts on their sleeves (pun intended).
Now that’s a great point – and one I might have come up with, had I actually put some time and thought into this post.
In response to another comment. See in context »“had I actually put some time and thought into this post” Says alot about you…
Wow, thanks so much, stranger.
In response to another comment. See in context »Hahaha, this is hilarious. My most straight-laced friend (in her 3rd year of Med School, 4.0 GPA, never drinks or smokes) has more piercings and tatoos than most people I know. I think she had a crush on the guy at the tatoo parlor…
MissP, do you huge quads yet from bicycling? If so, I think it would be really badass to get a tat’ on there : P
a) Like tree trunks
b) I should get a tattoo OF a tree trunk
In response to another comment. See in context »