Tattoos and body piercings continued to be considered deviant activities in the United States until the 1960s, when both tattoos and body piercing began to cross over from the working class, bikers, prisoners, and military personnel to a younger, hipper audience. This crossover began with the hippies.

The hippies were a youth subculture who advocated universal love and peace and were associated with long hair, drugs, rock music, and political protests. The hippie culture embraced tattoos as a way to show the world their beliefs. They choose to get spiritual and political tattoos, such as ying and yang and peace signs. In addition, British youths who visited India during the 1960s adopted the Indian practice of piercing their noses. Piercing was adopted by the punk movement in the 1970s as a symbol of rebellion.

Tattoos and body piercing began to spread from rebellious youths to more mainstream society in the 1970s. This was due, in part, to the increasing professionalization of both industries. For example, Lyle Tuttle, a famous tattooist in San Francisco, realized that to attract new types of customers, tattooing had to lose its reputation for unhygienic practices. Tuttle was instrumental in getting new health regulations passed for tattoo studios. Because these regulations made getting a tattoo safer, more middle-class clients became interested in tattoos.

Body piercing also became more accessible to the public in the 1970s. Jim ward opened the Gauntlet, the first U.S. body piercing studio. People could now get pierced by a professional rather than doing it themselves or having friends do it. And in 1989 the publication of Modern Primitives, a book featuring interviews with several people who had gotten piercings and tattoos, brought awareness of body piercing to readers throughout the United States.

In the years that followed, body piercing and tattooing continued to gain popularity among new groups of people. Many well-known artists, actors, musicians, and fashion designers adopted tattooing and piercing. The public followed this celebrity trend. By the end of the twentieth century both practices had become wildly popular.

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In the past three decades, body piercing and tattooing have become increasingly popular among Americans from all walks of life and of all ages. For example, Kathryn, a seventy five year old woman, recently decided to get a tattoo while vacationing in Hawaii. She picked a small rose because it symbolizes her hometown of Portland, Oregon, known as the “City of Roses.” Kathryn had the rose tattooed on her ankle.

Just fifty years ago, most Americans would have considered Kathryn’s act an unconventional activity practiced only by rebels such as prisoners and bikers. However, today many people accept tattooing and piercing as fashionable ways to decorate the body. Most of Kathryn’s friends complimented her on her tattoo. “When I got back home,” she said, “everybody at my retirement complex thought it was absolutely fantastic! Except for one person; she thought it was just horrible.”

Although tattooing and body piercing may seem like recent trends, the practice of getting permanent body art actually dates back to prehistoric times. Tattooed mummies have been found all over the world, from central Asia to western Europe. The oldest tattooed mummy was discovered in the Otztaler Alps between Austria and Italy and is estimated to be fifty-three hundred years old. This mummy had a tattooed band of stripes on his lower back, a cross behind his left knee, and more stripes on his ankle. Prehistoric people practiced tattooing by puncturing the skin with crude tools dipped in pigment.

Evidence also shows that people pierced their bodies thousands of years ago. Archaeologists discovered a five thousand year old female figurine from Iran with multiple ear piercings. Another piece of evidence was found in Cyprus. There, archaeologists discovered a pair of gold earrings more than twenty-two hundred years old.

People all over the world practiced tattooing and body piercing. Tattooing was a common practice among tribes in the Pacific Islands. For example, the Maori of New Zealand decorated their faces with tattoos, and Samoan men tattooed areas from their waist to just below the knees. In other regions, such as Africa and Central America, piercing become more popular. To decorate their bodies, tribes such as the Dogon of Mali and the Nuba of Ethiopia practiced lip piercing. The ancient Aztec and Maya of Central America pierced their tongues.

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