Tattoo or taboo? Tattoo stigma and negative attitudes toward tattooed individuals

Abstract

Tattoos are common in the United States; however, tattooed persons may be perceived as having more negative character and as more deviant than people without tattoos. College students (Study 1) and community members (Study 2) viewed images of men and women with tattoos or the same images with the tattoos digitally removed and rated the targets' characteristics. Half of the participants viewed a target with a tattoo, and half viewed that target without it, allowing for both within- (participants all rated one male and one female target with a tattoo and another without) and between-participants (participants rated either the tattooed or non-tattooed version of a single target) comparisons. Tattooed targets, especially women, were rated as stronger and more independent, but were rated more negatively on other character attributes than the same target images with the tattoos removed. The stigma associated with tattoos appears to still exist, despite the prevalence of tattoos in modern culture.

Taboo in consumption: Social structure, gender and sustainable menstrual products

“…While several studies have emphasized how participants negotiated their identities and transcended prevalent taboos and stigmas to adopt products (Piha et al, ; Sandikci & Ger, ; Wilner & Huff, ), this study contributes to the existing body of literature by emphasizing that such transitions are not always possible. Broussard and Harton () found that negative social perceptions persist about tattooed individuals. Muhamed and Mizerski () also found similar results while understanding the consumption of taboo products in the context of religion.…”

“…Extant literature on taboo in consumption focuses on three topics—taboo products, communication of such products and taboo trade‐offs (see Table ). Research in taboo products has received the most attention (Amos & Haglund, ; Broussard & Harton, ; Diana, Rachmayanti, Anwar, Khomsan, & Christianti, ; McGraw, Schwartz, & Tetlock, ; Muhamad & Mizerski, ; Nguyen et al, ; Piha et al, ; Yalkin & Veer, ). Studies on this issue identify either how individual consumers have broken away from taboos and divorced themselves from shame and immorality or how taboos have deleteriously affected the consumption of taboo products.…”

“…In regard to the confounding nature of taboos, some studies suggest that such consumption facilitates transformation (Piha et al, ; Yalkin & Veer, ). In other situations, taboos are well‐entrenched and cannot be transgressed (Broussard & Harton, ; Muhamad & Mizerski, ).…”

Potential significance of swastika tattoos in a medico-legal setting

“…7 , 8 Almost 30% of people living in the USA now have tattoos. 9 In an Australian context, tattoos depicting the nineteenth-century outlaw or ‘bushranger’ Ned Kelly are often chosen because of his anti-authoritarian actions. Analysis of cases with such tattoos presenting to medico-legal autopsy, however, has revealed that 85% of the deaths were unnatural, including 40% which were due to suicides and 10% which were due to homicides.…”

An unintended consequence? Examining the relationship between visible tattoos and unwanted sexual attention

“…Furthermore, perpetrators may feel a sense of greater power vis-a-vis a visibly tattooed employee. Perpetrators may believe that they can more readily get away with harassment because of the visibly tattooed employee's lower perceived status (Halnon & Cohen, 2006), since those with tattoos are stereotyped as ‘other’ and less intelligent, honest, and capable (Broussard & Harton, 2017; Dean, 2010; Degelman & Price, 2002). This argument is supported by the power differential explanation of sexual harassment which posits that perpetrators are largely motivated by a desire to reinforce a sense of power and escape negative consequences from the organization for their behavior (Stockdale & Nadler, 2012).…”