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African American Interpersonal communication

to show how body art is relevant to every stage of development, from birth to death, says Fisher. But while the traditional, often spiritually based versions of bod mod are quickly disappearing among indigenous peoples, the impulses behind personal adornment remain unchanged: attracting a mate, signaling status, declaring allegiance to a group( Lemonick 75). For men, the tattoo is a public identity symbol, and their first is usually on their arm. Women reserve their tattoo for a more intimate audience, and they usually choose their breast. For most, the tattoo is symbolic of their individuality and having withstood a painful and exciting event. Tattooees enjoy being noticed, although they reveal their tattoos selectively ( Davis 471). Anthropologists describe body art or modification as a way of identifying oneself as being a part of a group, a tribe, or a gang: of denoting ones financial status or marital status: or even as a way of beautifying the body (Grief, Hewitt 368). Implicit here is the theme of deliverance--the redemptive passage from pain and uncertainty wherein the tattoo serves as both silent witness and lucky charm. Yet sailors and navel men have long applied symbols to their bodies, in an almost magical way, to guide their vessels and protect themselves, to deflect the temptations of a faraway women and even alleviate the pain of flogging. Soldiers, bikers and underworld gangs continue to adorn themselves with a range of symbols and ritual inscriptions: badges of rank, rites of passages, emblems, slogans and whimsical vision. And as appalling and savage as the tattooed prisoner appeared to 19th century criminologists, who wrestled to catalogue the criminal condition, it was well understood that the expansive repertoire of marks and mutilations universally made in prison bore than idle distraction. Professor Cesare Lombroso, a leading criminal theorist of the 1890s, cited vengeance , vanity and superstitions a...

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