s prime motivations behind these so called ideographic hieroglyphs. It was well accepted that tattoo represented a cryptic form of expression and a way of overcoming a fierce and unfortunate plight (Crockett 15).For many centuries, body piercings have been evident. Many from pirates to Roman Centurions, have had body piercing-- sometimes symbolizing royalty , bravery, virility, or as a rite of passage (Greif, Hewitt 368). Why do people alter their body, sometimes painfully and permanently with body piercing? Enid Schildkrout, curator of the show and chair of museums division of anthropology, thinks there are many reasons: To be Human. For beauty, as a sign of change or rebellion or conformity, to show status, to mark a moment , to be able to wear a certain ornament, to identify with spirits or deities, to show group membership, to show gender distinctions. Body piercing reflects what one society believes is beautiful, expensive, noble, religious, or of high status. An outside culture may react quite differently to beards, tattoos, black teeth, or oddly shaped bodies ( Tanne 65). The African American culture use body art as method of nonverbal interpersonal communication. In the future tattooing and body piercing is going to become more and more popular. Tattooing and body piercing are increasing , especially among college students. A study of 766 tattooed and/or body pierced college students across the United States, shows that each student had something they were symbolizing with their tattoo or body piercing( Grief, Hewitt 368). The creatively pierced , multiple tattooed teenagers who hang out at every mall in America probably do not realize it and neither undoubtedly do their unsettled parents- but they belong to a tradition as old as recorded history- probably much older. Ever since our Neolithic ancestors invented art tens of thousands of years ago, humans have been painting, sculpting and otherwise decorating everythi...
