A tattoo might mark you as belonging to one tribe or class, it might mark you as "adult", it might mark you as "convict."
It might be decorative: In an era of lots of light brown clothing perhaps you want something to make you stand out, since there's nothing else distinctive about you.
That's what I often tell my kids when they're talking tattoo. "I want to stand out." "Yeah, you're right. That would make you special when, really, there's nothing at all unique or special about you at all--your tastes, what you do, how you think, your goals, your abilities and talents. So you get that tattoo because it'll make you a person when you utterly fail to have anything else going for you." Can't say that to everybody. Too many would agree. Then again, "too many" would be "more than zero", and the number's far more than zero.
But most of them have a really, really strong negative reaction. I respond, "So you're saying you already stand out?" They say "of course." "Then why do say you need a tattoo to stand out. You already stand out."
It confuses them. Then I tell them the real reason they want a tattoo is to blend in. "You don't want one to stand out. You want one to be part of a group. It's just more group conformity--your choice of tattoo within the group matters a bit, but it's really the presence of the tattoo signalling that you're one of them that you need." Some miss the point. Some get it.
Modern tattoos aren't decorative. In some cases they're to mark the kid as belonging to a tribe. In some cases it's pathological, they don't like who they are and want to change it.
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