Tattoos as a form of expressing identity and perceptions of the health risks of getting tattooed

• Author: C. Csesznek/D. Stemate
• Position: Transilvania University of Brasov/Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 59-70

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşo v

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 12(61) No. 1 – 2019

https://doi.org/10.31926/but.ssl.2019.12.61.1.6

TATTOOS AS A FORM OF EXPRESSING IDENTITY

AND PERCEPTIONS OF THE HEALTH RISKS OF

GETTING TATTOOED

C. CSESZNEK1 D. STEMATE2

Abstract: The article presents the results of an exploratory research, with

qualitative and visual data, conducted in Brasov city, Romania. The

objectives of the research were to identify the motivation behind getting

tattooed, the meanings of tattoos and the perceptions of health risks of

getting tattooed. The theoretical premise of the research was that tattoos

are getting out of the sphere of deviance entering the mainstream. As for the

practical premise, that is represented by the lack of data regarding this

phenomenon in Romania. With respect to the perceptions of health risks, our

research launches the hypothesis of a profound lack of information related

to the diseases that could be contracted through tattooing.

Keywords: tattoo, identity, health risk.

1. Introduction

Body art as a research field, especially tattooing, appeared a few thousand years ago

as an initiation ritual or as a marker of social status and it receives, at least for the

moment, quite little attention; there is little empirical research despite the fact that the

prevalence of the phenomenon has increased in most countries of Europe and America,

being associated with a high cost not only financial, but personal and social as well: pain,

stigma, the possible medical complications and the permanent character of tattooing.

Because in Romania there is no data regarding the amplitude and the effects of this

phenomenon, we expressed three research questions: why are people getting tattooed?

What are the meanings of the chosen tattoos? How do people perceive the risks of

contracting illnesses by getting tattooed, illnesses brought up in studies from other

countries? In other words, what is the perspective of Romanians, of people from Brasov

in particular, on the tattoos that they are wearing on their skin?

Our exploratory research was encouraged by the lack of systematic data for Romania.

There is no official statistics that has data about the amplitude of the phenomenon, or

about its medical effects or of another kind. There are only some articles on the Internet

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, codrina.csesznek@unitbv.ro, correspon ding author

2 Transilvania University of Braşov, daria.stemate@student.unitbv.ro