Editing Tattoo (section)

=== Modern associations ===
[[File:Tattoo Collection of the Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires of Montreal, 1925.jpg|thumb|[[Wilfrid Derome]] Tattoo Collection, 1925]]
Tattoos are strongly associated with [[Deviance (sociology)|deviance]], [[personality disorders]] and criminality.<ref name="Wesley">{{cite journal |title=Inked into Crime? An Examination of the Causal Relationship between Tattoos and Life-Course Offending among Males from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development |author1=Wesley G. Jennings |author2=Bryanna Hahn Fox |author3=David P. Farrington |date=14 January 2014 |journal=Journal of Criminal Justice |volume=42 |issue=1, January–February 2014 |pages=77–84 |doi=10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2013.12.006}}</ref><ref name="Adams">{{cite journal |last=Adams |first=Joshua |year=2012 |title=The Relationship between Tattooing and Deviance in Contemporary Society |journal=Deviance Today |pages=137–145}}</ref> Although the general acceptance of tattoos is on the rise in Western society, they still carry a heavy stigma among certain social groups.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/kevin-bailey/society-and-tattoos_b_15788552.html |title=Society And Tattoos |date=4 April 2017 |website=HuffPost UK |language=en |access-date=26 May 2019}}</ref> Tattoos are generally considered an important part of the culture of the [[Russian criminal tattoos|Russian mafia]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/oct/26/russian-criminal-tattoos |title=Russian criminal tattoos: breaking the code |last=Hodgkinson |first=Will |date=26 October 2010 |website=The Guardian |language=en |access-date=21 September 2018}}</ref>

Current cultural understandings of tattoos in Europe and North America have been greatly influenced by long-standing stereotypes based on deviant social groups in the 19th and 20th centuries. Particularly in North America, tattoos have been associated with stereotypes, [[folklore]] and racism.<ref name=google1 /> Not until the 1960s and 1970s did people associate tattoos with such societal outcasts as [[Outlaw motorcycle club|bikers]] and prisoners.<ref>''Bodies of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community''. Margo DeMello. Durham, NC: [[Duke University Press]], 2000. vii + 222 pp., photographs, notes, bibliography, index.</ref> Today, in the United States many prisoners and criminal gangs use distinctive tattoos to indicate facts about their criminal behavior, [[prison tattooing|prison sentences]] and organizational affiliation.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lichtenstein |first=Andrew |url=https://www.foto8.com/issue01/dprisontattoos/prisontattoos1.html |website=Foto8 |title=Texas Prison Tattoos |access-date=8 December 2007}}</ref> A [[teardrop tattoo]], for example, can be symbolic of murder, or each tear represents the death of a friend. At the same time, members of the [[United States Armed Forces|U.S. military]] have an equally well-established and longstanding [[history of tattooing]] to indicate military units, battles, kills, etc., an association that remains widespread among older Americans. In Japan, tattoos are associated with [[yakuza]] criminal groups, but there are non-yakuza groups such as [[Fukushi Masaichi]]'s tattoo association that sought to preserve the skins of dead Japanese who have extensive tattoos. Tattooing is also common in the [[British Armed Forces]]. Depending on vocation, tattoos are accepted in a number of professions in America. Companies across many fields are increasingly focused on diversity and inclusion.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hennessey |first=Rachel |url=http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/tattoos-no-longer-kiss-death-workplace-163214544.html |title=Tattoos No Longer A Kiss Of Death In The Workplace |publisher=Yahoo! Small Business Advisor |agency=Forbes |date=8 March 2013 |access-date=15 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130504133148/http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/tattoos-no-longer-kiss-death-workplace-163214544.html |archive-date= May 4, 2013 }}</ref> Mainstream art galleries hold exhibitions of both conventional and custom tattoo designs, such as ''Beyond Skin'', at the [[Museum of Croydon]].<ref name="croydon">{{cite web |title=Beyond Skin |url=http://www.museumofcroydon.com/beyondskin |website=Museum of Croydon |access-date=17 August 2018 |archive-date=17 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817125017/http://www.museumofcroydon.com/beyondskin |url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Latin King .jpg|thumb|left|[[Latin Kings (gang)|Latin Kings]] gang member showing his gang tattoo]]
In Britain, there is evidence of women with tattoos, concealed by their clothing, throughout the 20th century, and records of women tattooists such as [[Jessie Knight (tattoo artist)|Jessie Knight]] from the 1920s.<ref name="Mifflin2013">{{cite book |last1=Mifflin |first1=Margot |title=Bodies of Subversion: A secret history of women and tattoo |date=2013 |publisher=Powerhouse Books |isbn=978-1-57687-613-8 |pages=192 |edition=3rd}}</ref> A study of "at-risk" (as defined by school absenteeism and truancy) adolescent girls showed a positive correlation between body modification and negative feelings towards the body and low self-esteem; however, the study also demonstrated that a strong motive for body modification is the search for "self and attempts to attain mastery and control over the body in an age of increasing alienation".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Carroll |first1=L. |last2=Anderson |first2=R. |title=Body piercing, tattooing, self-esteem, and body investment in adolescent girls |journal=Adolescence |volume=37 |issue=147 |pages=627–37 |year=2002 |pmid=12458698}}</ref> The prevalence of women in the tattoo industry in the 21st century, along with larger numbers of women bearing tattoos, appears to be changing negative perceptions.

In ''Covered in Ink'' by Beverly Yuen Thompson, she interviews heavily tattooed women in Washington, Miami, Orlando, Houston, Long Beach, and Seattle from 2007 to 2010 using [[participant observation]] and in-depth interviews of 70 women. Younger generations are typically more unbothered by heavily tattooed women, while older generation including the participants parents are more likely to look down on them, some even go to the extreme of disowning their children for getting tattoos.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Beverly Yuen |title=Covered in Ink |date=24 July 2015 |publisher=New York University Press |doi=10.18574/nyu/9780814760000.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-8147-6000-0}}</ref> Typically how the family reacts is an indicator of their relationship in general. Reports were given that family members who were not accepting of tattoos wanted to scrub the images off, pour holy water on them or have them surgically removed. Families who were emotionally accepting of their family members were able to maintain close bonds after tattooing.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thompson |first1=Beverly Yuen |title=Covered in Ink: Tattoos, Women and the Politics of the Body |date=2015 |publisher=[[New York University Press]] |pages=87–88}}</ref>