Once upon a time, back in the stone age, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, everyone knew tattoos were bad. Tattoos were what bikers and other on-the-fringe, not-mainstream folks got. Getting inked wasn’t, simply put, something nice, “normal” people did.
Then, well, the ’90s happened. And like lots of things, tattoos largely began to lose much of the cultural stigma that had been attached to them. And lots of folks, including plenty of “normal” people—like my little brother, for instance—got inked.
Full disclosure: I even flirted with the idea. I did have a motorcycle, after all (for about 10 years). But, frankly, I couldn’t think of a single image, word or (as is popular among many Christians who get tats), Bible verse that I was willing to make a lifetime commitment to on my very hide. Plus, I couldn’t very well look like I was imitating my little brother, who was 10 years younger than me.
In the end, I think the lessons my dad drummed into me as a youth had just penetrated my skull too deeply: “What looks cool now may be an embarrassing reminder in five, 10 or 15 years,” I could hear him saying.
That wisdom, ironically enough, seems to have proven true of late with actress Megan Fox. She recently announced that she’s getting a forearm tattoo of Marilyn Monroe taken off. “I’m removing it,” she told the Italian magazine Amica. “It is a negative character, as she suffered from personality disorders and was bipolar. I do not want to attract this kind of negative energy in my life.”
If Megan’s changed her mind regarding that image, though, lots of other women seem to be going the other way—reinforcing my perception that what was once socially taboo is now being embraced not just by the young, but by the not-so-young as well.
Recent articles at MSNBC and The Huffington Post have commented on an anecdotal upswing in older—as in, quite a lot older—women getting inked. Helen Lambin, for instance, got her first of 50 tattoos three-and-a-half years ago … at the age of 75. And there’s 101-year-old Mimi Rosenthal, who initially dipped into the ink when she was 99. “Mimi really started toying with the idea of getting a tattoo when she was 95,” said family friend and tattoo artist Michelle Gallo-Kohlas. “I told her, ‘Mimi you aren’t getting any younger, if you want a tattoo, you should probably get it now.'”
Thirty-nine-year-old Gallo-Kohlas told The Huffington Post, “I don’t know if it’s because we are in Florida and everyone comes here to retire, but most of my clients are in the older bracket. We see a lot of women in their sixties and seventies getting their first tattoos.” The same article reports that 6% of people over the age of 64 have tattoos, followed by 15% of Baby Boomers and 32% of Gen Xers.
Sailor Bill Johnson, the Vice President of the National Tattoo Association (NTA) told The Huffington Post that, although the organization doesn’t record figures, over the last eight to 10 years there has been a noticeable increase in women coming in to get their first tattoo at more advanced ages.
“Tattooing has become more in vogue, and people are releasing any inhibitions they might have had,” Johnson told The Huffington Post. In a separate interview with the Amarillo Globe-News in 2006, he noted, “The big difference now is that it’s more acceptable to show them off.”
Indeed, you know when centenarian grandmas are getting tatted up, well, the times they are a changin’.
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