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Mallorie Garvey
Mrs. DeBock
English 4
10 March 2016
EQ: Where did tattoos and piercings originate from and how do they affect modern culture
today?
Working Thesis: Tattoos and piercings have originated from various ancient cultures for
identification, cultural, and religious reasons, and in todays modern society, they have become a
mainstream practice for individuals who wish to enhance their appearance, gain more control of
their bodies, or express their individuality.
Refined Thesis:. In todays modern society, it has become a mainstream practice for individuals
with tattoos and piercings to enhance their appearance, gain more control of their bodies, and
express their individuality.
Annotated Bibliography
Armstrong, Myrna L. "Tattooing, Body Piercing, and Permanent Cosmetics: A Historical and
Current View of State Regulations, with Continuing Concerns." HCS Smart Search. 1
Apr. 2005. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.
The article "Tattooing, Body Piercing, and Permanent Cosmetics: A Historical and
Current View of State Regulations, with Continuing Concerns." talks about the obvious growing
popularity in tattoos and piercings. It speaks of the statistics of those who have body piercings
and tattoos and the invasive procedures involved with tattooing. It brings up client safety and
other facts such as historical perspective of body art regulations, legislative regulations, and

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other brief details. It discusses how old a person has to be to get a tattoo in most states and how
the majority of the United States condones body modifications of most kinds.

Graves, Bonnie B. Tattooing and Body Piercing. Mankato, MN: LifeMatters, 2000. Print.
This book explains the definition of tattoos and piercings, and how they are identified as
body modification. It also gives readers insight on the history of tattoos and piercings explaining
how tattoos and piercings both are dated back to B.C. and the reasons why tattoos and piercings
were a practice in ancient history. It also gives readers a brief comparison as to why people today
get tattoos and piercings, and the reasons that were given were positive and negative reasons. In
modern culture today, it expresses the option of getting a tattoo or piercing removed if it is not
desirable to anyone anymore and preparation for a certain type of body modification and what to
do. I am using this for my research because I feel that it would help my readers get a better
perception on the history of tattoos and piercings.

Genis, Daniel. "Permanent Irony." HCS Smart Search. 31 Oct. 2014. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.
This article discusses how tattoos were an ancient human custom and how now in the
modern era, it has become a form of art that has started in America. It once was a practice for
criminals, sailors and individuals who served in the military, but in the last several years, there
have been various ways to perform this creative practice on people who desire to get tattoos
done, such as glow in the dark, or animated crystal designs. The article also talks about different
methods used for tattooing such as stick and poke and tattoo guns or machines. Stick and poke is
one of the oldest forms of tattooing to perform on people, and was the most common in prison
because the prisoners had nothing else to occupy the time of the prisoners rather than to master
their craft. How the prisoners would practice tattooing on other inmates was by using a sewing

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needle, thread, and a certain amount of ink. Permanent Irony also seems to emphasize on the
beauty of bad tattooing and prisoner tattooing, since it was the beginning process of the art. I am
using this article for my research because it would help my readers get an idea of how tattooing
started and what they used, and also who used to allow themselves to get tattooed before it
became a mainstream practice.