My name is Frank Cenname and I am currently finishing this course to receive my degree. I am a Senior at Siena College and also a Marketing major. I am from Hopewell Junction, New York where I have lived here for 18 years. I moved to this area when I was 5 years old from Ossining, New York. Hopewell Junction is a very small town in Dutchess County. In Hopewell Junction, there are only 361 individuals who reside in this town. I went to Arlington High School which has an enrollment of over 3,500 kids. My graduating class was 804 students. In recent years, I’ve found myself applying my knowledge learned from college into the real world which is helping me land a job. I am pursuing a career in the sports industry and hope to be a part of a great organization.
Before attending Siena College, I had to make a lot of hard life decisions. One of the main decisions was giving up playing football to focus on my studies. I have played football since I was 5 years old and was involved in several different travel programs. Football has taught me many life lessons and I was torn making the decision to hang up the cleats. This decision was hard for me but I had to make the correct decision knowing that I had no Division 1 offers and making my dream come true, playing professionally, was very small. Only about 2% of high school athletes receive a Division 1 scholarship so I knew that this was the right decision.
Deviant Subculture
As a 17 year old, I wanted to have many tattoos. I was told by my father that I was not allowed to go and get a tattoo. I always wanted to have meaningful tattoos because I knew a lot of people who regretted their tattoos because they weren’t special. Shown above is 2 of my now 7 tattoos. These two tattoos were done while I was 17 years old. In the chart below it shows the percentages of individuals by generation and metro status who have a tattoo. Tattoos can be seen more frequently now as this can be a cultural change. I was never worried about getting my tattoos because I felt like I was “cool” and “the first one” out of my friends. A lot of parents fear that their children will be placed in a different category than others if they have tattoos. Also, as the job market has become more competitive, people are being turned away from possible jobs because tattoos are visible. All 7 of my tattoos are not visible and have a significant meaning to me.
To me it seems like tattoos are becoming very common. I am exposed to individuals who once said they would never get tattoos to now a body full of them. As I am finishing up my college career, I thought this recent study related to me. The amount of college students who have tattoos after graduating is about 30%. This number is larger than the amount of Americans who have one or two tattoos. I believe that this number is very high because of the use of social media and the way people look up to celebrities and famous athletes. There has always been a “bad look” for tattoos but it never mattered to me because I wanted to have something permanent on my body that meant a lot to me. Tattoos gave me the chance to be creative and different then the people I was surrounded by. I have had these tattoos for over 7 years now and I would never think to get them removed. The 23% of Americans who regret being tattooed does not shock me. People do like to be spontaneous and do something that they thought they wanted to do.
Outsider’s by Howard S. Becker
In Becker’s novel, he talks about what really defines an outsider. As I like to agree, an outsider may look at a matter differently than his judges. Becker states, “When a rule is enforced, the person who is supposed to have broken it may be seen as a special kind of person, one who cannot be trusted to live by the rules agreed on by the group” (1). As I stated before, many people now are to be seen with a single tattoo or several. An older generation would see tattoos as “unprofessional” or “harmful” to the human body. This is where deviance comes in. Who is to say that every individual needs to follow past generations? Everyone seems to create their own opinions on certain aspects of life and the outcome of these actions should not be frowned upon. Becker states, “…different groups judge different things to be deviant” (4). I believe that I was never uncomfortable or shunned by my peers or even my father who did not approve of tattoos in the first place. I chose to be deviant and express something I truly cared about in a different way than most. As we see now, the group of people without tattoos is beginning to dwindle down to individuals 65 and older. Many people are beginning to follow what they want to do and run with it because they feel it is right. Becker states, “…some characteristic of the person who commits it makes it necessary or inevitable that he should (14)”. The action of getting a tattoo is permanent and individuals must know that this artwork will be stuck with them for the rest of their life. The idea of moral panic, or fear, of having your body tattooed will always be an argument. Will your artwork make others think of your differently? Will this tattoo harm your chances of getting a job? At the end of the day, each individual should do as they please but know the consequences and take action in the proper way to enjoy and love the artwork.
References
Odds of Playing a College Sport from High School, http://www.scholarshipstats.com/varsityodds.html.
Areavibes. “Hopewell Junction, NY Demographics.” AreaVibes, http://www.areavibes.com/hopewell junction-ny/demographics/.
Strattex. “Tattoo Removal Statistics 2017.” Fresh Start Laser Tattoo Removal Clinic, Fresh Start Laser Tattoo Removal Clinic, 26 July 2018, http://www.freshstartlaserclinic.com/articles/tattoo-removal-statistics-2017/.
“Tattoo Statistics.” Tattoo Statistics – How Many People Have Tattoos?, http://www.historyoftattoos.net/tattoo-facts/tattoo-statistics/.“Tattoo Statistics.” Should I Tattoo, 4 Sept. 2016, shoulditattoo.com/2016/09/03/tattoo-facts-statistics/.
Frank C's Sociology Blog 