“Many early attempts to alter the body have been a means of self-expression. The history of tattooing and body piercing illustrates how complex this process may be. Until recently in western Europe and North America, only pierced ears was seen as appropriate for the middle and upper classes. Tattooing was associated with working-class men and was often seen as illustrative of their closer relationship with exotic or “savage” races. The decision to tattoo oneself then became a sign of one’s occupation or of resistance to middle-class ideas. The increasing popularity of both tattooing and body piercing in recent times may illustrate a continuation of late-twentieth-century youthful rebellion as expressed through the body, but it may also illustrate the way in which globalization is a two-way street. In this case, western European and North American middle-class people adopt views of the body as a site for artistic expression from Polynesian and Asian cultures…”

Wilkie, Jacqueline S.. "The Body in Health, Disease, and Medicine" Daily Life Online. Greenwood Publishing Group. <http://dailylife.greenwood.com/dle.aspx?k=3&x=GR3233&bc=DBDL1311&p=GR3233-559>.