Tattoos have always been a part of the human experience and their popularity has grown exponentially in recent years. According to a study by Pew Research Center (2023), about 32% of Americans have at least one tattoo.
Jarius Jones, a junior at Otterbein, has 12 tattoos, falling into the demographic of 22% of Americans that have more than one tattoo. He always liked the idea of tattoos and got his first tattoo based on the song, “One Love” by Bob Marley the day before prom during his senior year of high school. Jarius later got another music inspired tattoo on his abdomen with the words “The World is Yours” from Nas, alongside the character ‘Companion’ from artist and designer Kaws.
Jones also has a tattoo that says, “Fear God,” a mantra he uses while playing on the court during basketball season and in other areas of his life. His tattoos show a mixture of motivation and making sure to have fun every day.
Jones has a goal of how many more tattoos he plans to get; one more on the leg, two more on the chest and one on the side of his abdomen. Jones always wanted a leg sleeve because he was inspired by the athletes he saw growing up that had leg tattoos.
Jones kept in mind the placement of his tattoos so they didn’t impact his future career, “It makes me feel more relaxed to go to professional settings because I can just cover it up.”
With more people now than ever getting tattoos, there is a switch around opinions on tattoos in a professional work setting. According to a research article published in the Journal of Organization behavior, this stigma varies based on the field of work someone is in and while customers held both positive and negative opinions about employees, “they did not display more negative attitudes or behaviors toward tattooed (vs. non-tattooed) employees,” (Ruggs et al.)
Even if a person holds negative stereotypes of tattoos, a person is much less likely to act negatively toward some with tattoos. However, some argue there is still discrimination in the job hiring process as there are no legalities that prevent discrimination based on tattoos.
Jones would encourage people to get a tattoo if they can handle the process. “It’s a way to describe yourself without saying too much ... If you can endure the pain, I would encourage anybody to get it,” Jones said.
Tattoos have been around for thousands of years, the first example named Otiz the Iceman, who lived over five thousand years ago, and with its ever-growing rise in popularity the art form will continue to exist.
“Sometimes you go through stuff in life that you want to scream out, but sometimes the tattoos give you a more defined meaning,” said Jones.
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