Tattoo and Body Piercing Shops Term Paper

Regulating Tattoo and Body Piercing Shops

In the United States, only 11 states have regulations and laws governing tattoo and body piercing licenses and training, while South Carolina and Oklahoma have banned tattooing in their states. Regulations help promote professionalism, and discourage "scratchers." This is important when considering disease transmission - HIV and Hepatitis B in particular (Westbrook, 2003). States that have regulations promote not only professionalism but can guarantee to consumers that when they go into a tattoo or body piercing parlor that they are going to receive professional, and safe service. They can be assured that if buildings are not safe, clean and have adequate lighting that they are supported by their state and that particular parlor would be shut down.

More importantly they will know that a licensed tattoo artist has gone through proper training and an apprenticeship and all equipment and procedures in tattooing and body piercing are one-time use, safe, and not hazardous to their health.

Many consider tattoos a freedom of speech and their right because it is their body, but consider there are a variety of factors when you decide to tattoo someone's name on your body, or take a 'tribal design' for your own use. If you haven't gained permission to use someone's name, you may think there's nothing wrong with that, "However, those who have had this happen to them have noted a profound sense of loss, that part of their identity or soul was stolen from them. In one particular case, a man surprised his girlfriend with a tattoo of her name on him, and with it began the start of a stalking relationship that terrified her for years in an obsessive/possessive situation involving domestic abuse" (DeLio, 2003).Culturally, taking a crest or symbol that is significant to a particular culture is robbing them of something that goes beyond you wanting a 'nice design'. "Beyond the images themselves, some tattoos, like the Maori moko, are considered sacred and limited only to those who are allowed to wear them. For the Maori, a foreigner who wears a moko without understanding its significance, or receiving the proper blessings, is nothing short of cultural robbery" (DeLio).

Regulations and laws over tattoo and body piercing may not be able to regulate designs or require permission for names, but anything done to the body involving needles and a clinical setting, like plastic surgery, or dentistry, is governed and regulated….....