As a parent, one of my major goals in life was to get my son and daughter through to adulthood without piercings (other than her ears) or tattoos. I worked toward this goal from their earliest childhood, by complaining about the intense pain that sharp objects cause, warning them that vaccinations would prove excruciating, and trying to fish out their splinters with needles—an absolutely futile pursuit that always yielded lots of agonized screams. It seems to have worked like a charm; both kids are blissfully unadorned. Having successfully accomplished this feat, and having worked over the years with a number of colleagues with ink and pierced noses (I’m not sure about other places), I was starting to soften on the topic, at least until I saw the results of this study of college students done at Texas Tech University.
Guess what? “Women with piercings reported substantively and significantly greater frequency of sexual activity than students without piercings.” Pierced men were no friskier than the unpierced, BUT it turns out the pierced and/or tattooed binge-drink more than their unadorned cohorts, and use drugs more often, too. Whip out this study the next time your kid asks to get a navel ring or a butterfly on her clavicle, and say, “You see, honey? I only want what’s best for you.” On the other hand, if you’re interested in advertising your own availability, a nose ring or discreet Thai symbol might be just the thing.
this is so illogical and ignorant. it has to be a joke, right?
That is hilarious!!! Really. My brother in law is planning to be a minister, has never had a drink in his life…and guess what. He has about 4 tattoos. I have had my belly button pierced for 10 years and I am a happily married mom of 2…..this is just funny. I have to agree with “Y”.
This is insanely ignorant. I have 2 tattoos and a bellybutton ring and I’ve been in a serious and stable relationship for years and only enjoy an occasional cocktail at dinner. I guess I’m a slutty alcoholic because of these choices…
I only have my ears pierced and I think that this is a poor article topic. Tattoos and piercings are obviously a form of expression and should not imply any contents of character?!
Wow, so four people with tatoos aren’t promiscuous or drug addicts. Bully for you. Let’s not kid ourselves even those of you who are pierced and tatted up can’t tell me that if your darling dimpled thirteen year old angel came home with a tattoed sleeve or 4 rings in his eyebrow you would be happy.
Give me a break, pierce and tatt whatever you want as an adult but let the kids get through their teen years with a shot at not being viewed through the lens of their flesh altering expressions. By the way, they don’t call it a tramp stamp because it implies Rhodes Scholarship.
This is ignorance at best and quite ridiculous. Piercings and tattoos are a way to express yourself–and Ms. Cynthia, if your 13 year old comes home with a sleeve tattoo and 4 eyebrow rings…you have more than an issue of self expression on your hands. “Flesh altering expressions” “being viewed”….the people who have such HIGH opinions of tattoos aren’t individuals I’d want to associate with any how. If certain individuals need to stereotype/judge people based on someones self expression, I pity them.
So you put your kids through unnecessary pain to teach them that piercings and tattoos are bad? Wouldn’t it be easier to educate them on why drugs and promiscuity are dangerous?
How ignorant, and offensive. If someone is going to judge me by the piercings and tattoos I have chosen for my body, then I get to judge them for being closed-minded, ignorant and judgmental.
To those who find Ms. Hingston’s post ignorant and hilarious, etc.: So we should blow off the peer reviewed article cited in favor of a few anecdotes? Statistics show that your mother was right. Just because you personally got tattooed and/or pierced and don’t engage in the variety of high risk behaviors looked at doesn’t invalidate a statistical analysis of the the painted and pierced.
Like it or not, Ms. Lewis is correct about the low-back tatt.
The article is staggeringly ignorant. Sounds like something a group of Catholic bishops would cook up.
OMG you really don’t get it do you. I would wisely, go along with the joke and not pull a Palin and insist you were right about Paul Revere…who probably couldn’t wait to get a flag tattoo if Dolly Madison would ever finish it.
Excuse me Wil L…BUT, we’re blowing off a peer reviewed study comprised of only a few anecdotes. If one could read ONE study of 389 students and purport it to mean anything beyond what 389 students decided they wanted you to think of them, you need analysis.
It’s too bad that the concepts of peer review and statistical analysis of data are lost concepts.