A new trend on extinction : The Construction of Tattoos and the Tattooed person by Swedish Newspapers for Two Centuries

In this thesis, I argue that the modern view on tattooing as a new trend and its former association with antisocial people is an old trope, in many ways constructed by the newspapers. Tattooing is a practice with a long and multifaceted history. From Ötzi the iceman to the presumed tattoo-boom or tattoo-renaissance in the late twentieth century, it has waxed and waned in popularity but never fully got out of sight. The inhabitants of Sweden's capital city Stockholm are said to be the world's most tattooed people. The Swedish word for tattoo: tatuering, was introduced in 1799 in an article about natives in the South Pacific. For about half a century, the newspapers mostly wrote about tattooing as a native practice in faraway countries. But, as far back as 1869, the Swedish newspapers started to report on a more western-centered tattoo interest. Approximately 30 years later, it was also reported as a trend attracting new target groups such as women and nobility in America and Britain. Since then, Swedish newspapers have repeatedly described tattooing alternatively as a new trend reaching out to new target groups, a practice on the brink of extinction, a danger to the health, or a stigmatizing mark. The tattooed person has been depicted as odd, self-destructive, an outcast, or incapable of making their own decisions. Authorities such as medics, scholars, social workers, and journalists have taken a right to interpret, discuss and judge the choices of other people. From researching Swedish Newspapers from 1799 to 1999, I conclude that the modern reports on tattooing as a trend, a danger, or a sign of deviance is a narrative with a long history. The view of tattooed people as odd, strange, and victims of self-destructive behavior is a discourse with an equally long tradition. Further, I argue that the tattooed person, when interviewed or depicted to this day, is constructed by old conceptions and stereotypes. The result is that people with an interest in tattooing internalizes prejudices as a self-image. This image is either promoted and self-encouraged, or the object of denial, and a wish to be seen as a whole person, not a stereotype or cliché.