It’s hard to find a person, male or female, under age 40 who does not have at least one tattoo. One of my coworkers told me that in her high school (Southern California) you HAD to get tattoos; you were considered a hopeless dork if you didn’t have any. So apparently kids under 18 are getting them. I agree with you that it is disgusting. So often I’ll see a really beautiful young person, then they turn a certain way and there is all that ink, often ugly, swirling dragon designs and such. It ruins their beauty. It’s like taking a Magic Marker to the Mona Lisa, in my opinion.
And it seems to me, if a young person wants to be a daring rebel, the thing to do now would be NOT to have a tattoo. Originally tattoos probably were intended to show rebellion. But now, the tattooed seem to consider themselves victims, whining when others stare at them or fail to praise their tattoos. Since victims are the ultimate heroes nowadays, my theory is that people are getting tattoos because they want to be victims.
One of the few times I've agreed with Bill O'Reilly was when he went on a rant about getting tattoos on one's neck.