Stigmatization of Body Modification
The life of Olive Oatman really sticks out to me in
representing how body modification can be used for cultural reasons or
branding. In the tribe she was taken by females had these blue facial tattoos.
Yes, she agreed to it, but in the situation Olive Oatman did not really have
another choice. It is hard to say if she was truly unhappy because she was
adapting in order to survive in her given circumstances. In some ways the
tattoo helped her be more similar to those of the Native American Indians.
However, all of this happened after she watched her family
be brutally murdered. So in the back of her mind, there must have been some
discomfort with her new life. I sew the tattoo as an agreement to fit into the
society and adapt, rather than an autonomous decision. This relates to the tattoos
on those of forced prostitution rings. It is hard to imagine that something we
see as an art, can also have devastating consequences. Tattoos that are given
to mark culture can be commonplace and necessary in certain societies, which is
okay when that is a culture of ones choosing. However, in the case of forced prostitution
and in Oatman’s life the tattoo is a mark of ownership (the Native Americans
owed her the prostitution lords own the girls).
This made me realize body modification can be an art that is
used to enhance one’s self emotionally or physically. People get tattoos for a variety
of reasons. However, there is also a long history of the tattoos role in
dehumanization.
For Oatman, she could not live a normal life after she was “rescued”
because the U.S. culture regarded her as a victim and a freak. They might have pitied
her or found her story interesting, but they did not accept her or treat her as
they would anyone else. I think this strikes a chord for me because it really
hit me that after the Holocaust things may have been similar. Victims of the
concentration camps were tattooed (there no one tried to say the tattoos were
done willingly), but it also did not let them fit into society when they were
liberated. It is like once branded, a person has a new identity in these
situations. Once a person get a strange tattoo or brand like Holocaust numbers
or Oatman’s facial tattoo they are regarded as victims. They can no longer live
in society as a strong independent person because people view them as victims,
or freak. I have a lot of empathy and sadness about the situation.
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