Pop Culture topic on tattoos and piercings

Tattoos and piercings were first started as part of a culture, but now in today's society it is more of a kind of "fashion" statement. Although there are still a lot of people that get them due to cultural beliefs; in the Philippines certain tribes looked at tattoos as having special meanings and helped protect their land. Iraq use to be known that tattoos on females make them appear more beautiful, so therefore the women in Iraq would get tattoos to be more attractive and to fit in with the trend. Recently the women changed to henna tattoos that way they can change the design whenever they liked. Women in Iraq use to get tattoos on their face or hands right before their wedding day. In Thailand parents did not allow for their children to get tattoos or piercings because they believed that those kinds of things are identities of abnormal style that only disturbed people had.
Piercings were frequently used in commencement rites passing on their title to a particular social or age group.
In today’s society more young teens are getting tattoos and piercings as like I said in the first sentence, a “fashion” statement. I work at a juvenile detention center, and see almost the whole population of youth come in with tattoos or piercings, and majority of the time the youth states that the tattoos do not have any kind of meaning, they just simply got it because “they liked it”. When a teenager gets a piercing they think that they look cool and hip, but (this also goes for tattoos) what they don’t realize is how much work goes into keeping the “art” clean, and what could happen if it gets infected.
I do not find anything wrong with tattoos or piercings, as long as they do having meaning to them, and don’t go overboard.