Tattooing the body is consistent with delusional thinking generally.

The basis for the thinking is that people should created a unique  persona, or an "act".

The act is what people "wear" on their outside.

 The alternative of course, is to cultivate virtue    and change the "inside".

The same difficulty shows up in dying hair and other strange behavior.

  Moreover,  tatooing is de rigeur   in the Gangster  Lifestyle.

To the extreme, those are people who  reject all conceptions of virtue, defy social custom

and live continually by  cultiviting vices,  theft,  violence, and bloodshed.

   Many people think that they can be seen as part of this "outlaw" culture by  also  wearing their tatoos to show   a  vague association with  this    gangster  lifestyle.

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Nelson THANK YOU! I met so many people telling me tattoos are trashy and stupid. Urg!!!

I love tattoos.

I believe tattoo is an art form. So, of course, there would be some beautiful ones and some nasty ones.

I know that in some cultures, dragon, tiger or wolf tattoos represent power, courage, masculinity or something like that. So, I guess that's why some guys would want that. 

I just don't get them. I think the artwork can be beautiful, but I don't like to see it on skin. Personally, I wouldn't have them. As you get older and your skin gets saggy it will look awful, I guess. And, by the way, I wouldn't date a tattooed girl if you wonder.

I don't have any tattoos, but I am not going to comment on the social significance of them. I think a lot of people don't really think about what they are putting on their bodies.

I have seen, more than once, chinese characters done wrong - upside down or backwards. So many westerners walk around with things like 鸡的屁 on their backs.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/ridiculous-chinese-character-tattoos-translated