POST 10 : TATTOOS & GANGS

Why do you think more and more people wear tattoos (regardless of whether they belong to gangs or not)?

Young gang members, with tattoos and smoking

To begin with, I would like to point out that tattoos are supposed to stay forever in your skin, even though nowadays it is possible to remove them with laser surgery. The fact that it is supposed to stay forever in your skin is the first reason why people decide to wear them. Because it represents something unconditional in your life, something that you always want to remember, for instance, a situation that have meant a lot to you or that have marked you, where you came from, and all that you have overcome in your life. It can also be to remember a person, for example, your love, or a family member or someone which has marked you. Also, people do it because it makes you look tough and like a bad guy, I think this kind of reason is usually on gangs, or groups that have the same bases as gangs. 

Gang members with tattoos

Why do young people join gangs? 
There are many reasons why people join gangs. The most usual one is because they need money, and gangs are a source of easy money. Most of the people joining gangs are young persons, and that is what they want: easy money. They join gangs to feel "complete", because they find in gangs a surrogate family, since most of the people joining gangs come from broken families or are excluded from society due to they origins, etc... Most of the people have economic problems and join gangs to solve them by selling drugs, etc.. and to be part of something. They also join gangs to feel adrenaline and to change they way of life: living new experiences, better way of life, new family, etc...

What link can you see between both topics and the notion of power?
In my opinion, the link between both topics and the notion of power is that they both represent power. Basically, gangs are a clear illustration of power because they catch people and they do with them what they want, they use them the way they want to, to achieve their goals. They make young guys use guns and sell drugs, and when they want to get out of these groups they doesn't let them. So, they have to escape, and even though they arrive to go away, gangs can go and kill you. A tattoo can also represent power, since it is a mark that you put on your skin that represent most of the time a hard situation that you have overcome, in this case, the tattoo represents the power that you have managed to get to overcome something.