When Millie Gignac walked into A-1 Tattoo Co. on Robert Street in St. Paul one day last fall to choose a rose design from the look book for her first tattoo, she doesn't recall feeling nervous.
"The man who was going to do it looked a little surprised," she said. "But a group of guys who walked in later looked at me and gave a big thumbs-up."
Gignac, of Eagan, is 89. Her interest in tattoos might have seemed remarkable even 10 years ago, but no more.
What used to be a symbol of hard-life rebellion for sailors, inmates and bikers became a niche urban-hipster fad in the 1980s. Since then, it has spread to the masses like spilled ink.
Getting a tat has become a rite of passage for tweens and teens; girls now go to get their first butterfly tattoo at the age their mothers got their ears pierced. Parents have newborns' names etched on their biceps or ankles. Two reality-TV shows, "L.A. Ink" and "Miami Ink," are about the goings-on at tattoo studios. There's even a children's book titled "Mommy Has a Tattoo."
"Getting a tattoo is just something I've always wanted to do; I've seen so many pretty ones," said Gignac, a former benefits director for Sperry Univac, founder of its retirees club and a volunteer for Dakota County social services and the Minnesota Historical Society. "At my age, I thought I'd better get going. After I got mine, the gal next door got one, too, on her back."
Thirty-six percent of Americans ages 18 to 35 have at least one tattoo, according to a 2007 study by the Pew Research Center. Tats have been so warmly embraced by the mainstream that true enthusiasts have to cover their whole bodies and get multiple piercings to proclaim their uniqueness.
Since the 1950s, when we were all encouraged to look as much the same as possible, American culture has shifted toward a focus on customizing ourselves through body modification, from cosmetic surgery to tattoos and piercings. The result: Tattoos, once symbols of rebellion, are fashion for the masses.