| Tattoos have served as rites of passage, marks of status and rank, symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, decorations for bravery, sexual lures and marks of fertility, pledges of love, punishment, amulets and talismans, protection, and as the marks of outcasts, slaves and convicts. The symbolism and impact of tattoos varies in different places and cultures, sometimes with unintended consequences. For example shamrock tattoos are believed to belong exclusively to the Aryan Brotherhood (within their range of the US prison system), but on the streets of America a shamrock tattoo can stand for whatever the wearer wants it to.
Today, people choose to be tattooed for cosmetic, sentimental/memoial, religious, and magical reasons, and to symbolize their belonging to or identification with particular groups (see Criminal tattoos). Tattoos of favorite bands and football teams' logos are fairly common in the west.[citation needed] Some Māori still choose to wear intricate mko on their faces. In Laos, Camboia, and Thailand, the yantratattoo is used for protection.
Now tattoos are used more as expressions of character. People find that being able to put what they find important in their lives on themselves for others to see is part of their freedom of speech.
People have also been forcibly tattooed for a various reasons. The best known is the ka-tzetnik identification system for Jews in part of the concentration camps during the Holocaust. European sailors were known to tattoo the crucifixin on their backs to prevent flogging (since it was a crime to deface an image of Christ)[citaton needed].
Tattoos are also placed on animals, though very rarely for decorative reasons. Pets, show animals, thoroughbred horses and livestock are sometimes tattooed with identification and other marks. Pet dogs and cats are often tattooed with a serial number (usually in the ear, or on the inner thigh) via which their owners can be identified. In Australia, the symbol Φ is tattooed in the ears of cats and dogs to indicate that they have been spayed or neutered.[citation needed] Also, animals are occasionally tattooed to prevent sunburn (on the nose, for example). Such tattoos are often performed by a veterinarian and in most cases the animals are anaesthetized during the process. Branding is used for similar reasons and is often performed without anaesthesia, but is different from tattooing as no ink or dye is inserted during the process.
When used as a form of cosmetics, tattooing includes permanent makeup, and hiding or neutralizing skin discolorations. Permanent makeup are tattoos that enhance eyebrows, lips (liner or lipstick), eyes (liner), and even moles, usually with natural colors as the designs are intended to resemble makeup.
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