According to a recent poll, only 6% of Russian women ever had tattoos, and 1% of them removed it. Among males, 20% of respondents had body art and 2% of them got rid of it.
Let’s find out what is going on in the department of images on skin in Russia and what locals think about it.
Tattoos and body art in Russia
Photos in social networks reveal that Russian are not shying away from embracing the recent trend on body art. But how many people have it?
A recent WCIOM poll says that the share of devotees of body art is much higher among Russia’s males as compared to females.
- 18% of male and 5% of female respondents reported having tattoos, with additional 2% and 1% respectively stating they used to have one.
- The average number of tattoos per person is only 2.
- 4% of respondents said they plan to make another tattoo in the next few years, while 96% of them do not.
What is missing in the results that were made available by WCIOM is the share of adepts by age. We could guess that the majority of those who jumped on the trend are under the age of 30, but there is no way to check it. The complete data that was released by the research centre is included below in tables.
Previously in Russia, only people who served in navy or were incarcerated came back home with blue paintings on the skin. Now it’s not just the blue ink but any colour and style possible that citizens of Russia display in warm weather.
Why people do it?
Most of the survey takers stated they decided to have a tattoo because of being young or silly (59%). 33% of respondents said it was done in the army: Apparently, they are males, as service in the army is only compulsory for men.
4% of survey takers did it because it’s fashionable, and another 4% opted for body art as a symbol of their views.
35% of the people having body art would like to remove it.
When asked about the meaning of tattoos, people mostly see them as the desire to be different from others (42%), just a fashion trend (38%), or the sign of the person having been incarcerated (34%). 13% of respondents believe it’s the desire to embellish oneself and 10% view it as a stamp of being part of a certain group.
Some respondents also view tattoos as the desire to demonstrate strength (6%) or stupidity (7%).
Only 2% of respondents support people who have tattoos, while 13% view them “with understanding”. 12% of survey takers are condemning people having body art, while 15% “do not understand” them. 58% of respondents are indifferent to people having or not having body art.
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I don’t have anything against tattoos and they can look very impressive on men as well as on women. I don’t understand why some people judge those who have them. They are doing this to their own bodies, they have all rights for it. Everybody jsut need to be more tolerable.