I’m old enough to have witnessed a startling change of the culture’s position on tattos and body piercings. When I came on active duty in 1975 after graduation from college, the military would not accept any visible tattoos. Now, it’s almost mandatory if one wants to be perceived as rough and tough in the military. Fifty years ago, I never saw a woman with visible tattoos; nowadays they are everywhere . . . and not just with innocous, small butterfly tattoos but with ink covering entire arms, legs and backs. Fifty years ago, I don’t remember seeing any body piercings; now they are prolific, especially among women, and in the most intimate parts of the body.

What are the ethical implications about tattos and body piercings? Very few would question pierced ears. The Christian Research Institute produced a paper in 2024 by Lorne Zelyck on this subject. It is available for download below. They advise that “Believers who are considering tattoos or body piercings first should be led by their consciences, then should consider the effects that such symbols will have on their physical bodies, interpersonal relationships, and spiritual lives.”

Zelyck concludse “If the tattoo or body piercing (1) will not violate your conscience or the conscience of others, (2) will not cause permanent harm or disease to your physical body, (3) will not harm your interpersonal relationships, and (4) is symbolic of a spiritual truth that will benefit your relationship with Christ and your witness to the world, then I believe that it will not desecrate the image of God and you as a Christian are free in Christ to go under the needle.”

For an alternative view, there is an well-researched academic paper here in the Journal of Ethics in 2020 entitled “On the Immorality of Tattoos”. (Access requires a fee or entrance through an Academic institution.) Here is the abstract for the paper: “Tattoos are widely regarded as morally neutral, and the decision to have them as carrying no ethical implications. The aim of this paper is to question this assumption. I argue that (at least some) decisions to have tattoos involve risks that are not merely prudential-they are normative. The argument starts with a thesis that the power we presently have over our lives is constrained by the need to respect our future selves. If we make a discretionary choice that disregards our future interests and preferences, then, under certain circumstances, we can be morally to blame. I argue that certain decisions to get tattoos fit this description. Therefore, getting some tattoos makes us blameworthy.”

Finally, I add some other considerations:

1. Obviously you don’t want to get a tattoo that is vulgar, obscene or blasphemous.
2. Some doctors are concerned about the long-term toxicity of tattoo ink. See here.
3. Tattoos often don’t age well. Ink can fade. If your body changes significantly (i.e., gaining or losing substantial weight) a tattoo can nmorph into something bizarre.
4. More frequently than you might realize, people reach the point where they want to remove a tattoo. Removing a tattoo is much more expensive and far more painful than getting one.