Is Tattooing Still Rebellion — or Has It Gone Corporate?

Depends who’s holding the Tattoo machine.

Once upon a time, tattoos were for outlaws, sailors, queers, punks, and outsiders. Now? You can get a minimalist micro heart in a white-walled studio between Pilates and brunch.

Tattooing went mainstream — and that’s not necessarily bad. But it does mean we need to talk about what rebellion looks like when rebellion gets monetized.

The Corporate Polishing of Pain

The industry’s been scrubbed clean — beige branding, influencer marketing. Suddenly, rebellion is aestheticized. Pain is packaged. Every experience gets turned into content.

That’s not rebellion. That’s capitalism wearing eyeliner.

Rebellion Isn’t About Who You Are — It’s About Why You’re Doing It

You don’t need to be a biker or a convict for your tattoo to mean something radical. Getting tattooed is still rebellion when it’s about autonomy. When it’s about taking ownership of your body in a world that keeps trying to regulate it.

Every queer person, every woman, every person who’s ever been told what their body “should” look like — getting tattooed anyway? That’s rebellion.

The Bottom Line

Tattooing isn’t dead. It’s just changed its clothes. At GRIM, we tattoo with the spirit it started from — bold, political, personal, unapologetic.

If your tattoo still makes someone uncomfortable, congratulations: you’re doing it right.