In United States, having a tattoo has often been negatively viewed, mostly because people connect tattoos with mischievous conduct. In addition, people often mistake those with tattoos as gang related individuals with no jobs or futures. Despite the negative connotations of people with tattoos, permanent body marking such as tattooing reinforces and challenges existing social norms. Whether a person tattoos what they seem as meaningful, others may have conflicting views on this form of body marking (Musambira, Raymond and Hastings, 2016.).

Having tattoos is not limited to one person, race, ethnicity, or social class. Tattoos can be observed in different people across different societies. Despite conflicting view on this form of body modification, many individuals with tattoos are extremely proud of their tattoos and their bodies. Tattoos, to many, are a form of art that serve as the manifestation of one's identity. Based on quantitative and qualitative data, those that get tattooed, do so based on what the individual identify as meaningful. This research observes the differences in the construction, maintenance, and manifestation of identity between Latinos and White Males through the tattoos that such individuals choose to get on their body. Such examples include musical taste, subcultures outside of music, and ideologies.