Silent Storytellers

This book explores the current role of body art in Western Society. The question is whether body art still defines gender roles and social status as it has done in other societies in its history, or if it is simply used to express ones interior thoughts and beliefs? Literature presented in this book studies the framework of Sherif's social judgment theory (1965) concerning public perceptions and evaluation. The study used in this book was informed by Barthes' (1994) idea of semiotics. The idea incorporates the "social production of meaning from sign systems-the analysis of anything that can stand for something." (P. 332) Lastly, signaling theory deals with the idea of symbolic communication and social benefit as it relates to individual strategic action. Together, the three theories guided the book's focus on the factors that come into play when deciding gender roles, social status, symbols, and the meaning that is interpreted from those symbols. The insight from the literature and results of the study conducted lead to the realization of a few things, and this book will guide you through those few things strategically.