Well, personally, I'm very hesitant to jump to conclusions (if you have little time, just scroll down to a
conclusion section) but it seems there's a relevant link between tattoos and risky beahviours (which, I believe, would that risky behaviour be interpreted as a red flag by majority of us). I can provide, as many of us, some cricumstantial evidence, but the power of analysis lies in big, statistical numbers. Let me quote an article from
The Social Science Journal regarding tattoos (and tangentially, body piercings):
Getting inked: Tattoo and risky behavioral involvement among university students:
"The findings from the present study indicate tattooed students engage in risky behaviors at greater rates than their non-tattooed peers. Tattooed students report drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, and using marijuana on a greater number of days than non-tattooed students.
Tattooed students also report significantly greater involvement in oral and sexual intercourse, use of drugs and alcohol before last sexual intercourse, and lower age of first sexual intercourse. This is consistent with previous research that shows body modification is associated with drug abuse and risky sexual behaviors (Brooks et al., 2003, Burger and Finkel, 2002 and Suris et al., 2007). Moreover, findings from Koch et al. (2010) reveal that students with a higher incidence of body art are more likely to report regular marijuana use, occasional use of other illegal drugs, to binge drink and to have multiple sex partners. Koch et al. (2010) report large differences in risky behavior based on the number of tattoos; those with multiple tattoos report higher levels of deviant behavior.
Interestingly, tattooed students are more likely than their peers to use a condom or use birth control during their last sexual intercourse. Limited research has been conducted on associations between tattooing and contraceptive use. In a study of body piercing, Suris et al. (2007) reveal that adolescents with body piercings are more likely than non-pierced adolescents to use condoms during sexual intercourse. Additional studies should be conducted to explore this issue. [...] Future studies should be conducted to explore whether differences exist between students who obtain tattoos during high school and students who obtain tattoos during college, as well as age, grade, and how long individuals had their tattoos. Also, future studies should assess whether associations between tattooing involvement and specific risky behaviors differ between males and females."
What tentative conclusions can we draw?
Do tattoos euqal risky behaviour equal "slutty behaviour"? I think that's too fast. What I mean, it is not the case that tattoos are a causal factor. Having tattoos doesn't make one behave in a risky sexual fashion. That wouldn't make sense - it would be akin to stipulating a causal link between, e.g., having eyes of a colour C, and behaving in a particular way, say having a tendency towards a risky behaviour being blue-eyed (which, actually, can be a complex issue, for you can invoke
self-fulfilling prophecy in the form of
pygmalion effect to induce desired behaviour, ha!). What I think is at play is a different variable that correlates (I'd be very cautious to posit causality, really, within a psychological realm) with some people having tattoos and engaging in a more sensation seeking and risky behaviour (and, in turn, probably, in sexually risky behaviour).
Can we extrapolate those "red flags" of tattoos and piercings towards other undesired (by most males, let's say) behaviours? I think we can, to some degree, by invoking an underlying factor, a more
fundamental variable(s). What is it then?
Before I get down to it, let me preface with a quick disclaimer: I don't think that anyone can (even in principle) give a clear-cut, obvious answer to that question. There will very probably be a compound mix of different proportions of both genetic, epigenetic, social, and other factors . However, what seems to be the case there is a pretty well established positive correlation between good, old fashioned testosterone (and other neurotransmitters) and risk taking.
For the sake of simplicity, let us focus for a moment on testosterone only. It seems to be well established, that the more testosterone an individual produces, the higher the chance (with adequate environmental triggers) this individual will engage in sensation seeking and risk taking behaviour, and this can be observed for both males and females. To back up this assertation, let me quote from
Psychology Today a neat article (bear in mind, as science advances, all those finding are subject to revision) by a renowned psychologist
Marvin Zuckerman at Big Think relating to
sensation seeking behaviour:
Are You a Risk Taker?:
"The greatest risk-takers are young males in their adolescent years -- a fact reflected in their high rates of auto accidents, binge drinking, drug use and pathological gambling. The military has always preferred younger men for soldiers, not only because of their physical strength but for their willingness to risk their lives in combat. Young men of this age are also at their peak on sensation-seeking. And, not surprisingly, they are at their peak in levels of the sex hormone testosterone. Testosterone correlates particularly with the disinhibitory types of sensation-seeking--those associated with drinking, drugs, sex and antisocial behavior. It is also associated with normal traits like dominance, sociability and activity. As testosterone levels drop, men's aggressive, antisocial tendencies begin to mellow. Sensation-seeking scores of men aged 50 to 59 are half those of males aged 16 to 19.
Women also have testosterone, but less of it. Still, the hormone is linked to behaviors in women similar to those in men, such as assertiveness, aggression and sexual arousal.
Another biological correlate of sensation-seeking is the enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO), active in the brain. Monoamine oxidase functions as a regulator, keeping neurotransmitters in balance. It could also contribute to the gender and age differences in sensation-seeking and risk-taking. A form of monoamine oxidase called type B is particularly related to sensation-seeking -- and to regulation of dopamine. The link between MAO and dopamine is notable in light of the fact that the dopamine-4 receptor gene has been connected to sensation-seeking, and another dopamine receptor, D2, has been connected with substance abuse, a particular form of risk-taking behavior. The enzyme monoamine oxidase is low in high-sensation-seekers, implying a lack of regulation. What is more, levels of MAO are known to be higher in women than in men, and MAO levels in brain and in the blood rise with age. Further evidence that MAO is involved in sensation-seeking is that low MAO levels are also found in forms of psychopathology characterized by impulsive tendencies to seek immediate rewards without regard for consequences."
Conclusion
What is my view, then? In short, I would say that to certain relevant degree, risky and sensation seeking behaviour could be in significant way positively correlated, for both males and females, with particular concentrations of testosterone and other neurotransmitters. This risky and sensation seeking behaviour (in game context: more sex partners, more often hook-ups, non-committing) will be more often seen in the environments with adequate environmental triggers - for example, more promiscuous and liberal westerns societies (thus more sex partners), such as USA or Great Britain against non-promiscuous, conservative societies (thus less sex partners), such as South Korea or China. However, I'd stipulate that globalisation with its platform of ubiquitous liberal entertainment (TV programmes, films, social media outlets accessible at any time, anywhere), has significantly made the last two generations share progressively more values of dominant ideologies of capitalism, hyperconsumption and its sexual liberation prevalant regardless of one's geopolitical location. Consequently, similar pattern of behavious can be observed more and more often in individuals of any nation, ethnicity, culture and regardless of their place of residence. After all, at neurobiological level, we are very similar.
If you want to read more on that , whatever the targeted population group, you can find many articles at
Google Scholar as your first port of call.
Bibliography:
King, K. A. & Vidourek, R. A.
Getting Inked.
The Social Science Journal, Vol. 50, Issue 4, pages 540–546 (2013).
Zuckerman, M.
Are You A Risk Taker? Psychology Today, 2000.