Tatoo is a symbol for a macho man?

Salam,

Photo: Credit GOOGLE

Why do people want to have Tattoo? I know that in some cultures, they have their Traditional Patterns of Tattoos. Maori people in New Zealand and Aborigines in Australia and also some tribes in Sarawak. The tattoos have some meaning in their cultures. But most of people who are not from those groups, they want to have tattoos for personal reasons.

I'm highlighting this because yesterday morning, one of my students came to class with a bleeding arm. At first he didn't want to tell me what really happened. After a while, he showed me his tatooed arm. He did it the day before. When I asked him why he wanted to torture himself, he gave me a weak smile and told me that he thought that having a tattoo will make him look "macho". I couldn't help him that much except for giving him the permission to go to the toilet to wash his arm. Some of his classmates gave him some tissues to dab on his arm.

Now, my question is "Is tattoo a symbol for a macho man"? Do you need to torture yourself just to look macho? It is totally prohibited in Islam and Muslims can't have tattoo because it's HARAM. Some people want to do it to express their love to their loved ones by having a tattoo of their girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband's name on their body.