TikTok Claims “Tattoos are a Sign of Low Intelligence”

A TikTok creator’s sweeping claim that tattoos are a sign of low intelligence sparked a wider debate about body art, personality and changing social trends, but commentary YouTuber Jack Morgan was not convinced that having tattoos says much about how smart someone is.

Morgan, who hosts the Red Leather Podcast YouTube channel and has several small tattoos himself, reacted to a clip in which a man argued that there is “literally no such thing as a cool tattoo” and suggested that people who permanently mark their bodies are showing an unwillingness to change.

The original creator went even further when discussing tattooed women, claiming without presenting evidence that more tattoos correlate with having more sexual partners. Morgan repeatedly called that a bold claim and said he would want to see actual research before accepting it.

The TikTok Creator Says Tattoos Show People Do Not Change

The man in the original TikTok argued that tattoos are inherently “cringe” because they permanently capture an idea or interest that a person may no longer identify with years later.

In his view, someone who believes the same symbol, image or message will represent them permanently is effectively assuming that their personality and opinions will remain frozen.

“The only people who get tattoos are people who never change,” the creator said, before connecting that idea to immaturity.

He illustrated his point with a story about someone who wanted a guitar tattoo despite apparently not playing guitar or having any deeper connection to the instrument beyond thinking it looked cool when he was younger.

For the creator, that represented the weakness of permanent body art: something that feels meaningful or exciting at one stage of life can later look arbitrary.

There is some logic to the concern about permanence, but it does not really establish anything about intelligence. People make long-term choices about hairstyles, careers, relationships, homes and countless other parts of their lives without knowing exactly how they will feel decades later, and tattoos are simply one more visible example of that uncertainty.

Morgan Rejects The Claim That Tattooed People Are Stupid

Morgan said he personally would not want to be heavily tattooed, but he stopped well short of agreeing that people covered in ink must have lower intelligence.

“I don’t think people with a lot of tattoos are necessarily stupid,” he said. “They just think differently.”

He also challenged the TikTok creator’s claim about tattooed women being more promiscuous, saying he had no idea what evidence would support such a connection.

Morgan admitted that extensive tattoos are not particularly attractive to him personally, especially heavy hand or facial tattoos, but he treated that as a matter of taste rather than proof of someone’s character or intelligence.

That distinction is important because personal preference is easy to confuse with an objective judgment. Someone can dislike tattoos without needing to turn that dislike into a theory about education, morality or sexual behavior.

Morgan repeatedly returned to the idea that the original clip contained “bold claims” that went well beyond what had actually been demonstrated.

He Thinks Tattoos Can Be About Reinventing Yourself

While rejecting the intelligence argument, Morgan did think there may be psychological or social reasons why some people become heavily tattooed.

His main theory was that tattoos can function as a way of changing or reinventing one’s identity.

Morgan said there is often a “look at me” element involved, particularly when someone chooses highly visible tattoos across the neck, hands or face, because those choices fundamentally change how the person appears to everyone around them.

“I really believe there is a because we like to be seen. We like to be validated,” Morgan said, while acknowledging that this does not describe everyone.

He also suggested tattoos can make people feel tougher or more intense, joking that even a group that normally looks harmless could appear considerably more intimidating if everyone suddenly had face tattoos.

In his view, some people simply think body art looks good, while others may use it to create a particular image or mark a personal transformation.

Morgan did not necessarily see anything wrong with that.

“Some people are just built that way,” he said of those willing to commit to large, highly visible tattoos.

Tattoos Have Become So Common They May Be Losing Their Rebellious Image

Morgan also questioned whether tattoos still carry the countercultural meaning they once did.

He noted that tattooed employees are now common in ordinary workplaces and mentioned seeing workers with face tattoos at a restaurant he visits, something that would have been far more unusual in previous generations.

He suggested tattoos may actually be reaching a point where younger people begin seeing them as less rebellious precisely because so many older adults now have them.

Morgan joked that once 50- and 60-year-olds started getting full sleeves, tattoos naturally became less useful as a way for younger people to separate themselves from their parents.

That generational cycle makes sense. Styles that begin as symbols of rebellion often become mainstream, at which point the next generation looks somewhere else for individuality.

One commenter Morgan read expressed exactly that idea, arguing that it may now be “way cooler” to meet someone without tattoos because body art has become so widespread.

Another commenter took the criticism much further and described tattoos as evidence of people trying desperately to create a personality or conversation piece, while others called them a sign of cultural decline.

Morgan did not embrace those harsher interpretations.

The Comment Section Was Just As Divided

Much of the second half of Morgan’s video involved reading viewers’ reactions, which ranged from agreement with the original TikTok to outright mockery of it.

One commenter argued that a better sign of intelligence would be not caring whether someone else has tattoos.

Morgan appeared sympathetic to that position.

Another response said decisions about tattoos are usually driven by “personal style, culture, and artistic taste rather than cognitive ability,” a much narrower explanation than the original claim about intelligence.

Other commenters argued that tattoo culture is based on conformity rather than individuality because many people choose the same designs from catalogs or follow whatever style happens to be popular.

Morgan conceded there was something interesting about that point.

Although tattoos are often presented as unique forms of self-expression, he noted that many people do choose nearly identical images or traditional designs.

He contrasted that with his own small tattoos, which he said were largely things he had drawn himself, although he made clear that he was not claiming this made his choices somehow superior.

Even originality does not settle the question. Someone can select a common design simply because they like it, just as another person can invent a completely unique tattoo that later turns out to be a terrible idea.

Morgan Says The Debate Is “Not That Deep”

By the end, Morgan settled on a much less dramatic conclusion than the TikTok creator.

He believes tattoos can be about identity, attention, fashion, reinvention or simply looking more intimidating, but he does not think having them automatically makes someone unintelligent.

“It’s not that deep, bro,” Morgan said.

He also acknowledged that he likes certain styles, including older Sailor Jerry-type designs, even if he personally would not cover himself in them.

The original TikTok tried to turn body art into a broad statement about intelligence, maturity and even sexual behavior, while Morgan treated those claims with considerably more skepticism.

That is probably the stronger position because there is a major difference between noticing patterns in fashion and claiming those patterns reveal something as complicated as intelligence.

People get tattoos for countless reasons, from memory and culture to aesthetics, rebellion, grief or simple impulse. Some regret them, others collect them for decades, and many barely think about them after a while.

Morgan’s conclusion was ultimately much simpler: heavily tattooed people may be expressing something about how they want to be seen, but that does not mean their intelligence can be read from their skin.