Background and Objective: Tattooing has become widespread across various social groups, and displaying tattoos in public has become common. Tattoo is perceived with heightened sensitivity, particularly in contexts characterized by a blend of traditional and modern elements. Shiraz, as Iran’s third religious capital, provides an ideal setting for studying tattoo. Thus, this research aims to study tattooing in the social context of Shiraz to gain insight into the lives of tattooed people.

Methods and Data: This study employed a qualitative approach based on Grounded Theory. Seventeen tattooed individuals were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding.

Findings: Data coding led to the identification of six categories. Physical-psychological benefits, and aesthetic sensibilities, constitute the causal conditions for tattooing. Normalization as the contextual condition. Significant others as the intervening condition. Struggle and argumentation are the strategies. Finally, contradictory outcomes as the consequences of tattoo.

Discussion and Conclusion: The findings gave rise to a core: Tattooing as a tool for identity and resistance. Within the social context of Shiraz—individuals draw on the structures of metropolitan life to assert themselves and engage in self-repair, deriving a sense of empowerment from their tattoos. However, because of the city’s traditional fabric, they simultaneously encounter numerous social restrictions when dealing with institutional structures and official discourses, thereby experiencing this contradiction more intensely.