This thesis has been approved by The Honors Tutorial College and the Department of Art History __________________________ Dr. Jennie Klein, Art History Thesis Adviser ___________________________ Dr. Jennie Klein, Director of Studies, Art History ___________________________ Dr. Donal Skinner Dean, Honors Tutorial College SHE INKED! WOMEN IN AMERICAN TATTOO CULTURE ____________________________________ A Thesis Presented to The Honors Tutorial College Ohio University _______________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation from the Honors Tutorial College with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Art History ______________________________________ by Jessica Xiao Jin Long May 2020 ABSTRACT In my thesis, I trace the niche that women have created for themselves in the tattoo community, with a focus on the United States. I discuss the relationship between increasing visibility for women in the tattoo industry and the shift in women’s status in American culture. My study concludes with contemporary tattooed women, including prominent female tattoo artists, collectors, and media personalities. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: TATTOOS AND THE WOMEN WHO WEAR THEM 1-2 LITERATURE REVIEW 3-12 CH 1. FOUNDING FEMALES: THE TATTOOED LADIES 13-41 DIME MUSEUMS 15-18 THE FIRST TATTOOED LADIES 19-27 SELF-MADE FREAKS 27-30 THE CARNIVAL FREAK SHOW 30-34 NEW TATTOOED WOMEN 34-38 CONTINUING INFLUENCES 38-40 CH 2. FEMINISM AND RENAISSANCE 42-77 VIOLENCE AND MASCULINITY 46-52 TECHNICAL TRANSFORMATIONS 52-57 TATTOOS AS FINE ART 57-61 CELEBRITIES AND COUNTERCULTURE 61-64 THE SECOND WAVE 64-69 TATTOOING FEMINISM 69-74 CH 3. MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 78-119 PUNK TRIBALISM 80-86 END OF THE CENTURY ARTISTS 86-88 MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE 89-94 TATTOO MAGAZINES 95-97 MODERN PRIMITIVES 98-103 MAGAZINE MADNESS & INKED COVER GIRLS 103-107 TATTOOS ON TV 107-112 SEXUALITY AND STARDOM 112-116 CH 4. TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 120-143 CAPITALIZING ON THE ALTERNATIVE 120-127 TATTOO COLLECTORS 127-131 TATTOO INFLUENCERS 131-141 CONCLUSION: WOMEN IN THE NEW MILLENIUM, ARTISTS IN THE DIGITAL AGE 144-148 REFERENCES 151 LIST OF FIGURES* *All images presented were photographed by the author, and written permission was granted for the use of included images in this thesis. FIG I: WOMAN BEING TATTOOED BY ALEXANDRA FISCHE 12 FIG II: WOMAN BEING TATTOOED BY CERVENA FOX 75 FIG III: PIN-UP CONTEST CONTESTANTS 148 FIG IV: SARAH GIACALONE, TATTOO ARTIST 149 FIG V: AMY BERNADETTE, TATTOO ARTIST 149 FIG VI: APRIL STEAD, TATTOO ARTIST 149 FIG VII: ASHLEY LUZANO, TATTOO ARTIST 149 FIG VIII: ALITA DI FERRARI, TATTOO ARTIST 150 FIG IX: ABBY ESTES, TATTOO ARTIST 150 FIG X: NYCHELLE ELISE, TATTOO ARTIST 150 FIG XI: RACHEL HELMICH, TATTOO ARTIST 150 INTRODUCTION: TATTOOS AND THE WOMEN WHO WEAR THEM I assert that women have carved out a unique female tattoo community in contemporary America that encourages personal expression and opposes normative ideals. Through the lenses of feminism and commodification, I will examine women’s changing role in American counterculture, specifically their growing participation in the tattoo industry. I will explore the development of female tattoo culture through the 20th century, culminating with studies of contemporary tattooed women, including prominent female tattoo artists and heavily tattooed public figures. I highlight tattooed individuals and female tattoo artists as a mode of examining the tattoo industry and tracing the shifts in attitudes towards females in the tattoo industry and pop culture at large. My research begins with early 20th century circus and sideshow performers, as this was the first female movement towards tattoo culture in postcolonial America. The entrepreneurial women who endured the hardships of the early tattoo industry paved the way for a boom in the 1960s and 70s, coinciding with the feminist and civil rights movements. Women of all classes turned to tattoos as a way of expressing their newfound control over their bodies, and continued to do so through the end of the end of the 20th century. During the 1980s and 90s, tattoo focused magazines, books, and television shows were created to connect tattoo enthusiasts and reduce the stigma of tattooing in America by increasing its visibility and artistic merit. At the same time, the cooptation of youth subcultures brought tattooing into the realm of fashion, and the commodification of the tattoo industry made tattooing more appealing to the middle class. The tattoo industry, and the women within it, experienced a great shift, as body modifications were launched into popular culture. The commodification and TATTOOS AND THE WOMEN WHO WEAR THEM 1 commercialization of the tattoo continued into the 21st century, hastened by the availability of the internet. This most recent boom in the tattoo culture has made tattoos a precious commodity, a marker of wealth, and a symbol of desirability. I am especially interested in contemporary tattoo culture, and how women now have more opportunities in the industry, but still face many of the same stigmas and stereotypes of the past. Body modifications in the west have historically been associated with the lower class, delinquent, and hyper masculine. Tattooed women, therefore, faced extreme hardships to prove that they can withstand the pain of receiving tattoos and have the artistic abilities to become tattoo artists themselves. By combining biographical information on the women in the American tattoo industry with a feminist critique of the industry and tattoos in popular culture, I hope to both emphasize the importance of these women, who are often left out of traditional tattoo histories, and provide a narrative explanation of the current state of American tattoo culture. My goal is to increase the acceptance of tattoo art in the fine arts discourse, and provide updated information and perspectives on the tattoo industry. The research will extend the scope of feminist theory, body performativity, and commodification. By examining females in the tattoo industry, I will be observing recent phenomenon untouched by art historians. Namely, I will introduce the role of the internet influencer into academic discourse, and explain their contributions to the tattoo industry. I hope that my thesis explains a general trend in America towards accepting body modifications and encourages female participation in historically masculine industries. TATTOOS AND THE WOMEN WHO WEAR THEM 2 LITERATURE REVIEW As one of my goals is to highlight the female tattoo community, it is important to note the lack of academic focus that tattooed women receive in the field of art history. Much of my research relied on sociological or archeological journals or publications that largely ignored women in tattoo history. I was only able to find two books that focus on the impact that women had in developing the tattoo industry, and a small number of recently published articles. My research extends the scope of this limited research, and provides more theoretical and analytical discourse to the discussion of women in tattoo culture. My work is more academic in nature than the two publications focusing on tattooed women, and I hope that my research will encourage other academics to pursue this unique and far-reaching topic. The text that inspired my research topic was Bodies of Subversion, by Margot Mifflin, which recounts the numerous women artists and influential figures who were largely ignored in published histories of tattooing in the west.1 Her book is formatted chronologically, highlighting the periods when women were the most influential in the tattoo industry. The first edition of Bodies of Subversion was published in 1997, and subsequent editions were released in 2001 and 2013. However, the tattoo industry has rapidly expanded in the last 7 years, and her discussions on tattooing in the 21st century is already outdated. Additionally, Mifflin’s research provides more of a catalog than an analysis of women in tattoo history. While her writing aims to bring attention to the large number of women who were excluded from tattoo discourse, my work is more focused on analyzing the impact of specific women in the tattoo industry. Another author, Amelia Klem Osterud, focuses on the careers of late 19th and TATTOOS AND THE WOMEN WHO WEAR THEM 3 early 20th century tattooed ladies, who performed in circuses, dime museums, and sideshows. Her book The Tattooed Lady informed much of my first chapter, which highlights tattooed women during this period.2 Osterud discusses how tattooing came to the west, the ways that women became engaged in the early tattoo industry, and the economic stability that tattooing allowed women. Her discussion is more analytical than Mifflin’s, providing information on the colonialist, sexist, and classist ideologies that impacted tattooed women. I often reference and utilize her analysis, and extend her topics of interest into the later 20th and 21st century. To recount the history of the tattoo industry in the west, including stylistic and technological innovations, public perceptions, and notable trends, I utilized both primary and secondary sources that impacted the discourse surrounding tattooing. Robert Bogdan’s Freak Show, provided most of the information regarding circus culture, the development and popularity of the freak, and the history of displaying tattooed people in the west.3 This overview of freak show culture allowed me to position tattooed ladies in the context of the American circus. Bogdan provides information and analysis of the institutions that exhibited freaks, the types of people exhibited in freak shows, the treatment of various types of freaks, and the development of the freak industry from dime museums to travelling sideshows. In Marks of Civilization, Arnold Rubin provides a broader history of tattooing, including nonwestern histories and perspectives.4 Because of the large scope of information presented, I was unable to utilize much of Rubin’s work. However, this text provides the best detailed history and analysis of the Tattoo Renaissance, one of the main focuses of my second chapter.