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. Published in 1988, Marks of Civilization was on the cusp

TATTOOS AND THE WOMEN WHO WEAR THEM 4

of tattoo research, and remains a primary source for scholars studying the history of tattooing. In Rubin’s final chapter, he describes how the tattoo industry in the west rejected its middle-class roots and colonialist history to form a new, separate, fine arts tattoo community. This information was integral in framing how women interacted with the tattoo industry between the 1950s and 70s. While neglecting to highlight many notable female artists and celebrities that impacted tattoo culture throughout the Tattoo

Renaissance, Rubin’s work provided a great deal of information on how women were treated in the tattoo industry throughout the mid 20th century.

I consider Margo DeMello’s Bodies of Inscription the most comprehensive and relevant history of tattooing in the west.5 Her book is divided into topics of analysis, including community, colonial histories, changing public perceptions, contemporary discourse and media, and personal narratives. In her discussion of the Tattoo

Renaissance, she provided more information and analysis than Rubin, especially concerning women’s experiences. Published in 2000, more than a decade after Rubin’s first mention of the Tattoo Renaissance, Bodies of Inscription also updates and expands on the progression of the fine arts tattoo industry, and its increasing presence in American popular culture and media. In her fourth chapter, “Discourse and Differentiation,”

DeMello describes how the Tattoo Renaissance improved the public perception of tattooing, and encouraged the production of magazines and television shows focused on tattooing. Unlike the majority of tattoo histories, DeMello is sure to highlight women who impacted the history of tattooing, and provide feminist analysis where appropriate.

One of the primary sources that I both utilize and analyze is Modern Primitives, a book published by RE/search, an organization dedicated to exploring underground

TATTOOS AND THE WOMEN WHO WEAR THEM 5

political and cultural topics.6 Released in 1989, this book utilized interviews with notable artists to reveal the history of body modifications in America, as well as promote a neo- primitive lifestyle. The people interviewed include tattoo artists, performance artists, musicians, and spiritual leaders who had an impact on the development of the Modern

Primitive community, neo-tribal aesthetics, and the tattoo industry. However, the interviews reveal more about the ideologies and biases of the Modern Primitive community than the history of tattooing, and I utilize the text as a primary source to understand the state of tattooing in the 1980s and early 90s. One of the most interesting perspectives I gathered from the text was the Modern Primitives’ denial that their work was appropriative. Recent scholarship argues against this notion, and instead points to the

Modern Primitives as a source of influence that revived appropriative styles and practices.

Similarly, Grace Neutral’s web series Needles and Pins attempts to provide a comprehensive history of tattooing across the globe, but reveals more about the state of the contemporary tattoo community and the way body modifications are perceived today.7 Neutral, a young British tattoo artist, travels to six cities where tattooing is a large topic of interest, positive and negative. Her episode in Las Vegas exposes the commodification and commercialization of the tattoo industry in the west, while her trips to Asia reveal the stigma that tattoos carry in the east. Other episodes attempt to provide histories of specific tattoo techniques and rituals, including Chicano tattooing in LA and traditional Ta Moko tattooing in New Zealand. Neutral is excellent at being inclusive in her interviews and studies, including working class and feminist perspectives that are often ignored. The accessibility, entertainment value, and inclusivity of Needles and Pins

TATTOOS AND THE WOMEN WHO WEAR THEM 6

reflect the state of the tattoo industry today, and reveal the changing ideologies that affect the way tattooed people interact with the world.

In forming my analyses and providing cultural context, I utilized a variety of resources in the field of sociology. I would like to reiterate, though, that I emphasize the presence of tattooing in the artistic field, and consider these sources a framework for understanding the way that tattoo artists are perceived within the fine arts discourse and popular culture. Underlying all of my research is an understanding of gender, class, and body performativity, artistic practices outlined by Judith Butler. In her groundbreaking essay, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution,” published in 1988, Butler asserts that gender, and subsequently class and other societal categorizations, are performative.

Performative identities consist of a series of acts that portray prescribed labels to a social audience, and are forced upon individuals by normative society. Therefore, by performing conventional identities, one reinforces the categorizations that limit what is considered acceptable in society. Following this ideology, I believe that becoming tattooed expands the scope of what is considered performing femininity, and breaks down barriers separating gender, class, and social norms. Since the publication of

“Performative Acts and Gender Construction,” Butler has written numerous additional essays and books clarifying and expanding on her notions of performativity. Her theories on performativity have become accepted staples of sociological and artistic discourse.

Another text that I rarely cite, but utilize as a foundation for my analyses is

Rosemarie Garland Thomson’s Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in

American Culture and Literature8. Originally published in 1997 and updated in 2017,

Thomson’s book was the first major critical study of cultural representations and

TATTOOS AND THE WOMEN WHO WEAR THEM 7

perceptions of physical disability, which encompassed all non-normative body structures.

Her insight was especially helpful for my analysis of tattooed performers in freak shows, but also helped me conceptualize the lack of accurate information most Americans had about tattooing throughout the 20th century. Thomson’s other publications, including

Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body (1996) and Staring: How We

Look (2009) also provided insight on the ways that tattooed people were displayed, perceived, objectified, and condemned by American mass culture and society.9 However, the sociological nature of these books resulted in little artistic analysis, which I try to include more of in my own work.

Published in 2003, Michael Atkinson’s Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art, is one of the most relevant and thorough sociological analysis of tattoos in contemporary culture.10 He describes the development of tattooing as a medium among different social classes, the production and reception of tattoo-focused media, and the personality structures and habits that exist within the tattoo industry. Atkinson’s information on tattoos in the media were extremely helpful in conducting my criticisms of the sexualization, commodification, and commercialization of tattoos in the west. He addresses issues of gender and class performativity, the consumption of various entertainment mediums, and the formations of individual personality and community.

Although his specific examples are focused on the Canadian tattoo industry, his discussions and analyses address tattoo culture throughout North America.

Mindy Fenske, however, limits her study of tattoo culture to the United States in

Tattoos in American Visual Culture.11 Fenske’s book is concerned both with the production and reception of tattoo-focused media and the way that tattoos are portrayed

TATTOOS AND THE WOMEN WHO WEAR THEM 8

in mainstream music, television, and fashion. She lays framework for her analyses by beginning with a discussion of performativity, then discusses tattoos in relation to class, gender, and multiculturalism, asserting that tattooing performs different functions within each of these identities. I agree with her assessments of how tattoos adhere to and subvert normative performances of these identities, and attempt to combine these ideas into an inclusive and intersectional analysis.

Rather than focusing on tattoos in the media, Clinton R. Sanders and D. Angus

Vale analyze the community aspects of the tattoo industry in Customizing the Body: The

Art and Culture of Tattooing, published in 1989.12 Their topics of conversation include the perception of beauty within the tattoo community, the psychological implications and effects of becoming a tattooed person, the changing social practices between tattoo artists and clients, and the public interactions that tattoos incite. Sanders and Vale’s publication is one of the few to address not only the process of creating a fine arts tattoo industry during the Tattoo Renaissance, but the continuing acceptance of tattooing in the fine arts.

In addition to my literary research, I travelled to two tattoo conventions to speak with active tattoo artists and community members and to observe the state of the tattoo industry for myself. I limited my interviews to women tattoo artists with booths set up at the conventions, and got written permission to have their words and photographs included in my research. Due to my limited funding, my research was restricted to conventions in the Midwest, and I was only able to go to two out of the four conventions that I planned to attend. However, my experiences at both tattoo conventions were similar, and allowed me to identify general trends within the contemporary tattoo community, at least in the Midwest. Overall, my first-hand research has supported my

TATTOOS AND THE WOMEN WHO WEAR THEM 9

claims that the tattoo industry is in the process of becoming more diverse and inclusive, while attempting to address its multitude of histories.

I attended the Cleveland Tattoo Arts Convention in February 2020, and the

Pittsburgh Tattoo Expo: Bleed Black and Gold in March 2020. Each weekend consisted of a variety of performances, tattoo competitions, and conversations that granted me access to the inner world of the elite tattoo community. I was shocked to find a large number of female attendees and artists, many of whom denied feeling ostracized or harassed within the tattoo industry. Cara Leiby, a tattoo artist working out of Total

Immortal Tattoos in Loraine, Ohio says that she was attracted to the tattoo industry because “everyone was themselves.” I was inspired by the amount of passion and creativity that these female artists presented. Sarah Giacalone, who tattoos out of Electric

Chair Tattoo in Flint, Michigan, explains, “I’ve never felt true love, but the closest I’ve gotten is my love for tattoos.” Similarly, Rachel Helmich, who has been tattooing for 19 years, states, “when I’m not doing mom work it’s all business or art,” revealing the level of commitment that many female tattoo artists share.

Additionally, many women tattoo artists have developed their own feminine styles that attract majority female clients, despite the sexism and masculine expectations that still linger. April Stead, who has been tattooing for over 10 years across the east coast, developed her tattooing style from her mother’s feminine tastes, and estimates her clientele is about 75% female. Alita De Ferrari, who tattoos out of Equilatera in Miami,

Florida, strives for “elegance” in her tattoos, and appreciates the growing number of women artists embracing a feminine aesthetic. Mikayla Brooke, who works at Reflection

Room Tattoo Co. in Avon Lake, Ohio, estimates that her clientele is “90 percent female,”

TATTOOS AND THE WOMEN WHO WEAR THEM 10

and asserts that the only opposition she has faced in the industry has been from male clients. Numerous interviews revealed that it is no longer the male tattoo artists that are being unsupportive, but male clients. Hope Gallery, from Pittsburgh, PA, refrains from posting images of herself on social media because of the objectifying attention that other female artists receive, making her feel left out of the “boys club” and a victim of the

“male energy” that still pervades the tattoo community. Ashley Luzano agrees, stating that the majority of her online attention is from men, not necessarily interested in booking a tattoo appointment. This issue was made extremely apparent during the performances and competitions held at the conventions. The cameramen focused most of their attention on provocatively dressed women, and performers, including legendary body artist The

Enigma, made sexist jokes about their wives, women in the audience, and femininity in general. Only one announcer made a point to address the growing community of tattooed women, during a Pin-Up contest that was organized like a beauty pageant.

By conducting literary research first, I was able to form concrete opinions and expectations about what I would find in the contemporary tattoo community. My observational research confirms my initial assumptions that a distinct female tattoo community is forming, but is slow to develop within an industry that is still struggling to distance itself from a history of deviance and appropriation. I was pleasantly surprised to find a large number of female artists and attendees at both conventions, but shocked at the amount of sexist dialogue that was still tolerated. I hope that my research brings to light the social developments that have shaped the contemporary tattoo industry and the issues that remain unsolved regarding women in the tattoo community.

TATTOOS AND THE WOMEN WHO WEAR THEM 11

Figure I: WOMAN BEING TATTOOED BY ALEXANDRA FISCHE, CLEVELAND TATTOO ARTS CONVENTION, FEBRUARY 2020

1 Margot Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo (Brooklyn: PowerHouse, 2013). 2 Amelia Klem. Osterud, The Tattooed Lady: A History (Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2014). 3 Robert Bogdan, Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990). 4 Arnold Rubin, Marks of Civilization: Artistic Transformations of the Human Body (California: California University Press, 1988). 5 Margo DeMello and Gayle S. Rubin, Bodies of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community (Durham: Duke University Press, 2000). 6 V. Vale and Andrea Juno, Modern Primitives: An Investigation of Contemporary Adornment & Ritual (San Francisco, CA: Re/Search Publication, 1989). 7 Grace Neutral, Needles and Pins, Vice TV (Vice Media Group, 2016). 8 Rosemarie Garland Thomson, Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1997). 9 Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body (New York: New York University Press, 1996); Staring: How We Look (Oxford University Press, 2009). 10 Michael Atkinson, Tattooed: the Sociogenesis of Body Art (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003). 11 M. Fenske, Tattoos in American Visual Culture (Place of publication not identified: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). 12 Clinton Sanders and D. Angus. Vail, Customizing the Body: The Art and Culture of Tattooing (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008).

TATTOOS AND THE WOMEN WHO WEAR THEM 12

CHAPTER 1: FOUNDING FEMALES: THE TATTOOED LADIES

The contemporary female tattoo community empowers women around the world to assert control over their bodies. To understand the development of female tattoo culture, it is necessary to go back to the period between the 1880s to 1940s in America to analyze the careers and social reception of the earliest performing tattooed women. In what follows, I trace the development of the nascent American female tattoo community that formed during the late Victorian era to create a foundation for understanding how we have arrived at the current state of female tattoo culture. I argue that the dime museum and freak show community fostered a subculture of “freaks,” that allowed some working- class women, who were willing to be extensively tattooed, to have economic and social liberties that were not available to most women at that time. These early pioneers made the current female tattoo community possible.

The term tattooed lady is used to refer to women who were tattooed for the distinct purpose of being displayed in cultural exhibits in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. Their motives were economic rather than aesthetic, as they stood to make a great deal of money by being displayed along with other “freaks.” The term freak, at the time, described any unusual thing, but the popularity of the freak show redefined the word to refer to genetic or cultural abnormality.1 Working class women who were willing to become made-freaks through getting tattooed gained access to economic and social liberties that were not accessible to most women then.

Tattooed ladies transgressed many class and gender norms of the time. There were two waves of tattooed ladies. The first group became famous as exhibits in the dime

FOUNDING FEMALES 13

museums. Dime museums were popular urban establishments that housed artifacts and performances, but their reputation declined towards the end of the 19th century. Women such as Irene Woodward, Nora Hildebrandt, and Anne Howard established the tattooed woman as a symbol of exotic and erotic desire. They began their careers in urban dime museums, but many went on to perform across the country and abroad in freak shows associated with circuses and travelling carnivals. Freak shows are any group of exhibits that display living beings that are on the cusp of society, whether because of a physical anomaly, a cultural difference, or another ostracizing factor. Once the tradition of displaying tattooed women became a staple of the freak show and an icon of American pop culture, more women were able to find economic independence and take control of their bodies through becoming tattooed. The second group rose to prominence after the fall of the dime museum and the rise of the traveling carnival and circus freak show. This group of early 20th century iconic tattooed ladies includes Lady Viola, Betty Broadbent, and Miss Artoria. The period also saw women engaging with the other side of the tattoo industry and becoming tattoo artists themselves. By the first part of the 20th century, tattooed ladies and female tattoo artists had more personal choice in their tattoo designs and in their lifestyle choices. Tattooed ladies personified 20th century fears of feminine agency, and the public couldn’t get enough of these women. As turn of the century

Americans attempted to grapple with the changing world around them and their collective identity in an age of colonization and industrialization, the freak show provided an easily accessible form of both cultural education and entertainment. I’ve selected these women exemplify the various ways that women were presented in freak shows and the degrees of success that tattooed women could achieve by displaying their tattoos.

FOUNDING FEMALES 14

DIME MUSEUMS

Art and culture museums were already well established in American cities, but dime museums were marketed towards working class people, economically accessible, and more lively than traditional museums. With the construction of the transcontinental railroad, “America’s consumer culture flourished into a new religion of materialism and excess.” 2 An increase in disposable income and the growing social interest in a balanced lifestyle, including leisure and entertainment, allowed fairs and museums to flourish.

Within these entertainment spaces, exhibits presented the ‘correct view of the world’ amongst the various sources of information and fiction available to the American public.

What began as strings of individual cultural displays were organized into dime museums, buildings in central urban locations that stored living and nonliving artifacts of culture.

PT Barnum’s American Museum established what was the first of many dime museums, called so because of its accessible price of ten cents. With rooms dedicated to relics, waxworks, live artifacts, and theatrical performances, dime museums were primarily advertised as educational centers. PT Barnum founded the American Museum in 1841, the first institutional commercial success of displaying physical and cultural differences in the United States. The building previously housed museum artifacts and was used as an educational center, but featured primarily taxidermy animals and wax figures. Barnum brought plays, living artifacts, and shocking performers, and was rewarded with immense success and fame. In the American Museum, one of Barnum’s first onstage hits was a moralistic play, The Drunkard, an “archetypal temperance drama,” that displayed the immoral outcomes of imbibing.3 Barnum’s first group of human curiosities included an albino family, dwarfs, and a bearded lady, and quickly became the nation’s most famous

FOUNDING FEMALES 15

freak troupe. Emulating Barnum’s example, dime museums in cities across the US displayed living cultural specimens like “Aztecs,” people with microcephaly, and black people with extreme features who were said to be “evolutionary in-betweens.”4 At dime museums, including The American Museum, Bunnell’s Museum, and Hubert’s Museum in New York City, Robinson’s Museum and theater in New Orleans, Kimball’s Museum in Boston, and Peale’s Museum in Baltimore, audiences enjoyed the family friendly educational exhibits and the entertaining narratives and performances that accompanied them.5 At the same time, inherent fears of the unknown and the “other,” coinciding with western expansion and global colonialism, were subdued as cultural anomalies could be studied at a safe distance. By combining the entertaining aspects of theater with the exotic specimens of the “democratic versions of the eighteenth-century scientist’s cabinet of curiosities,” dime museums grew throughout the 19th century as urban centers of working and middle class culture.6

Dime museum audiences could revisit their favorite exhibits by purchasing photographs and pamphlets as souvenirs. These and other small trinkets were sold near each exhibit, but the photograph was by far the most popular purchase. According to

Rachel Adams, “the camera’s paradoxical capacity to document reality and to deceive the eye made it an ideal device for the representation of freaks, creatures jointly born of biology, fantasy, and commerce” and were very popular among middle class audiences who collected photographs like postcards.7 The pamphlets, also called pitch books, consisted of a short biography, a recount of the exhibit’s history and reception, a description of the performer’s physical condition, often written by a medical doctor, and endorsements from notable individuals who could attest to the authenticity and propriety

FOUNDING FEMALES 16

of the exhibit.8 For those claiming to come from an exotic land, a description of the geography, natural inhabitants, and history of exploration was included to situate the exhibit, and further establish the educational value of the museum.9 Some more extensive pitch books included illustrations, writings, and poetry from the living specimen themselves. Of course, much of the information presented in these souvenirs was exaggerated, if not completely fabricated, to enhance the entertainment value of the exhibits. The dime museum was one of the first institutions that developed and dispersed educational mass entertainment, and its lessons became part of the American identity.

Dime museum performers, freak and otherwise, were given lodging and food on the floors above the dime museum, and enjoyed a relatively stable income. However, it was common for the performers to be abused by operators, subjected to grueling rehearsal and performance schedules, and underpaid by managers.10 The freak was

“simply a commodity packaged by museum operators and showmen,” but enjoyed freedoms and opportunities that would not be available to people with physical anomalies later in American history.11

Dime museum performers benefitted from the companionship and community that developed through years of performing and subsequently living with other freaks.

Several friendships and romances emerged from the freak community, although dime museum weddings were often merely spectacles for ticket sales12 Behind the scenes, though “an active social circle that, especially for those who were disowned by their disapproving relatives, functioned as family,” allowed a community of outcasts to find companionship and acceptance.13 One of the most public displays of the solidarity of the freak community was the Revolt of the Freaks in London. In 1898, a troupe pf American

FOUNDING FEMALES 17

freaks on tour held a secret meeting to discuss their objections to the way they were being advertised, especially concerning the term freak. One of the first examples of unionized acting, the troupe went on strike until their promoters replaced the offensive term with

“prodigies.” Utilizing Darwinism, the strikers argued, “perhaps the freakish body is the next step in human evolution.”14 London audiences wrote numerous letters to the carnival companies to give into the performers’ demands so that their stars could return to the stage.

The Revolt of the Freaks revealed the “defensive solidarity and cynical insularity of the carnival world,” and their power as celebrities.15 As few women held jobs during the period, and those who did were usually not given the opportunity to express their personal views, this strike marked one of the first examples of women participating in economic and political activism. A group of outcasts elevated to celebrity status exercised their commercial power to change the political landscape they lived in. These elements of protest, self-valuation, and community effort foreshadow future political movements, especially women’s suffrage and civil rights in the next century. Without the publicity and activism of the women participating in the freak community, later women seeking bodily control would not have a precedent to work from. The status of the tattooed lady as a cultural icon and the fellowship between the performers allowed these women to participate in what would develop into a worldwide, active feminist tattoo community.

FOUNDING FEMALES 18

THE FIRST TATTOOED LADIES

The first tattooed ladies were exhibited at the Bunnell Museum in New York City, established shortly after Barnum’s American Museum. Irene Woodward and Nora

Hildebrandt both began performing in 1882 and had successful careers through the decade. These two inspired lower class women in cities across America to get inked and become tattooed ladies themselves. They were quickly joined by Anne Howard who also became a star. Many other women made sustainable livings from freak show performances without achieving stardom.

Unlike their male predecessors, the first American tattooed performers were not marked with tribal patterns, but with traditional sailor motifs and religious symbolism.

Tattooed men modelled themselves off historic and fantastical stories of colonizers receiving tattoos from distant cultures, beginning in Europe far before the start of the 19th century. Because male tattooed performers often used narratives centered around exploration or military deployment to explain their tattoos, tribal-style designs were understandable. Captain Constentenus, a tattooed man performing with PT Barnum in the

1870s and 80s, had elaborate designs of animals, foreign writing, and tribal geometric patterns. Women however, could not claim their tattoos had the same origins, as females were typically restricted to the domestic sphere.16 However, America was still battling natives for tribal land, and the fear of the frontier was a perfect backdrop for tattooed ladies’ narratives. By combining the exoticism of body modifications with the sexuality of burlesque, a form a feminine performance combining theatre and bodily display, tattooed ladies quickly outdid tattooed men in popularity and pay as performing freaks.

FOUNDING FEMALES 19

Audiences have always been enthralled with women who “stepped from the safely contained domestic realm into the topsy-turvy world of theatrical illusion.”17

Dresses with low necklines, exposed backs, and hems barely reaching the knees were common for early tattooed ladies. Far more revealing than the neck to toe to fingertip coverage that was expected of women during the late 19th century, the costumes were very similar to those worn by early cooch dancers who were also displayed in early circuses and dime museums.18 Unlike burlesque performers, who were associated with rowdy concert-saloons and prostitution, tattooed ladies’ exotic presentation positioned them as cultural specimens, rather than immoral women selling their sexuality.19 In order to separate themselves from the image of sexual deviancy, their onstage personas were often overtly innocent and docile. The Times advertised Woodward as “bashful” in her early career.20 By framing these women as victims of tattooing, rather than the entrepreneurial agents they truly were, freak shows could profit off exhibitions that

Rosemarie Garland-Thomson identifies as “ritual [spectacles] combined with exaggerated female characteristics in order to sharpen the distinction between the ideal[…] and her physical and cultural opposite.”21 Tattooed ladies’ attractiveness as women was amplified by the proximity of the frightening and exotic “other” permanently marked on her exposed body.

Nora Hildebrandt positioned herself as the first tattooed lady in her pitch book, but Irene Woodward was the first tattooed lady featured in publication. Regardless, these two women were pioneers in what was, and continues to be, a male dominated field. In

1882, Hildebrandt and Irene were both tattooed all along their arms, shoulders, backs, and legs with a variety of feminine and traditional designs.22 Borrowing heavily from

FOUNDING FEMALES 20

both traditional male flash designs and typical male tattoo narratives, these women grew to outshine the male tattooed performers both in salary and notoriety. In fact, it was most likely the economic benefits that lured these women to the needle. Industrialization inspired women all over the country to leave the domestic sphere for work, but few were as bold as these women. These first tattooed ladies unknowingly began what would be an extremely successful career path for women, fostering an active community of tattooed women and challenging standards of beauty.

Hildebrandt’s published story was that her family was attacked by a group of natives led by Sitting Bull who intended to burn her father and marry Nora against her will. The tribesmen, however, were so impressed by her father’s tattoos, collected during his time serving the military abroad, that they offered to grant him freedom if he tattooed them. Sitting Bull agreed, under the condition that he first tattoo his daughter to prove that the ink did not contain poison. According to her booklet, Hildebrandt was tattooed six hours a day for a year, losing her sight sometime during the process. Unable to stand seeing his daughter in such pain, Nora’s father broke the tattoo needles in protest and was executed. Soon after, though, she was miraculously rescued by General George Crook, a notable ‘Indian fighter.’ She was then noticed by a sideshow manager who brought her back to New York to cure her blindness and began her career.

It is important to note that Nora Hildebrandt’s tattoo narrative was typical of the period, but uniquely fabricated to include characters that were relevant to the audience.

Most tattooed ladies’ origin stories were full of stereotypes, exaggerated tales, and outright lies with a few miniscule biographical facts occasionally added. Casting natives as antagonistic savages that forcibly tortured helpless white women, these captivity

FOUNDING FEMALES 21

narratives justified the women’s tattoos, confirmed the folklore and pseudo-science of the period, and mirrored the fear many middle-class audience members had of the wilderness and cultural difference. Sitting Bull and General George Cook were names that would have been fresh in the minds of Americans, as the struggle between the US military and frontier tribes were still prominent. Despite the fact that Sitting Bull was a prisoner of the

US government when Hildebrandt made her Bunnell Museum debut, audiences were captivated by her as if she were a relic of American history, herself.23 In most freak shows, fabrications and exaggerations were common, and the life and conditions of those being exhibited purposely distorted to increase profits.24 Women like Nora Hildebrandt used these fictitious tales to both legitimize their performances and play into the “exotic hype” that guaranteed to sell tickets.25

Furthermore, while a tattooed man telling a tale of capture “taps into a deep well of anxiety over male power and sexual integrity,” according to historian Leonard

Cassuto, the sexual associations with forced tattooing were amusing and erotic for freak show audiences enjoying a tattooed lady’s performance.26 Hildebrandt’s capture narrative plays directly into these associations, as tattooing is considered an alternative for becoming Sitting Bull’s wife. Details about how long and how painful the tattooing sessions with her father as a “spectacle of a woman in pain, accompanied by allusions to rape and incest,” titillated the audiences as much as the prospect of becoming a tribesman’s lover horrified them.27 Additionally, the nonconsensual aspect of Nora’s tale removes her from the scandal of performing onstage to display her body. By presenting themselves as victims, they absolved themselves of responsibility for drastically transgressing gender norms for profit. Being scandalously dressed onstage, being

FOUNDING FEMALES 22

intimately touched by a man during the tattooing process, and profiting from these choices were all excused because the excitable fear of the captivity narrative was more compelling and believable to late Victorian audiences.28

The real Nora Hildebrandt was an immigrant from England, most likely a domestic servant during her early life. At some point, she met Martin Hildebrandt,

America’s first professional tattooist. Martin was Nora’s father in some tales, and her brother in others, but he was actually her common-law husband. Regardless of their relationship, Martin Hildebrandt was responsible for all the tattoos on Nora, amounting to over three hundred individual designs. Still before the invention of the electric tattoo machine in 1891, Martin tattooed her by hand, the same method that would have been practiced by native tribesmen. Nora’s career took her around the nation with travelling circuses, and she often returned home to perform in New York dime museums during the winter. She later married another performer who took the name Hildebrandt, and the two travelled throughout the US and Europe being displayed as a tattooed couple until her untimely death in 1893.29

Irene Woodward began her career around the same time as Hildebrandt, competing for the title of First American Tattooed Lady. The story on her pitch book goes that she and her father were western nomads, and she requested to be tattooed at a young age. She “coaxed her father to continue…until the white skin was lost in a mass of tattooing that covered the girl’s entire body.”30 When one day the Ute tribe attacked the family, the natives were supposedly so fearful of her bodily markings that they released her. She was supposedly inspired to perform onstage after seeing Captain Constentenus, who had been displaying his tattoos since the decade before.

FOUNDING FEMALES 23

In actuality, Irene Woodward was the daughter of a shoemaker and grew up in alley apartments in Philadelphia with five siblings, only one of whom survived to adulthood. She was tattooed by Samuel O’Reilly and his assistant Charlie Wagner, who both would become celebrities in the industry. Irene’s debut at the Sinclair House hotel included narrating the story of how she came to be tattooed and answering audience questions as a publicity stunt for the nearby Bunnell Dime Museum. After being featured in the New York Times as a woman of “pleasing appearance… tattooed on every part of her body from her neck to her heels,” Woodward’s career was well established.31 She gained more public praise than Nora Hildebrandt in the New York scene, probably aided by her natural beauty.32 Sometime during her early dime museum prominence,

Woodward picked up an agent who she later married. He took her last name, a notable choice revealing the degree of her respectability and fame. The two travelled the

American Midwest with circus sideshows during the summers, and returned to the stability of dime museums during colder months. Eventually, her career took the couple abroad. She was especially popular in Paris, where she received the nickname “La Belle

Irene.” She performed for European royalty and before anthropological scientists, becoming an international celebrity. Woodward returned to Philadelphia to retire with her husband and son, just before her death in 1915.33

Although Woodward’s fabricated backstory was less political and dramatic, her public persona and natural beauty made her a sensation, enjoying a more celebrated career than Nora Hildebrandt.34 From the start, Irene was marketed as a young, demure lady, “never having worn the costume in the presence of men before.”35 While publishers continued to focus on Woodward’s beauty, even saying that “her tattooing is of itself a

FOUNDING FEMALES 24

beautiful dress,” critics often thought of Hildebrandt as older, and lacking in feminine softness.36 Woodward’s particularly beautiful face and stature probably allowed her to succeed without the historical figures and dramatic details that others had to implement in their narratives. Woodward was one of the only tattooed ladies who came close to admitting she enjoyed being tattooed, her interest in the practice guiding her narrative.

While not an exemplar of the typical tattoo narrative, Irene Woodward’s career represents the height of the early tattooed ladies’ fame.

The same year Nora Hildebrandt and Irene Woodward were first exhibited at

Bunnell’s Museum, a young woman named Anne Boyle was arrested on a ferry for exposing her tattooed arms. Already dedicated to becoming a performer, she was outfitted in a colorful dress that exposed her chest and arms fully covered in ink. A young man insulted her, probably addressing the commotion she was causing among ferry passengers, and she was arrested for slapping him in response. Already gaining publicity, she was easily hired to Bunnell’s Museum. Unlike the other tattooed ladies of the time, she stuck to the typically male narrative of being shipwrecked and tattooed by overseas savages. This tale probably only worked because she was often displayed with her

“brother” who took her abroad.37

Anne Boyle was probably tattooed by Martin Hildebrandt, whose shop she lived around the corner from in Manhattan. She quickly met her future husband, Frank

Howard, while performing at Bunnell’s dime museum, becoming Anne Howard. The two were marketed as siblings, but enjoyed a long career of travelling and performing with their daughter, Ivy. Ivy was never branded as the couple’s daughter, instead she was often presented as a snake charmer.38

FOUNDING FEMALES 25

Anne Howard’s story shows the surge of women who attempted to follow Irene

Woodward and Nora Hildebrandt’s career path. The quick encounter that launched Anne

Howard’s career reveals the contradictory viewpoints American audiences had about physical difference. Exhibits provided “a safe social distance” that positioned the other as object, allowing the viewer to anonymously watch the entertainment.39 In public, though,

“seeing startlingly stareable people challenges our assumptions by interrupting complacent visual business-as-usual,” and for some the reaction is anger and aggression.40 Tattooed ladies balanced the fine line between exotic and alien, making them all the more interesting attractions.

If not for an altercation in public, Anne Howard may never have gained the attention that landed her a job at Bunnell’s, and another opportunistic woman would have gained a spot in tattoo history. Freak show expert Robert Bogdan asserts, “the number of self-made freaks could easily expand as demand for freak exhibits increased,” allowing women like Anne Howard the opportunity to enter a career field previously unavailable for women.41 Self-made freaks included tattooed people, snake charmers, and other performers who were not genetically abnormal but learned a trade or physically altered themselves to become an anomaly. With the help of a local tattoo artist, a young woman was able to earn money, find love, and travel the world with her family.

The late 19th century tattooed ladies enjoyed freedoms unimaginable to working- class women of the time. Unsatisfied with working as domestic servants or factory pawns, young women without access to specific circus training, but attracted to the salary and travel opportunities of the circus, permanently altered their bodies to support themselves and their families. Once established, these women earned around $100 per

FOUNDING FEMALES 26

week, in addition to their husbands’ contributions from selling tickets, performing, or tattooing.42 In addition to the financial benefits, tattooed ladies became an integral part of the freak show community, becoming lovers, friends, and mothers to people involved in various aspects of the freak business. What began as a survival strategy became a lifelong career for the brave individuals who brought tattooed women into the public eye.

Unknowingly, these tattooed ladies began what would become a community of freakish women and became symbols of female individualism and entrepreneurship.

SELF-MADE FREAKS

During the rise and peak of the dime museum’s popularity, the field of biological determinism was growing in medical acceptance, and its teachings became the common mode of thinking about race, behavior, and genetics. Biological determinism is the belief that human behavior is predetermined by genetics and is thus measurable through physiology.43 This played into the already established belief in European supremacy that was acted out through conquest and colonization. Lecturers in dime museums were often labelled as “professor” or “doctor,” and scientists who visited the exhibits were often asked to authenticate the subject’s origins and credibility.44 By exhibiting individuals with physical and mental abnormalities as racial examples, dime museum operators were both capitalizing on and reasserting the medical practices that positioned minorities as sub-human.

The dehumanizing depictions of other cultures went well alongside moralistic theatrical performances in freak shows. Showmen collected individuals that, truthfully or not, represented the global discoveries and physical anomalies that framed what was

FOUNDING FEMALES 27

acceptable in Western society. Garland-Thomson explains, “domesticating the freak for entertainment and profit became one way to efface suspicions that the world might indeed be intractable, chaotic, and opaque,” making freak exhibits attractive to audiences of all types.45 They were especially frequented by immigrants who at one point were considered ethnic minorities in America. These working-class people who paid to be entertained by the “freaks of nature” and “freaks of culture” could compare themselves to the individuals onstage whose stigmatization was far worse, reassuring themselves of their place in American society and the anthropological spectrum.46 Freak show visitors could gaze upon what was framed as their physical and cultural opposites, read medical testimonials describing the specimen’s biological fault, and reassure themselves of their normalcy. Americans, especially the working-class, were anxious about war wounds and industrial accidents identifying them as other, while mass culture “produced the notion of an unmarked, normative body as the dominant subject of democracy.”47 By providing an inexpensive way to display the fringes of humanity, those whose gender, race, and species were up for debate, dime museum freak shows profited off the insecurities of the

American working and middle class.

Conversely, unlike other individuals on display in freak shows, tattooed women were seen as a symptom of cultural difference, rather than the distinct “other” that threatened the identity of the average middle-class American. Tattooed women presented in American dime museums and circus sideshows were overwhelmingly white and lower class. These categories made their position within the circus unique, as they were seemingly able to live ordinary lives. The class and gender norms that dictated their lives were more restrictive than the identification of a ‘freak’ would be, so they risked their

FOUNDING FEMALES 28

“racial membership, and as a result, human membership.”48 By associating with, performing with, and cultivating relationships with racial minorities and those with physical deformities, otherwise acceptable women pushed themselves to the social and cultural periphery in the name of economic independence.

Despite this fundamental difference, tattooed ladies were accepted and active participants in the freak community. Working class women with little social or economic opportunities endured the pain of getting tattooed to find “refuge in a world where there were others similarly situated.” At the freak show, women who were already on the periphery of society due to their gender and class enjoyed acceptance and freedom than neither custodial institutions nor the mainstream would provide.49 The same tattooed ladies, born freaks, and other cultural anomalies worked at the same dime museums and other performance spaces. According to historian David A. Gerber, tattooed ladies and other freak show performers, “[consoled] themselves with the thought that they were exacting some revenge on a hostile, insensitive world of ignorant suckers by exploiting their vulgarity and credulity and rather effortlessly taking their money.”50 Performing alongside cooch dancers, burlesque performers who were exhibited for their hyper sexuality, and Circassian Beauties, women who washed their hair in beer to appear mixed-race, tattooed ladies were well aware of their limited options as unskilled, lower- class women.51 Troupes of oppressed women, minorities, and other individuals outcaste by mainstream society travelled and explored the nation together, solidifying a freak community. Gerber also explains that to the performers, “the sucker who came to the show was on the outside, not the exhibit” allowing tattooed ladies to experience mutual

FOUNDING FEMALES 29

support, self-satisfaction, and empowerment that most working class, and even middle class, women did not get to enjoy.52

THE CARNIVAL FREAK SHOW

Freak shows in both dime museums and travelling shows fell out of the public eye right at the turn of the century. Although many were still in operation, dime museums and circuses faced steep competition from new forms of mass culture like variety shows and motion pictures, which were first shown publicly in 1893. Additionally, many dime museums closed due to massive fires during the late-1870s and 80s.53 For a short period between the decline of the dime museum and the success of the travelling carnival, the tattooed ladies’ salaries fell sharply, and many had to find work in small theatres and amusement parks. Seeing tattooed ladies onstage had became an American pastime, making each individual woman’s novelty fade. The market flooded with girls freshly inked with electric tattoo machines looking for economic independence, but the oversaturated market suffered until an interest in the freak show reemerged.54 Once freak shows found new styles of marketing to the American public, a new generation of tattooed ladies was able to surface and rise to fame. Emerging after the fall of the dime museum, Lady Viola, Betty Broadbent, and Miss Artoria found fame and fortune through circuses and travelling carnivals.

Circuses, travelling shows focused on theatrical performances, animal acts, and magic tricks, enjoyed a fair amount of popularity at the same time as the dime museum, but did not feature freaks until the 20th century. While urban audiences grew bored of the same exotic displays, and the areas surrounding dime museums became “dens of

FOUNDING FEMALES 30

gambling, deception, prostitution, and other sleazy goings-on,” those in small towns were still fresh audiences for the freak performers.55 The development of the travelling carnival, and consequently the inclusion of freaks in popular circus sideshows, allowed tattooed ladies and others who sustained themselves through their freak performances to continue working. They also gave performers more opportunities to travel and meet other members of the freak community.

The 1893 Colombian Exhibition, also referred to as the Chicago World’s Fair, was the third world exhibition held in the United States, and inspired showmen to exhibit freaks across America. The Chicago World’s Fair was unique in the way exhibits were organized; The White City displayed scientific advancements and industrial inventions, while performances and other entertainments were found at the Midway Plaisance. In the first area specifically separated for amusements at a world’s fair, physical anomalies and cultural differences were presented as spectacles alongside newly developed amusement rides and other small performances like minstrel shows, Wild West shows, and magic acts. Some of the most popular attractions were mock villages that displayed ethnic minorities alongside typical freak show performers like sward swallowers and snake charmers. Seeing the success of these performances encouraged young entrepreneurs to take these shows to small towns across the nation, solidifying specific forms of entertainment across the vast nation.56

The Midway inspired the creation of Coney Island, America’s first major amusement park, and a multitude of traveling freak shows. Although PT Barnum’s Grand

Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan, and Circus was established in 1870, exhibiting cultural others and physical abnormalities was not popular in travelling shows until after

FOUNDING FEMALES 31

the Colombian Exhibition. One or two individuals may have been incorporated into the circus’ sideshow, but were often of lesser importance than the main ring or rings.57

Carnivals, however, were developed based on the Midway Plasiance, with amusement rides, cultural exhibits, and performances positioned equally, each with their own admission price.58 After the successes of the first World’s Fairs, hordes showmen attended the Colombian Exhibition to see what the world had to offer, and found themselves developing what would become a staple in American culture. The Chicago

Midway Plasiance Amusement Company was the first established travelling carnival and included many of the exhibits of the original midway.59

By 1904, travelling carnivals surpassed circuses in popularity, creating a strong revival in the freak show.60 In fact, the freak show was often the most prominent and profitable attraction in the carnival, soon becoming the main attraction. Most included a

“ten-in-one” where multiple exhibits were set up under one tent with one admission price.

The types of performers displayed shifted throughout the 20th century, though, as biological determinism supported the idea of Eugenics, a pseudo-science that supported the sterilization and euthanasia of those not considered fit for American society including the mentally impaired and physically abnormal. This in turn resulted in fewer disabled people being exhibited in carnivals. This was not the case with self-made freaks, however. The longevity of many tattooed ladies’ careers reveals that self-made freaks and novelty acts prevailed onstage while medicalization ended others’ careers.

The tattooed ladies that gained fame in the early 20th century benefited from increased technology, availability, and freedom of choice in their tattoos. New colors as well as greater variety in line and shading capabilities allowed tattooing to become a

FOUNDING FEMALES 32

more fully developed art form. While still marketed for their femininity and stories of scandal, the new generation of tattooed ladies were primarily defined for the personal aspects of their technically beautiful permanent art pieces, rather than the shock of skin and scars. Of course, many women repeated similar themes such as patriotism or religion, but the elements of body composition and choice are obvious in the new century’s tattooed ladies. While earlier tattooed ladies had little choice in their designs, often copying motifs popular with sailors and soldiers that were readily available, later performers could choose more personal, feminine, modern designs.61

Updated costumes emerged to show off tattoo designs that now covered women’s entire bodies. Bikini-like costumes were acceptable onstage by the 1920s, since the scandalous outfits of the 19th century were commonplace by the turn of the century.62

When flapper styles became popular, women on stage had to reveal more of their bodies to achieve the same sensationalism as earlier performers. The new tattooed ladies were even photographed nude, although these images would only have been sold to men and covered the genital area.63

Additionally, new narratives developed out of modern fears surrounding female agency and independence. The New Woman of the 20th century was one who rejected female roles and asserted “right to a career, to a public voice, to visible power,” that led to women’s suffrage in 1920.64 Tattooed ladies were no longer framed as the helpless victims of savagery, but frightfully independent women who altered and showcased their bodies for economic independence. Whereas information on the families and domestic practices of tattooed ladies was included in dime museum pitch books, the new tattooed lady was single, often advertised with the title “Miss.” They were more outspoken, taking

FOUNDING FEMALES 33

on a more spectacular public persona than their predecessors, like timid Irene Woodward.

These young performers were the embodiment of early feminism, confident women with control over their bodies, economic independence, and confident public personas.

NEW TATTOOED WOMEN

Especially after the invention of the electric tattoo machine in 1891, women looking for a new occupation simply had to raise the money to pay a tattoo artist, and they could become a ‘human art gallery’.65 Young women who would have seen

Woodward, Hildebrandt, and Howard onstage enjoyed a quicker and less painful tattooing process, allowing them to more easily enter the growing freak industry. Still usually hailing from lower class or immigrant backgrounds, the new generation of tattooed ladies grew famous through the circus sideshow. Most working-class women looked to factories or schools that paid around under $12 a week compared to the tattooed performer’s $30 starting salary.66 To supplement their salaries, many of the 20th century tattooed ladies became tattoo artists themselves, creating another avenue for entrepreneurial women to explore.

Lady Viola, born Ethel Martin, was known as “The Most Beautiful Tattooed

Woman in the World,” for both her delicate feminine features and detailed tattoo designs.67 Fascinated with tattoos from a young age, Viola had her first child at seventeen and looked for a career to support herself and her child after she divorced the father a year after. She travelled from Kentucky to New York’s Coney Island, by then a well- established amusement park and mass entertainment hub. Frank Graf and his wife spent

FOUNDING FEMALES 34

two months covering Viola in permanent portraits of people she admired including six

US presidents, movie actresses, and other celebrities.68

Her modern choices in designs carried over to her stage presence and published origin story. Viola’s pitch card, the new popular form of carnival souvenir, explained that her father was willing to give into any demand if young Viola became a nurse, and she requested a full body of tattoos. The new century brought the close of the frontier, and anxieties shifted away from the wilderness and being captured by savage natives. In the words of art historian Cassandra de Alba, “the fear of women being stripped of their agency had been replaced by a fear of women using it.”69 Lady Viola did not use the fear of the unknown to add flare to her backstory, her position as a young capable woman willing to go against the status quo was enough. The new generation of tattooed ladies based their narratives on modern fears, especially the growing fear of women’s independence. Viola’s story highlights the trickery that was considered a symptom of the modern woman, as she studied to become a nurse just to abandon her father’s wishes and leave with the circus.

At age seventeen, Betty Broadbent began her career with the Ringling Brothers, one of the most prominent travelling carnivals of the time, advertised as “The Youngest

Tattooed Woman in the World.” She left her family for the circus at a young age, first performing as Spidora in an illusionist act that earned her little money. She got her first tattoo from Charlie Wagner in Atlantic City, and eventually he covered her entire body in and got her a performing contract before her work was even finished. Wagner gave

Broadbent a mix of traditional and personal images including a portrait of her friend

“Dollie.”70 Her agency in choosing an extremely personal design is one of the first

FOUNDING FEMALES 35

examples of a custom tattoo, now a staple in the industry. Similar to Lady Viola, Betty

Broadbent’s choices dictated what designs were tattooed on her body, exhibiting more control over her female body than other women during the 1920s. Tattooed ladies in the

20th century were not only entrepreneurs who tattooed their bodies to escape poverty, but creative agents in designing their onstage appearance.71

Betty’s public tattoo story was one of a rebellious young woman whose family disowned her after she came home from a day at the beach with a small tattoo. Whether she and her family were disconnected before her tattooing began or not, her narrative reflected the common discrepancies that arose from young women experimenting with their freedoms. Despite this, Broadbent was especially notable for her dedication to maintaining a classy feminine persona. De Alba explains that female performers were still expected to “perform their gender as demure, modest, and acquiescent to male desires.”72 Broadbent made a point to set herself apart from what she called, “carnival floozies with one or two tattoos that would bump and grind.”73 Tattooed ladies, despite their attractive rebellious backstories, were still praised for conforming to female ideals, even by their own community.

Another notable tattooed lady, Miss Artoria grew up on a Wisconsin farm, the daughter of a Norwegian immigrant. She left home at age-fourteen to work as a domestic servant to support her family after her father died. In 1912 she married Charles “Red”

Gibbons, an already well established tattooist in Los Angeles. Gibbons tattooed Artoria in full color with designs of her choosing, mostly religious images that displayed her personal religious fervor, as she was a lifelong member of the Episcopal Church.74 The

FOUNDING FEMALES 36

couple travelled together, with her performing in circuses and him tattooing across the nation.

Miss Artoria’s origin story centers around her encounter with a young tattoo artist that convinced her to ‘run away with the circus,’ a growing fear among working and middle class families.75 She supposedly went to see a show, but was lured by a young tattoo artist to join him across the nation. While the tattooed lady was a common image for the American public image, circuses and carnivals still had a generally scandalous reputation.76 Alongside the fear of women gaining financial independence, personal agency was something frightfully new for women of the 20th century. Finally empowered to escape their lower-class origins, young women would run away with older men “into a world of peril and sin” as a way of exercising newfound freedom.77 Artoria embodied every modern parent’s fears: rejecting the family, female personal choice, and permanently altering the body.

In addition to performing, many women in freak shows explored other aspects of the freak industry, especially tattooing. Lady Viola shifted her focus from performing to tattooing between the 30s and the 70s, and established her own shop in Fresno, California with her husband, gaining success through “her artistry and her ability to talk to people.”78 Maud Wagner, a contortionist, met her future husband at the 1904 St. Louis

World Fair, and exchanged a date for a full body of ink and an apprenticeship. She became America’s first female tattoo artist, and enjoyed success working with her husband, although she never established her own shop. Maud even taught their daughter,

Lotteva, to tattoo, beginning a family business and tradition of hand poking tattoos.79

Mildred Hull, a former burlesque dancer from New York, was one of the most accredited

FOUNDING FEMALES 37

female tattoo artists in the early 20th century. She maintained her shop in Chatham

Square, “one of the roughest neighborhoods in New York,” where she tattooed multitudes of women, popular for her delicate touch and feminine designs.80 Expanding upon the precedent set by the earliest tattooed ladies, the 20th century ushered in a generation of women who would dominate not only the stage, but the tattoo shop as well.

Through performing for nearly half a century and expanding into roles other than performer, tattooed ladies became a staple of American iconography. Distinct from their male predecessors and their fellow performers, tattooed ladies were able to carve out their own unique persona, engaged with but not completely victim to issues of colonization and ableism. While many began as young girls looking for money for themselves or their families, tattooed ladies, knowingly or not, created a way for women to explore the world while earning money to support themselves and their families. These white, working class women changed their bodies, redefined domesticity, and created a community that would develop into a unique feminist subculture.

CONTINUING INFLUENCES

The lasting impact of the tattooed ladies is partially because they continued to perform in theatres, museums, and amusement parks well beyond the end of the travelling carnival and sideshow. The same scientific practices that drove the curious middle class to the freak show eventually caused its demise. Rather than entertaining spectacles, the development of Eugenics “[cast] disability as an obstacle to normalcy to be overcome,” inspiring medical professionals to take the disabled off the stage and on to operating tables.81 Once America was past the point of fearing the frontier and had an

FOUNDING FEMALES 38

established national identity, human oddities were not interesting specimens, but defects in the American genetic pool. “Negative eugenics” aimed to ensure the survival of the fittest by “keeping the bad gene carriers from breeding through counseling, sterilization, and incarceration.”82. While tattooed ladies’ economic independence grew, those cast as

‘pinheads,’ dwarfs, and those with distinctly ethnic features were separated from mainstream society, even as spectacles. Rather than displaying those with physical differences for profit and discussion, in the new century, those who did not fit the mold of the American ideal were hidden away to be medically examined and exterminated.

Performers within the category of made-freaks, those born without obvious deformations or ethnic features, enjoyed stable work after the development of Eugenics took other freaks off the stage.

The continuous employment opportunities for tattooed women through the turn of the century and into the 1950s allowed tattooed ladies to continue the nascent female tattoo community. By combining the elements of freak show culture with the feminist ideals of the 1920s, women with tattoos created their own subculture of artists, performers, and fans who made female diversity and agency public and relatively popular. Women who had the opportunity to learn tattooing, often from their romantic partners, paved the way for tattooed ladies to enter a new facet of their industry. By learning the art of tattooing, women moved from the place of object to creator. Maud

Wagner and the female tattoo artists that followed her brought feminine flare to a male dominated industry and paved the way for women of all walks of life to find economic opportunity. The female performers, artists, and entrepreneurs that made the tattooed lady

FOUNDING FEMALES 39

an American icon established a female freak community that wound inspire women to get inked for centuries to come.

1 Rosemarie Garland Thomson, Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1997), 62. 2 Philip McGowan, American Carnival: Seeing and Reading American Culture (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001), 22. 3 Robert C. Allen, Horrible Prettiness: Burlesque and American Culture (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1991), 63. 4 Robert Bogdan, Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 33. 5 Ibid. 6 Garland-Thomson, Extraordinary Bodies, 58. 7 Rachel Adams, Sideshow U.S.A.: Freaks and the American Cultural Imagination, (Chicago, Il: The University of Chicago Press, 2001), 113. 8 Bogdan, Freak Show, 19. 9 Bogdan, Freak Show, 19. 10 Andrea Stulman Dennett, “The Dime Museum Freak Show Reconfigured as Talk Show,” Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body, ed. Rosemarie Garland Thomson (New York, NY: New York University Press, 1996), 315. 11 Ibid, 317. 12 Bogdan, Freak Show, 205. 13 Margot Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo (New York: Powerhouse Books, 2013), 30. 14 Michael Chemers, Staging Stigma: A Critical Examinatin of the American Freak Show (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 99. 15 David A. Gerber, “The ‘Careers’ of People Exhibited in Freak Shows: The Problem of Volition and Valorization,” Freakery, 52. 16 Cassandra de Alba, “Flowers, Flags, and Faith: The Iconography of the American Tattooed Lady,” (Master’s thesis, Simmons College, 2015), 20. 17 Allen, Horrible Prettiness, 50. 18 Ibid, 233. 19Ibid, 76. 20 De Alba, “Flowers, Flags, and Faith,” 1. 21Garland-Thomson, Extraordinary Bodies, 56. 22 De Alba, 30. 23 De Alba, “Flowers, Flags, and Faith,” 25. 24 Robert Bogdan, “The Social Construction of Freaks,” Freakery, 25. 25 Gerber, “The ‘Careers’,” 42. 26 Leonard Cassuto, “Tattooing and the Racial Freak in Melville’s Typee,” Freakery, 240. 27 De Alba, “Flowers, Flags, and Faith,” 28. 28 Amelia Klem Osterud, The Tattooed Lady, (Taylor Trade Publishing, 2014), 56. 29 Ibid, 41-3. 30 De Alba, “Flowers, Flags, and Faith,” 23. 31 “The Tattooed Woman,” New York Times, March 19, 1882. 32 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 20. 33 Osterud, 37, 40-41. 34 Mifflin, 12.

FOUNDING FEMALES 40

35 Osterud, The Tattooed Lady, 40. 36 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 13, 20. 37 Osterud, 47-49. 38 Ibid. 39 Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Staring: How We Look (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 76. 40 Ibid, 6. 41 Bogdan, Freak Show, 235. 42 Osterud, The Tattooed Lady, 106. 43 Edward Allen Garland, “Biological Determinism,” (Encyclopedia Britannica). 44 Bogdan, 106-7. 45 Garland-Thomson, Extraordinary Bodies, 66. 46 Ibid, 62. 47 Ibid, 78. 48 Cassuto, “Tattooing and the Racial…,” 240. 49Gerber, “The ‘Careers’,” 35. 50 Ibid, 52. 51 Osterud, The Tattooed Lady, 47-49. 52 Gerber, “The ‘Careers’,” 35. 53 Bogdan, Freak Show, 41. 54 De Alba, “Flowers, Flags, and Faith,” 53-6. 55 De Alba, “Flowers, Flags, and Faith,” 38. 56 Bogdan, Freak Show, 49-51. 57 Ibid, 41. 58 Ibid, 59. 59 Ibid. 60 Bogdan, Freak Show, 60. 61 Ibid, 31. 62 De Alba, “Flowers, Flags, and Faith,” 85-6. 63 Osterud, The Tattooed Lady, 89. 64 Allison Pingree, “The ‘Exceptions That Prove the Rule’,” Freakery, 175. 65 Bogdan, Freak Show, 250. 66 Osterud, The Tattooed Lady, 106-107. 67 Ibid, 100. 68 Ibid. 69 De Alba, “Flowers, Flags, and Faith,” 61. 70 Osterud, The Tattooed Lady, 63. 71 Ibid, 24. 72 De Alba, “Flowers, Flags, and Faith,” 77. 73 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 30. 74 Osterud, 109. 75 De Alba, “Flowers, Flags, and Faith,” 62. 76 Ibid, 61. 77 Ibid, 62. 78 Osterud, The Tattooed Lady, 102. 79 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 30-31. 80 Ibid, 32-36. 81 Chemers, Staging Stigma, 105. 82 Bogdan, Freak Show, 62.

FOUNDING FEMALES 41

CHAPTER 2: FEMINISM AND RENAISSANCE

The Tattoo Renaissance was a cultural rebranding of the tattoo that combined liberal rebellion, sexual freedom, and global consumerism that made tattoos appealing to the

American middle class from the 1960s into the 1980s. Second wave feminism and the

Civil Rights movements in the late sixties and early seventies produced a dramatic shift in American culture, which had previously been dominated by white men. Although the tattoo community had always been on the margins of American culture, it too was influenced by these political, social, and cultural shifts. In this chapter, I will trace the changes in tattooing practices, artistic styles, and public perceptions that occurred during the Tattoo Renaissance in America. Furthermore, I will assess these changes in combination with the greater socio-political shifts of the mid-twentieth century that altered the American public’s opinions on gender, sexuality, and self-expression. This chapter will trace the rise of female tattoo artists in the seventies and explain how shifts in American culture allowed them to prosper.

Prior to the 1960s, people wanting tattoos in America only had access to what tattoo historian Arnold Rubin calls the International Folk Style, agglomerate designs executed by many different tattooists, resulting in a collection of styles, sizes, and images with little attention to the images’ relationship to the shape of the body.1 Tattoos in America developed as symbols of belonging, badges permanently etched into the skin, declaring a lifelong commitment to a branch of the military, a gang, or one’s family. This specific use of tattooing only required simple designs and limited colors, resulting in a collection of subjects and designs that were considered the limits of tattooing.

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 42

The traditional tattoos that were commonly seen on sailors, circus performers, and criminals prior to and during the Tattoo Renaissance were synonymous with delinquency and unwelcome otherness to the American public. Many of the most common traditional tattoos include swallows, anchors, sharks, skulls, snakes, eagles, pin-up girls, hearts, and ships. These designs began as signifiers of sailors’ achievements at sea but were often adopted by other marginal social groups. Swallows signified that one had sailed 5000 miles, and additional swallow tattoos would add up to display one’s lifetime of exploration. Anchors and hearts often symbolized a connection to one’s family or homeland. Skulls, still a popular choice for a tattoo subject, could symbolize military achievements, an enjoyment of danger, or coming to terms with one’s inevitable death.2

In addition, gangs and other criminal groups would tattoo elaborate typography to display loyalty. Arrangements of numbers and letters often coded the name of a gang, the neighborhood one was from, or a group ideology. These gang signifiers were perceived as more threatening than nautical or biker tattoos, as they had to be earned through acts of violence. 3 Although many of these subjects lost their original meaning due to popularity and overuse, they still read as dangerous and unwelcome to the American public. For tattooing to break away from its unsavory or lower class associations, tattooing both as a practice and an art form had to change considerably.

The Tattoo Renaissance was a response to the negative publicity and public opinions that the tattoo industry received during the 1940s and 50s. Tattoo artist aimed to both stretch their creative limits and decrease the stigmatization of tattooing. Because women were generally excluded from the tattoo industry, women were not able to participate in the changing tattoo culture as much as their male counterparts were. Tattoo

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 43

legends Sailor Jerry Collins, Lyle Tuttle, Cliff Raven, and Ed Hardy expanded the technology, artistic styles, and audiences involved in tattooing. 4 These artists achieved a dramatic shift in public perception because they were innovative in their designs, techniques, and skills. To break away from the old American tattoo styles, artists looked to other cultures for inspiration. Throughout the sixties and seventies, Japanese style tattooing was imitated and fused with traditional American designs to create a unique style for a new industry market. Additionally, tattoo styles developed in Mexican-

American neighborhoods introduced technical skills to the larger tattoo industry that allowed even further exploration with the medium. Tattooists appealed to new markets, specifically the young white middle class, by adopting hospital level sanitation regulations, focusing on the development of tattooing as a fine art practice, and creating designs that were politically and socially relevant. White youths that wanted to find a sense of identity and purpose were attracted to the lowbrow art form, as it was a unique form of self-expression. Subcultures, often politically and socially allying themselves with feminist and civil rights activists, used tattoos as a tool to signify their opposition to white middle class values, as they were widely illegal in America by the 1960s.

Rubin identifies the artists that rose to fame during the 1970s as the second

Renaissance generation. By this time, the new tattoo practices were generally accepted in the industry, and women were able to emerge as notable figures in the field.5 Kate

Hellenbrand, Vyvyn Lasogna, Ruth Marten, and Jamie Summers were all able to gain international fame through their distinctly feminine tattoo styles that stood out in the male dominated field. As the Tattooed Ladies of the late nineteenth century inspired women to receive tattoos as a means of economic independence, women of the Tattoo Renaissance

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 44

showed future generations that women can succeed as creative forces in the tattoo industry, as well.

The purpose of this chapter is to trace the ways that the American public changed their opinions towards tattoos, especially tattooed women. Popularized during the first half of the century by freak show performers, including world-renowned tattooed ladies, tattoos fell out of favor during the late 1940s and 50s. Tattooing became a symbol of violence, delinquency, and male bravado during the fifties, and were condemned during the conservative period. Poor health conditions in tattoo parlors pushed the practice further into the margins of society. Women were not only objectified and looked down upon in tattooing circles, but were actively excluded from the industry until the late sixties. The Tattoo Renaissance, pioneered by tattoo artists in major cities, rebranded tattooing as an alternative medium worthy of the label “fine art.” Tattooing styles, technology, and patronage changed throughout the 1960s and 70s, with women becoming more active in the industry as they became more active in American politics and protest.

Inspired by the philosophies of second wave feminism, women were encouraged to enter previously male-dominated fields, express themselves creatively, and reclaim control of their bodies through decorative expression. Following their male predecessors, women with fine arts backgrounds found ways to engage with the tattoo community and find financial stability through the growing medium. Male tattooists in the sixties who worked to create a new industry based around fine arts and hygienic business practices unknowingly created a work environment that would empower women to thrive as artists in the decade after. The changes that occurred within the tattoo industry and the women’s rights movement that overlapped during the 1960s allowed female tattoo artists to emerge

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 45

and prosper during the 1970s. These great female artists then used their success to further develop the tattoo industry as an artistic field and as a form of self-expression for other politically-minded individuals.

VIOLENCE AND MASCULINITY

To create a foundation for understanding the full extent to which the American middle class changed their perception of the tattoo industry, I will provide a brief history of the decades leading up to the Tattoo Renaissance. Tattooing in America reached a period of popularity between the 1910s and 1930s, fell into disfavor during the 1940s and

50s, and was revived by the political movements of the 1960s and 70s. The Golden Age of Tattooing was between the two world wars, including the latter half of the 1910s, the

20s, and the 30s Great Depression era.6 Patriotic tattoos were popular among sailors, soldiers, and their supportive families, with nationalism at an all-time-high. According to

Michael Atkinson, “tattoos worn in post-First World War America represented the exuberance in American culture spawned by global conflict.”7 Especially during the twenties, when Tattooed Ladies became celebrities instead of specimens and expendable income became commonplace, the tattoo industry expanded economically and socially.

Although still only popular among the lower and working classes, the social visibility of tattooing as a normal practice in America increased. Atkinson explains, “even though conservative codes about bodies and physical display were firmly embedded in the social fabric, the discredited practice of tattooing was a socially legitimate way of indicating one’s class status to others.”8 While still not popular among the majority, tattoos were generally accepted as a form of expression and craft during this Golden Age.

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 46

The Golden Age of tattooing tapered off during the forties, especially after the end of

WWII. Once the international chaos subsided, Americans were more preoccupied with domestic issues. American culture and politics became more conservative, as a result.

The economic prosperity, patriotism, and common goals that unified the nation had also distracted people from the issues that were brewing at home. Rather than funding military technology, the government put resources towards studying delinquents. Studies on mental health, criminality, and physical deformity increased, and the public grew fearful of those who did not fit their view of the American standard.

By the fifties, America as a whole was extremely conservative, and tattoo culture lost what little credibility it had gained among the lower classes. Having just won WWII, the United States was the strongest military power, the economy was prosperous, and veterans began having families. The “baby boom” led many middle-class American families to move to the suburbs. Women often stayed caring for children and the home, compelled by propaganda proclaiming, “femininity begins at home,” and “don’t be afraid to marry young.”9 There was an onslaught of mass culture praising women for returning to their traditional subservient roles, and advising them on how to maintain a correct

American household. Additionally, tensions between the United States and the Soviet

Union grew, tapping into a forgotten fear of the Other. Government agencies, local organizations, and businesses grew fearful of anyone who did not appear distinctly

American.10

Tattooed people were severely stigmatized as the conservative middle class became increasingly fearful of those who did not fit in with conventional society. Areas of social science continued to develop theories connecting tattoos to delinquent behavior. Studies

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 47

on tattoos utilized prisons and mental health facilities as laboratories. There, biased sample populations confirmed the hypotheses that mental health, criminality, and tattoos were inherently linked.11 Mary Kosut explains that when experts categorize individuals, the objects they produce, and the cultural realms they inhabit, they create a binary of us versus them, mainstream versus other. By reinforcing stereotypes with scientific underpinnings, these studies gave the American public a valid excuse to outcast people with tattoos.12 Similarly, an article titled “The Relationship of Tattoos to Personality

Disorders” published in The Post in 1968 purported sexual deviancy was the only motive for getting tattooed, as sexuality is inherent to the tattooing process itself.13 Americans consuming mass entertainment trusted these judgements, and tattoos lost all social legitimacy.

Along with mental illness, criminality, and other forms of delinquency, tattoos became signifiers of masculinity, as advertisers used tattoos to appeal to the masculine ego in a time of doubt. Interestingly, as the tattoo industry lost its social legitimacy it grew in appeal to men longing for the danger that historically signified masculinity and working class endurance. Despite conservative efforts, women continued to gain access to what was once exclusively male, and technology was advancing past the threshold of human strength, leaving men with few distinctly masculine signifiers. Instead, specific consumer items became branded as masculine to fill the psychological void of gender confirmation that bread-winning once held. The Malboro Man is the most notable example of advertisers using a tattooed figure to specifically appeal to a male audience.

By analyzing and explaining the effectiveness of the ad, I emphasize how powerful the

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 48

associations between tattooing and masculinity were in America, and how much opposition women faced in the tattoo industry.

The Malboro Man, now a staple of American popular culture, was created in 1954 to rebrand the Malboro cigarette as a masculine commodity. Prior to the 1950s, Malboro’s consumer base was primarily female, and the company needed to remove their feminine associations to appeal to men returning to American society from fighting overseas.

Advertisers created a rugged, freedom-loving outdoorsman to be the mascot for the

Malboro company, and he flaunted an American eagle tattoo on his hand. A 1957 issue of

Life magazine shows the Malboro man wearing a cowboy hat, posing with a horse, and lighting a cigarette with a Zippo style lighter. The advertisement describes the mascot as a “rancher” who enjoys the “good feeling of being your own boss.”14 Middle-class men who now had to share their office spaces and breadwinning opportunities with women were attracted to the traditional, dangerous, low-class brand of masculinity that becoming tattooed signified.15 Despite this effective advertising campaign that brought Malboro an increase in male customers, most tattoo shop patrons were still soldiers, sailors, and outcasts. While not attracting new patrons, the association between masculinity and tattoos that the Malboro Man advertisement perpetuated gave men social permission to deny women tattoos. Already underrepresented in the tattoo community, women during the fifties faces further stigmatization for being tattooed because of its masculine symbolism.

In Bad Boys and Tough Tattoos, Samuel Steward recounts his experiences tattooing under the name Phil Sparrow from 1950 to 1965, creating a catalogue of encounters and opinions that reveal how men interacted in tattoo parlors and excluded women from the

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 49

tattoo industry. Sparrow was best known for his traditional biker-style tattoos, becoming the official artist for the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club towards the end of his career.

Biker tattoos challenged middle-class values as well as the traditional form of patriotic and love-inspired working class tattoo, rejecting American society and its prescribed social modalities.16 Directly opposing the conservative outlook that the American government, media, and public adhered to, motorcycle gangs purposely committed petty crimes and disrupted public spaces as acts of defiance. Movies and newspapers overdramatized bikers as outlaws who terrorized and pillaged local communities.17 Many bikers and gang members got their first tattoos in prison, or by a neighbor or family member who learned the skill while incarcerated. By continuing to tattoo in their own communities despite prevailing stigmas, bikers, Chicanos, and other divergent groups

“pursued lines of collective resistance to such pejorative labeling.”18

Tattoo parlors became social hubs for motorcycle gangs, and in turn it attracted like- minded outsiders. Individuals on the fringes of society would meet at tattoo parlors, creating social webs that centered around the practice of tattooing.19 As the tattoo industry was already predominantly male, it was easy for patrons to bond over tales of sexual conquest, violence, and courage that would entertain their peers and reaffirm their masculine status. As tattooing fell further into the margins of acceptable public presentation, young men became attracted to tattoos as symbols of individual rebellion rather than allegiance to a group of outlaws. These young rebels, the predecessors of the larger socio-political movements of the late sixties and seventies, perpetuated the perception that tattooed people opposed mainstream society. The white middle class viewed tattooing as “decorative cultural product dispensed by largely unskilled and

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 50

unhygienic practitioners from dingy shops in urban slums.”20 However, like other marginalized groups, those who frequented tattoo shops saw themselves as living the correct lifestyle.

A large part of the subcultures that developed in tattoo parlors was the ostracism and objectification of women. Because more women were returning to the confines of the home, many American men reverted to the mindset of women as property. Male tattooists that overwhelmed the industry during this period refused to tattoo women for various reasons, many of which were sexist in nature. Sparrow describes men coming into his shop to have his name tattooed on a wife or girlfriend, permanently marking the

“submission of the woman to the man’s dominance.”21 His words reveal the lack of agency that women had when engaging with the tattoo industry. Sparrow recalls refusing women tattoos out of fear of a protective, possibly violent, spouse, or annoyance when women complained about “coarse sailor-talk.” He would typically require the signed consent of a father, husband, or other male guardian before tattooing a woman, if he agreed to at all.22 In these situations, profit motive was displaced by an ethics of sexual guardianship, as pseudo-professional measures reflected and legitimized taboos for women.23 Women were often denied tattoos, and even entrance into shops. Tattoo parlors were the “locker rooms of the first half of the twentieth century” where male exclusivity was an integral part of the group culture.24 Whether out of annoyance, protection, regulation, or lack of interest, men who refused to tattoo women reduced them to objects, and denied them the ability to control their own bodies.

Another part of the “trouble that always surrounded the tattooing of women,” Steward explains, were lesbians who would scare away other customers.25 During the fifties and

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 51

early sixties, being homosexual was just as offensive to middle class sensibilities as having tattoos. Women who hid their homosexuality would avoid tattoos, as their secret relied on the appearance of a normative American lifestyle. On the other hand, the few women who were ‘out’ were already placed on the margins of society. While facing other forms of oppression, in tattoo shops, lesbian women were not subjected to the same degree of patronizing surveillance, discipline, and overall coercive control of their bodies that a straight, middle-class, and white woman would face.26 To the male tattoo community, lesbians did not need their morality and public appearance protected because they had already abandoned mainstream American society. Instead, they were demonized as an uncomfortable opposite to what women should be. While being received by the tattoo industry in different ways, women of all sexualities were ostracized. The combination of the masculine, lowbrow associations with tattooing and the active exclusion of women in tattoo shops created a cycle that left females out of the tattoo scene until the seventies.

TECHNICAL TRANSFORMATIONS

Despite the negativity surrounding tattooing, some tattooists maintained the interest in exploration and passion for artistic expression to continue innovating within the industry. Between the 1940s and 70s, Sailor Jerry Collins almost singlehandedly inspired a new generation of tattoo artists to transform tattooing as an artistic medium, as a business, and as a community. He created new ways to design, color, and think about tattoos that attracted an educated art crowd interested in the economic stability and

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 52

challenging medium that tattooing presented. Sailor Jerry provided a basis for what would become fine art tattooing.

Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins is often cited as the most transformational force in tattoo history, as he created the foundations that allowed modern tattooing to grow. After enlisting in the US Navy in 1928, Collins was introduced to southeast Asian and

Hawaiian tattooing. He was especially inspired by the Japanese tattoo styles that included large, unified, custom tattoos that are designed to fit the body of the wearer. He returned to tattooing in Hawaii between his travels, gaining a prodigious reputation among fellow servicemen and sailors for his Japanese-influenced designs.27 In 1942, Sailor Jerry established his own tattoo parlor in Honolulu, dedicating his life to tattooing, developing as an artist, and pushing the boundaries of the tattoo industry. His tattoos were still recognizably American, with bottles, dice, anchors, pin-up girls, and eagles as some of his most popular designs, but included Asian elements such as dragons, bright colors, and elemental backgrounds.28 He used an expanded color palate that he developed and tested on himself, as well as custom needle formations that caused less trauma to the skin.29 He was an artistic inspiration for young artists who quickly became notable in the industry.

Many of Sailor Jerry’s apprentices and artistic followers continued to spread techniques inspired by Japanese tattooing and that he personally developed throughout the Tattoo

Renaissance.

Japanese tattooing introduced new artistic concepts and subjects to American tattooists. It brought “stylized background elements to frame and tie together foreground images in a form of tattoo mural” which was revolutionary for artists who had only been exposed to the International Folk style of tattooing.30 Ed Hardy was Sailor Jerry’s most

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 53

famous pupil, and is usually credited with bringing the Japanese style directly to

America. He studied printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute during the early 60s, and has a special interest in Japanese art. Hardy’s studies also led him to draw parallels between pop art and tattooing, making him determined to advance tattooing as an art form. As pop art brought academic and aesthetic attention to product design, advertising, and other forms of popular culture, Hardy saw an opportunity for tattooing industry to gain some publicity and respectability in a similar manner. He was immediately drawn to

Jerry Collins’ use of unique colors and Japanese influences, understanding that the style would diversify the industry, and appeal to a young clientele attracted to the exotic.

As the interest in stylistic expansion continued, pioneering tattooists developed unique techniques to use in their designs. Artists developed pieces with more fine lines, shading, and highlighting, inspired by tattooing practices abroad and from the techniques developed by American outsiders.31 Another innovation that had a large impact on the expansion of the tattoo industry was the single-needle tattoo style that developed in

American penal institutions throughout the mid 20th century. This style relies only on black ink, as colored ink was nearly impossible to replicate or acquire in the restrictive setting of prison. This monochromatic fine-line style became known as Chicano style tattooing. Mexican-American “Pachuco” gangs in the 1940s and 50s utilized this style to identify fellow gang members, symbolize devotion to the gang, family, or God, and decorate the body. Popular images included crosses, realistic renderings of Jesus on the cross, and patron saints referencing one’s neighborhood, or barrio. Despite its use of meticulous detail, many still rejected Chicano tattooing as an indicator of lower-class tastes.32 Some had their tattoos covered or reworked after getting out of prison or leaving

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 54

their barrio. It was not until the seventies, when Freddy Negrete’s especially well- executed prison-style tattoos piqued the interest of Ed Hardy, that Chicano tattooing became respected among the tattoo industry. Hardy took Negrete on as an apprentice after he was freed from detention, and together they worked to integrate Chicano techniques into American and Japanese tattooing.33 This style of highly detailed illustrations became popular in California among young hippies and surfers, once adapted by commercial tattoo parlors.34 Older, more traditional tattooers were skeptical of the new technique, expecting the thin lines to blur and fade, and the single needle to not deliver enough ink into the skin. However, more artistically inclined tattooists who took interest in prison-style “Chicano” tattooing learned techniques to create more realistic and detailed pieces, using thinner lines and softer shading.

It is important to note that this period of innovation and technical advancements overlapped with the period before women were able to gain access to the tattoo industry.

The people accepted and encouraged within the tattoo community were all men, resulting in a long list of famous male tattooists before women could break into the industry. The artists responsible for these technical innovations are considered part of the first generation of the Tattoo Renaissance. It is not until the second generation in the 1970s, after second wave feminism was popularized in America, that women were empowered to pursue careers in the tattoo industry. By then, these new styles and techniques had already been disseminated into the tattoo industry.

The inclusion of these outsider styles in the American tattoo industry expanded the imagery, tools, and techniques that were available to customers. Tattooists experimented in perfecting and combining these newfound styles to drastically expand the possibilities

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 55

for tattooing. Whether or not these stylistic changes directly attracted new clientele to tattoo parlors is hard to tell, as these advancements developed at the same time as various other industry changes. During the same period, tattoo artists began to put effort towards improving the cleanliness and accessibility of tattoo parlors. Artists pioneering new styles and techniques pushed themselves and other tattooists to improve their business practices, as well. Understanding the negative stereotypes and legitimate health concerns that accompanied tattooing, artists during the Tattoo Renaissance focused on improving the safety of tattooing, as well as the versatility.

Sailor Jerry was one of the first to use single-use needles and an autoclave to sterilize tattooing equipment. Previously only seen in hospitals, his use of the autoclave to eliminate fears of blood transmitted diseases was revolutionary. Leading by example,

Collins encouraged his tattoo industry cohorts to adopt sterile practices to disprove the assumption that tattooing was a dirty industry. He often publicly spoke out against “shady business practices,” including reusing needles, ink containers, and rags. Lyle Tuttle, a prominent tattooist in San Francisco during the renaissance period, even helped to create and write city health regulations on tattooing.35 Understanding both the possible risks and the specifics of the industry, tattooers worked with local authorities to create laws that made the industry safer without hindering the artists. Unfortunately, dedication to cleanliness and customer satisfaction was an exception to the rule, and tattooing continued to be a source of stigma.36

Despite the number of tattooists, both famous and little-known, who adopted sterile practices, they could not overcome the unclean reputations that many tattoo shops perpetuated. The tattoo parlor’s reputation was reinforced by the laws passed against

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 56

tattooing in the sixties. In 1962, tattooing was “illegal or restricted” to those over 21 in 32 states. New York City was the first place to ban tattooing, blaming it as the cause of a

Hepatitis outbreak.37 Cities and states across America followed New York in restricting tattoos, forcing artists to continue their work secretly or move to areas where their careers were permissible, even if only just tolerated. By 1968, 47 major cities prohibited tattoos, mostly claiming health and safety as the prime reasoning. 38 Few people were willing to get tattooed, as the practice was both illegal and seemingly a health risk. Many cities and states kept their tattoo restrictions or bans past the 1970s, but the industry continued to develop among rebellious countercultures, artistic circles, and political activists.

TATTOOS AS FINE ART

Despite its illegality and stigma, many tattooists still pushed for their work to be considered fine art. As a result, tattooing caught the eyes of many young people studying the arts and looking for a less traditional and more profitable medium to work in.

Producing the same few simplistic tattoos was a profitable system, but the lack of demand during the fifties and sixties pushed tattooists to expand themselves as artists and as an industry. At the same time, a new generation of artists emerged, “motivated by a dissatisfaction with the substance of conventional fine arts and the career limitations presented by the insular socio-occupational world of artistic production.”39 For those who rejected the lifestyle of kissing up to gallery owners and grew tired of traditional artistic mediums and practices, the tattoo industry became an enticing community of financially stable artists.

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 57

Clinton R. Sanders identifies some of the ways that tattooing fit within the set of criteria that allow trades to develop into fine arts disciplines. The separation of fine art and folk craft is decided by the social actors of each industry creating and distributing materials and ideas. Tattooists who profited from the reputation of being a quick worker who gave the lowest price for easily replicated designs projected themselves as craft workers, laborers rather than creatives. Sanders explains that change in cultural perspective comes from the way that media and social organizations portray cultural items, which in turn shapes the industry to fit its public persona.40 Therefore, tattoo artists and their forms of publicity had to change, altering their artistic associations from mass produced and neutral to customized and personal.

Additionally, works that are “unique, original, and, consequently, scarce and expensive are prime candidates for artistic legitimation.”41 Large scale, custom tattoos were the perfect way for industry leaders to separate themselves as artists. These were more costly, more time consuming, and more difficult for both the artist and the customer to execute well. Additionally, as each of these pieces was custom designed, reproducibility was virtually a non-issue. No longer acting as a badge of belonging or ownership, fine art tattoos relied on aesthetic worth, “attention simply for the sake of the pleasurable experience derived from the attention.”42

Sanders also describes the “dialectic relationship between the traditional ease of convention and the innovative pressures of creativity” that artists must work within.43

Phil Sparrow was an expert in managing this difficult territory, giving him an edge in the newly forming fine art tattoo industry. Having an academic background, he was well versed in art theory, the history of art, aesthetic assessment, and the politics of fine art.

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 58

He went on to mentor Cliff Raven, another educated artist interested in pursuing a nontraditional art career. Raven became especially notable for exploring the formal elements of tribal tattoos, large dark patterns that compositionally agreed with the shape of the body.44

Another way of breaking into the fine art world is through “collective legitimation,” creating a self-regulated group that would redefine themselves and their medium. For the tattoo industry, this redefinition had to be “non-threatening, unproblematic and even admirable.”45 Throughout the Tattoo Renaissance, Jerry Collins had been encouraging tattoo artists, vendors, and customers to form a more close-knit community. In 1972,

Collins hosted “The Council of the Seven,” a week-long meeting in Hawaii to discuss tattoo techniques, styles, and practices, the first move towards established tattoo conventions.46 The first full scale tattoo convention was sponsored by the North

American Tattoo Club in 1976.47 The event was held in Houston, Texas, and attracted mostly younger artists, as some older tattooers feared that the increased exposure would be damaging to the art.

One of the first successful schemes in collective legitimation was the opening of

Tattoo! At the American Folk Museum of Art in 1971. The exhibition included flash work by Sailor Jerry Collins, Ed Hardy, and others, an installation of an imitation tattoo shop, numerous photos of tattooed people, people being tattooed, and tattoo artists.

Friends and future tattoo artists Mike Malone and Kate Hellenbrand, both with fine arts training, organized the exhibit, for the first time truly linking the tattoo industry and the fine arts institution.48 Many within the nascent feminist performance art community began noticing tattoos as an avenue of expression, engaging with and aiding the fine arts

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 59

tattoo community in the seventies.49 The group of educated and politically active artists that worked within and helped sustain the tattoo industry strengthened the fine arts tattoo community, granting tattoo artists social and financial stability.

However, being visible to fine arts circles did not guarantee the tattoo industry instant respect and wealthier patronage. Tattooists had to conquer the separation of craft from art while also overcoming widespread public distaste.50 To attract the wealthier, more conservative audience that controlled the fine arts canon, the perception of tattooing in

America had to be altered. Associations with prisons, gangs, mental illness, and other forms of deviance were still at the forefront of the American perception of tattooing.

Tattoo artists moved their shops “uptown,” away from bus depots and train stations and closer to shopping and business districts of large cities.51 They denounced the hygiene practices and unoriginal work of lower-class tattooists, separating themselves from the group that retained the stigma. Instead, these young educated artists emphasized the

“aesthetics, individuality, and personal growth and spirituality” that made their tattoos eligible to be considered fine art.52 To facilitate this change in public perception, journalists engaged with the public using ideas and discussions that were popular outside of the tattoo community, attracting a more general audience with a more comfortable subject matter.53 The American history of tattooing was ignored while attention was brought to the artistic value, symbolism, and self-expression that tattoos carried. The

Japanese influence of the fine art tattooists also allowed them to cite Asian spirituality and religious practices as inspiration for their work. By creating a history based on a mythical, primitive past, tattooists in the seventies shed some of the stigma that limited the industry.54

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 60

CELEBRITIES AND COUNTERCULTURE

During the 1960s and 70s, multiple political and social groups allied during the mid twentieth century to form the counterculture movement. These groups include hippies, civil rights activists, feminists, gay men and other protestors who shared leftist political agenda. The counterculture movement began in the sixties and included the continued influences of the hippie movement and the individuals who benefited from the political changes into the seventies and early eighties. As tattooing was still on the fringes of society during the onset of the counterculture, it was not used as a form of protest until the counterculture was fully established. The Tattoo Renaissance, and subsequently the women who prospered because of it, benefitted from the use of tattoos as protest. The tattoo industry’s attempts to professionalize was welcomed by the young white middle class taking interest in marginalized cultural groups.

Tattoo artists, realizing the opportunity the subculture brought to the tattoo industry, incorporated hippie symbolism into their flash sheets. Many also found themselves catering to specific groups such as the queer S&M community who were proud to express their identities through permanent body modifications.55 Because tattoos were already worn by social, racial, and class outcasts, hippies, feminists, queers, and other leftist groups adopted tattoos as a sign of resistance to heterosexual, white, middle-class values.56 By getting tattooed, people who may have otherwise been considered the

American ideal denounced their privilege and aligned themselves with people on the margins of society. It is important to note, though, that despite the attention that counterculture brought tattooing, low-class subcultural communities still existed, and

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 61

practiced tattooing. However, while traditional tattooing continued within the subcultures they developed in, fine arts tattooing continued to grow in popularity and visibility.

Janis Joplin got a tattoo on her outer wrist by Lyle Tuttle in San Francisco in April of

1970, becoming the first American celebrity to accept, wear, and promote tattoos.57 The tattoo was a simple black Florentine wristband, feminine and subtle. However, the media and Joplin’s fan base highlighted the permanent bracelet as a radical act form, and a statement. Joplin had interviews, photographs, and biographical pieces about her tattoo featured in TIME magazine, LIFE magazine, and multiple TV shows. She became one of the most widely recognized spokespeople for the tattoo industry, often praising Lyle

Tuttle on his artistry. After Janis Joplin’s passing, a multitude of women went to tattoo shops to get a similar Florentine wrist band.58

Music continued to be influential for the tattoo industry into the 1980s. After Joplin’s success as a tattooed celebrity, others like Ozzie Osbourne, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, and members of the Rolling Stones got tattoos, dramatically increasing the positive visibility of the industry. Fans of these musicians who were also often engaged with the counterculture were inspired by their musical idols to get tattooed. By the 1980s and the emergence of punk, tattooing was a staple of alternative music.59

As mentioned previously, a significant number of educated artists entered the tattoo industry during the Tattoo Renaissance of the sixties and seventies. Excited by the fashionable medium with rebellious connotations, many of these young artists were attracted to the exoticism of tattooing. Rather than laughing at or scientifically analyzing non-western culture like the freak show audiences, young rebels were attracted to the

“spiritual and refined East,” or at least to their assumptions about Asian culture.60 The

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 62

full body composition and Asian symbolism that identified Japanese tattooing were perceived as more modern and sophisticated than the traditional American style.61 While some remained faithful to the badge-like American traditional style, most of the tattooers from fine arts backgrounds were more attracted to the unified composition that Japanese style tattooing offered. The academics involved in political countercultural movements were concerned not only with the formal aesthetic qualities of the new tattoo style, but the symbolism, as many believed that Asian spirituality provided a path to ecstasy and liberation.62 The exotic spirituality of the Japanese style and the rebellious associations of tattooing as an industry attracted a number of artists engaged in counterculture and protest.

Sanders and Vail agree that “to be physically deviant symbolically demonstrates one’s disregard for prevailing norms,” and displaying these deviancies communicated “a wealth of information that shapes the social situation in which interaction takes place.”63

While both early tattooed ladies and counterculturals in the seventies showed their dissatisfaction with the position of women during their respective time periods, the different social situations and interactions that they engaged in communicated different ideological messages. Tattooed women in the early twentieth century used tattooing as an escape from normative society, their body modifications directly increasing their economic opportunities and independence. Additionally, to reveal their tattoos was a choice, as most clothing worn in public covered the designs. Feminists and cultural rebels during the Tattoo Renaissance had very different motivations for getting tattooed later in the decade. Basing their knowledge of tattoo culture on motorcycle gangs and colonized peoples, young counterculturals had themselves tattooed to engage in social critique,

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 63

commentary, and rebellion.64 More globally minded and politically active, tattooed women of the late sixties and seventies displayed their opposition to the way the

American government treated lower class Americans and racial minorities by adopting their corporeal traditions.

Although many in the early Tattoo Renaissance got tattooed for the same political reasons as feminists and civil rights activists, as tattoos became popularized by famous artists and musical icons, they became entrenched and associated with rebellion and counterculture. The counterculture movement brought a new clientele to the tattoo industry, white middle-class youths. The countercultures that adopted tattooing as a form of protest also championed its inclusion in the fine arts. These young rebels fostered the separation of a politically minded subgroup of the tattoo industry, and allowed tattoo artists to innovate and profit from their artistic capabilities.

THE SECOND WAVE

Feminism was one of the most influential political ideologies shared by many countercultures and educated artists. Inspired by the civil rights campaigns of the 1950s, feminists rallied together during the 1960s to increase the standard of living for women in

America. As opposed to the first wave of feminism, which focused on women’s citizenship rights, second wave feminism was the push for American women to gain control of their own bodies, legal rights against discrimination and oppression, and socio- economic equality with men. The 1963 book The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan prompted housewives to question why what they were told happiness consisted of – a nice house, lovely children, a hardworking husband – did not fulfill them. 65 The book

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 64

brought attention to the inequalities that women faced, and sparked what would become the women’s liberation movement.66 Rape crisis centers were established, women’s studies departments were formed at universities, and women pursued male-dominated occupations, like tattooing.

Three philosophies of feminism gained notability during the sixties and seventies.

Liberal feminism focused on including women on every level of an institutional hierarchy, and treating men and women equally in the workplace. Radical feminism called for the upheaval of society and its institutions, seeking to establish a nonhierarchical and antiauthoritarian society. Radicals often aligned themselves with socialism, believing that the oppression of women was one of the inequalities perpetuated by capitalism. Cultural feminism celebrated the differences between men and women, rather than try to force women into traditionally male spheres. 67 Although these philosophies clash and intersect at various points, they each provide philosophies aimed at granting women social, economic, and personal freedom and equality.

Additionally, each of these ideologies had an influence on how women engaged with the tattoo community as a way of asserting their independence and practicing feminism.

Getting tattoos as a woman was a form of active protest against sexist forces that dictated how women should behave, look, and feel, which to many radical feminists was a small- scale form of grassroots rebellion. Similarly, cultural feminism encouraged women to enter the tattoo field, as tattoos were a way for the female body to be appreciated, differentiated, and celebrated without the presence or approval of men.68 By entering the tattoo industry as both creative producers and eager consumers, women amplified the

Tattoo Renaissance.

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 65

One of the most revolutionary aspects of second wave feminism was the turn towards corporeal politics and how women utilized, understood, and altered their own bodies. In

1961, The Pill was introduced, allowing women control of their hormone balances, menstrual cycles, sexual independence, and fertility. This victory inspired feminists to push for more corporeal control, especially access to safe abortions. Additionally, great amounts of attention were being paid to how the female body was constructed within

American society. Outside of the 1968 Miss America Contest, female activists burned bras, makeup, and women’s magazines to demonstrate their frustration with sexist beauty standards.69 By the seventies, the discussion of women’s health and sexuality was not only acceptable, but popular in major media.70 In 1971, international bestseller Our

Bodies Ourselves became the first book written for women by women, simplifying medical jargon and collecting personal anecdotes to provide women with accurate information about their bodies. Tackling previously taboo topics such as postpartum depression, orgasm, bisexuality, and abortion, this publication inspired women to reclaim control of their bodies.71 This increasing awareness and interest in female corporeal control led feminists to tattooing as a medium of protest and reclamation.

Second wave feminism encouraged women to learn about, respect, and change their bodies according to their own desires, and tattooing was one of the ways that many women exercised their right to alter themselves. In the same way that the pill allowed women to control their reproductive systems, tattoos allowed women to control their skin in a way that directly opposed conservative norms. Nancy Kang points out that both tattoos and feminism provoke strong emotional responses, often hasty judgements about a person’s moral character.72 As feminists were often dismissed as overemotional, confused

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 66

man-haters, tattooed people were assumed to be dirty criminals. Feminists, tattooists, civil rights activists, and LGBT activists shared a resentment for being stereotyped. These sociopolitical groups agreed that “skin cannot so simply speak for the self that inhabits it.”73 Because of this similarity, feminists were drawn to tattoos as a symbol of stigmatization and false assumptions, using otherness as an important political move.

Adorning the body with tattoos allowed women to assert control over their bodies, engage in nontraditional self-expression, and bring attention to the double standards surrounding gender and tattoo stereotypes. While men with tattoos were perceived as more masculine, and with that assumptions of strength, independence, and prowess, women with tattoos were seen as sexually promiscuous and immoral.74

An issue that political tattooing highlights is the clash between feminism and multiculturalism. The second wave of feminism has been criticized for being whitewashed by scholars who focus on the issues of white middle class women, arrange the historical order of events with white women at the forefront of the movement, and exclude issues of class and race in favor of a gender-focused dialogue.75 Similarly, feminists who engaged in the tattoo community were typically white and middle class, allowing them to thrive as a woman in an already restrictive field. Tattoos were used as a physical act of defiance against western culture but glorified notions of a more spiritual or primitive cultures where tattooing originated. The multitude of rebellious women who acquired tattoos as a form of feminist protest often fell into an orientalist mentality that accompanied counterculture.

Tattoos had been introduced to America in the context of the freak show, based on encounters between so-called primitive societies and the civilized west. In the sixties and

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 67

seventies, tattoos signified the exotic other as well as a renunciation of bourgeois capitalist culture, and they were irresistible to young rebellious people. As Christianity was entrenched in American middle-class culture, youths ascribing to eastern spiritualties were especially rebellious. Predominantly white countercultures that idealized eastern culture also “championed the ‘hip’ lifestyle of black people,” and got tattoos as a way of identifying with oppressed groups.76 Groups such as the Beats of the fifties, and the

Hippies of the sixties and seventies turned to eastern religions which denounced restrictions on the body as a way of freeing the mind and soul.77 As most of these countercultural groups supported the women’s liberation movement and often comprised of many politically active women, tattooing, feminism, and counterculture easily went together. However, the adoption of eastern religion and body practices into American countercultures reinforced the binary between the “self and Other,” as outlined by

Edward Said in his 1978 book Orientalism.78 Specifically, predominantly white subcultural grups who utilized tattoos as a symbol of anti-western sentiment reduced the cultures where they originated into a single mythical Orient, and assumed that those cultures are “frozen and static entities.”79 Women opposing the patriarchal inequalities of western society using tattoos unknowingly depended the forming tension between feminism and multiculturalism by ignoring the orientalist ideologies that made tattoos powerful tools of protest. The introduction of Japanese style tattooing into the tattoo industry made this relationship even more complex. Women who idealized the spiritual and bodily practices of nonwestern cultures found that “when one’s own sociopolitical system is oppressive and imperialist, then freedom, escape, and alternative realities can seem possible by immersion into radically different constructions of radically different

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 68

cultures.”80 While women during the Tattoo Renaissance used tattooing to assert their right to bodily control, the adoption of tattooing by white women within multiple countercultural movements placed tattooing back within the realm of the mystified, exotic other.

TATTOOING FEMINISM

The surge of fine artists entering the tattoo industry, the American women’s rights movement, and the development of rebellious countercultures were all influenced and affected by each other. Sheila May, Vyvyn Lazogna, Jamie Summers, Ruth Marten, and

Kate Hellenbrand each created a feminine niche within the tattoo industry that brought them economic and commercial success as artists. Beverly Yuen Thompson explains that

“self-expression and identity politics were ventral to the women’s movement, and tattooing provided the perfect outlet,” for artistic feminists.81 Because of the political, artistic, and social changes that occurred during the sixties, female artists in the seventies could find economic success while still participating in the women’s liberation movement. Women during the second part of the Tattoo Renaissance combined their femininity, political activism, and creative talents to produce unique feminine designs that continued the expansion of the tattooing as a medium and an industry.

Clients were drawn to female tattoo artists for a variety of reasons. For some, the choice was a matter of safety, as women were historically sexually harassed while being tattooed. Similarly, being tattooed by another woman reduced the stigma of sexual deviance that being tattooed by a man implied. Some believed that women were gentler with the tattoo machine, possibly a sexist assumption, but possibly a true observation.

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 69

This assumption was perpetuated by the success of artists like “Painless Nell,” and other artists who used the stereotype of women being gentle to their advantage. Many female tattooists had a “waiting area set up like a doctor’s office, a clean bathroom and fresh flowers,” which helped calm the person being tattooed and possibly contributed to reduced feelings of pain.82 Overall, the feminine touches that women brought to the tattoo industry increased parlors’ appeal to new markets, specifically other women and the white middle class.83

Furthermore, while artists of all identities could increase the professionalism of tattooing by presenting a cleaner business space or adopting gentler techniques, women contributed specific aesthetic qualities to tattooing as a medium. In the past, male tattooers were responsible for setting the standards for the industry, especially concerning subjects and stylistic choices of the designs available for clients. The predominantly male client base typically shied away from anything feminine, as tattoos were a symbolic of masculinity, and traditional sailor and biker styles of tattooing did not require many delicate features or vibrant colors. Once artists expanded the techniques and styles available to clients, though, the tattoo market grew and encouraged creative development in the medium. Within this opportunistic shift in the industry, women were able gain acceptance and become notable in the tattoo community for their feminine designs.

Tattoos with softer lines and prettier subjects became popular among women, especially flowers. Although nature themed subjects have been popular tattoo choices for centuries, the techniques developed during the Tattoo Renaissance allowed women to create new designs that developed a feminine aesthetic. To many female artists, “embracing feminine tradition was a way of renouncing masculine convention” within the tattoo

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 70

industry, empowering other women to contribute to the growing movements.84 Female tattoo artists used techniques explored during the Tattoo Renaissance to create delicate feminine designs that stood out from their male counterparts.

Sheila May was one of the first female tattoo artists to emerge during the Tattoo

Renaissance. In 1966, she began working in her husband’s parlor in Wisconsin, developing techniques by watching and learning from the men at the shop. By 1977, she owned her own tattoo shop, where she developed her own style. May purposefully eschewed the masculine style of American tattooing, preferring pastel colors and eliminating the thick black outlines that were essential to the traditional style.85

Vyvyn Lazogna began her tattooing career in 1972 in the Seattle Tattoo Emporium, apprenticing under Danny Danzl.86 Like many entering this intimidating industry,

Lazogna was “in the right place at the right time,” receiving lessons in tattooing for doing chores around the shop.87 She quickly rose to fame as a beautiful woman with tattoos, shocking many by getting full sleeves in the early seventies, but also gained respect as a talented artist. However, while working under Danzl, she often saw men with less talent get promoted over her. Lazogna recalls, “there was sexism and there was prejudice and I resented it.”88 She was often reduced to a novelty, the rare female tattooer, and her talents were overlooked in favor of men working in the same shop. Lazogna established her own tattoo parlor in 1979, where she specialized in Japanese, art deco, and floral designs that were composed to highlight the shape of the body.

On the east coast, women developed a “distinctly New York aesthetic” that consisted of “innovative designs hatched in collaboration with their clients.”89 Because tattooing had been illegal in New York City since 1962, tattoo artists worked out of

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 71

disguised shops or in their apartments. While this arrangement made it difficult for tattoo artists to reach new clients, it encouraged collaboration. Jamie Summers, who worked under the name La Palma attempted to “conjure designs from the depths of her clients’ psyches.” 90 She became known for her spirituality, often going through lengthy, ritualistic consultations with clients before designing a tattoo. Summers studied ceramics at the San Francisco Art Institute, but “rejected the confines of the organized art world, wanting to find something to suit her spiritual interests.”91 While many art students entered the tattoo industry for the economic stability or challenging medium, Summers was interested in creating tattoos that revealed the wearer’s personality. She became known for her subtle shading, pastel colors, and dot patterns.

Ruth Marten was another east coast academic that tattooed in New York City.

Marten met and collaborated with Jamie Summers towards the end of the decade. Marten studied at Boston’s Museum School, and began tattooing in 1972 for the economic opportunities.92 She was especially popular during the gay liberation movement that developed alongside second wave feminism. While still only comprising a portion of her clientele, Marten recalls “gays were at their zenith in terms of extroversion, self- decoration, and partying,” and many homosexuals chose to get tattooed in celebration of their political recognition.93 One of her most famous pieces was a transvestite angel across the back of Ethyl Eichelberger, a famous drag performer, drawn by their mutual friend Ken Tisa. The tattoo became an important component during Eichelberger’s performances, as they would build up suspense during a monologue, then turn and drop thier costume to reveal the design. 94

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 72

Ruth Marten’s success in the tattoo industry allowed her to develop tattoos as a fine arts medium. She studied Maori and Polynesian tattooing styles, and was one of the first to incorporate the bold black forms that would become neo-tribalism. Another of

Marten’s famous pieces was a pair of f-holes, the distinctive shapes carved into violins, on early punk singer Judy Nylon. She titled the piece Homage to Man Ray, referencing the piece Le Violon d’Ingres from 1924. Marten also reproduced other artworks, including a Mondrian painting on a woman’s thigh. In 1977, she set up a tattoo booth at the Paris Biennale, offering to tattoo famous works on fine art collectors. This attempt to directly engage fine art collectors in the practice of tattooing was unsuccessful, revealing the large gap that remained between the fine arts and the tattoo industry. 95

Kate Hellenbrand entered the tattoo industry through the intersection with the fine arts. Hellenbrand studied graphic design at the Art Center School of Design and

Chouinards School of Fine Arts. In 1968, she moved to New York City where she met

Mike Malone, a tattoo artist. 96 The two dated and collaborated on the 1971 exhibit

Tattoo! at the Museum of American Folk Art. Malone ran a tattoo shop out of their shared apartment named Catfish Tattoo Studio, where Hellenbrand was employed as a hostess or receptionist. After Malone taught her how to tattoo, the two ran the shop together and Hellendbrand developed her own artistic career. She briefly apprenticed with Sailor Jerry Collins in Hawaii, where she learned traditional techniques and “how to mow through bullshit.”97 Hellenbrand often had to endure sexist comments and requests from male artists and clients. She stated, “every day I was told I was too weak, I wasn’t tough enough, I even had to pee standing up.”98 Not only was Hellenbrand assumed to be too feminine to succeed in tattooing, but she was often objectified as a tattooed woman.

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 73

She recalls that to many of the men working in and frequenting tattoo shops, “women were sex objects; they came into shops and performed sexual acts in order to get tattoos.”99 Hellendbrand and all other female tattoo artists faced objections and hindrances from their male coworkers, clients, and the American public as a whole.

By enduring the prejudice and misogyny that plagued the tattoo industry throughout the twentieth century, female artists emerged at the forefront of the newest fine art medium. Women trained in the fine arts, created uniquely feminine tattoo styles utilizing the techniques developed during the Tattoo Renaissance, and gained financial security and political fulfilment from doing so. These artists often incorporated pastel colors, soft shading, and thin line work that contrasted with the masculine traditional style that was popular in America. Emphasizing the political power of the body, women carved a place for themselves in the tattoo industry throughout the seventies, creating a path for future female tattoo artists to succeed.

While many women may have entered the tattoo industry for the economic advantages or the artistic freedom, the Tattoo Renaissance fostered the formation of a politically-minded female tattoo community in America that continues to develop and prosper. Despite the stigmas and hyper masculine associations that plagued the tattoo industry during the 1950s, academics, artists, political activists, and women were able to transform the medium into a symbol of self-expression, spirituality, and rebellion.

Women who succeeded in the tattooing during the seventies, regardless of their levels of fame, were pioneers in combating sexism and popularizing femininity in the tattoo industry. Without them, the formation of the contemporary female tattoo community would have been nearly impossible.

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 74

Figure II: WOMAN BEING TATTOOED BY CERVENA FOX, PITTSBURGH TATTOO EXPO, MARCH 2020

1 Arnold Rubin, Marks of Civilization: Artistic Transformations of the Human Body, (Los Angeles, University of California, 1988), 233. 2 “Traditional Tattoo Meanings,” sailorjerry.com, accessed 2020. 3 Richard Valdemar, “Murder Ink,” POLICE Magazine, 2006. 4 Arnold Rubin identifies this group and their contemporaries as the first generation of the Tattoo Renaissance, comprised mostly of men exploring non-western tattooing. 5 Rubin, Marks of Civilization, 252. 6 Margo DeMello and Gayle Rubin, Bodies of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community, (New Jersey, Duke University, 2000), 1-16. 7 Michael Atkinson, Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art, (Toronto, University of Toronto, 2003), 37. 8 Ibid, 38. 9 History.com Editors, “The 1950s,” HISTORY, (A&E Television Networks, 2019), https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/1950s. 10 Ibid. 11 Beverly Yuen Thompson, Covered in Ink: Tattoos, Women, and the Politics of the Body, (New York, New York University, 2015), 27. 12 Mary Kosut, “Mad Artists and Tattooed Perverts: Deviant Discourse and the Social Construction of Cultural Categories,” Deviant Behavior 27, no. 1 (2006), 76. 13 Kosut, “Mad Artists and Tattooed Perverts,” 84. 14 Mindy Fenske, Tattoos in American Visual Culture, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), 88. 15 Ibid, 92. 16 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 67. 17 Atkinson, Tattooed, 41. 18 Ibid, 39. 19 Atkinson, Tattooed, 36. 20 Clinton Sanders and D. Angus Vail, Customizing the Body: The Art and Culture of Tattooing, (Philadelphia, Temple University, 2008), 18. 21 Samuel Steward, Bad Boys and Tough Tattoos, (New York, Harrington Park, 1990), 49. 22 Ibid, 130.

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 75

23 Nancy Kang, “Painting Fetters: Tattooing as a Feminist Liberation,” in Philosophy for Everyone: I Ink, Therefore I Am, ed. Robert Arp (Hoboken, Wiley, 2012), 73. 24 Atkinson, Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art, 36. 25 Steward, Bad Boys and Tough Tattoos, 127. 26 Kang, “Painted Fetters,” 73. 27 De Mello, Bodies of Inscription, 73. 28 Margo DeMello, Encyclopedia of Body Adornment, (Westport, Greenwood, 2007), 75. 29 “About Norman Collins,” sailorjerry.org, accessed 2020. 30 Clinton R. Sanders, “Organization Constraints on Tattoo Images: a sociological analysis of artistic style” The Meaning of Things: Material Culture and Symbolic Expression, ed. I. Hodder, (New York, Harper Collins, 1989), 235. 31 Michael Rees, “From Outsider to Established: Explaining the Current Popularity and Acceptability of Tattooing,” Historical Social Research 41, no. 3 (2016), 157-74. 32 Rubin, Marks of Civilization, 210 – 214. 33 freddynegrete.com 34 Sanders, “Organization Constraints on Tattoo Images,” 236. 35 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 69. 36 DeMello, Encyclopedia of Body Adornment, 75. 37 Mary Kosut, “The Artification of Tattoo: Transformations within a Cultural Field,” Cultural Sociology 8, no. 2 (2014), 142-158. 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid, 19. 40 Sanders, “Organization Constraints on Tattoo Images,” 232. 41 Sanders and Vail, Customizing the Body, 151. 42 Sanders and Vail, Customizing the Body, 152. 43 Sanders, “Organization Constraints on Tattoo Images,” 233. 44 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 58. 45 Ibid, 238. 46 “Sailor Jerry Collins,” shanghaikates.com, accessed 2020. 47 Alan B. Govenar, “Culture in Transition: The Recent Growth of Tattooing in America,” Anthropos 76, no. ½ (1981), 216-219. 48 (https://magazine.sangbleu.com/2014/04/12/tattoo-at-the-american-museum-of-folk-art/) 49 Oriana Fox, “Once More with Feeling: An Abbreviated History of Feminist Performance Art,” Feminist Review 96 (2010), 107-121. 50 Sanders and Vail, Customizing the Body, 3. 51 Govenar, “Culture in Transition,” 218. 52 Margo DeMello, “Not Just for Bikers Anymore: Popular Representations of American Tattooing,” The Journal of Popular Culture 29, no. 3 (1995), 42. 53 Ibid. 54 Ibid, 48-49. 55 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 76. 56 Ibid, 71. 57 Ibid, 77. 58 Govenar, “Culture in Transition,” 217. 59 Margo DeMello, “Music and Tattoos,” Inked: Tattoos and Body Art Around the World, Santa Barbara, (ABC-CLIO, 2014), 439-440. 60 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 74. 61 Ibid. 62 C.T. Jackson, “The Counterculture Looks East: Beat Writers and Asian Religion,” American Studies 29, no. 1 (1988), 68. 63 Sanders and Vail, Customizing the Body, 2.

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 76

64 Atkinson, Tattooed, 41. 65 Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, (New York, Norton, 1963). 66 Although not the most radical, and often criticized for being too middle ground, this book was one of the most influential and commercially successful pieces of feminist literature. 67 David Boychier, The Feminist Challenge: The Movement for Women’s Liberation in Britain and the USA, (London, Macmillan, 1983), 62-74. 68 Kang, “Painting Fetters,”, 68-69. 69 Boychier, The Feminist Challenge, 53-54. 70 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 54. 71 Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, Our Bodies Ourselves, (New York, Simon & Schuster, 1976). 72 Ibid, 66. 73 Christine Braunberger. "Revolting Bodies: The Monster Beauty of Tattooed Women." NWSA Journal 12, no. 2 (2000), 3. 74 Ibid, 67. 75 Benita Roth, “Introduction: The Emergence and Development of Racial/Ethnic Feminisms in the 1960s and 1970s,” Separate Roads to Feminism: Black, Chicana, and White Feminist Movements in America’s Second Wave, (New York, Cambridge University, 2004), 7-9. 76 Jackson, The Counterculture Looks East,” 68. 77 Nadya Zimmerman, “The New Age Persona: Sex, Spirituality, and Escaping to the Now,” Counterculture Kaleidoscope: Musical and Cultural Perspectives on Late Sixties San Francisco, (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, 2008), 134. 78 Edward W. Said, Orientalism, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1978). 79 Leti Volpp, “Feminism Versus Multiculturalism,” Columbia Law Review 101 (2001). 80 Nadya Zimmerman, “The Exotic Persona: Absorbing the Postcolonial Political Pill,” Counterculture Kaleidoscope: Musical and Cultural Perspectives on Late Sixties San Francisco, (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, 2008), 62. 81 Thompson, Covered in Ink, 32. 82 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 70-71. 83 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 70-71. 84 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 70-71. 85 Ibid, 56. 86 Riley Bunch, “Seattle’s First Lady of Tattoo Reflects on Nearly Half a Century of Work,” Seattle Refined, Sinclair Broadcast Group, 2018. 87 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 57. 88 Ibid. 89 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 58. 90 DeMello, Inked, 631. 91 Ibid. 92 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 57. 93 Ibid, 58. 94 Reba, “An Interview with Tattoo Artist Pioneer Ruth Marten,” Sang Bleu Magazine, 2015. 95 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 58. 96 Jasmine Rollason, “Shanghai Kate Hellenbrand: America’s Tattoo Godmother,” Tattoo Life, 2019. 97 Ibid. 98 Ibid. 99 Ibid.

FEMINISM & RENAISSANCE 77

CHAPTER 3: MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION

The momentum of the Tattoo Renaissance and the embrace of tattooing by the counterculture helped to make tattoos a luxury commodity. From the 1970s to the present, alternative culture and tattooing became intrinsically linked in the eyes of the

American public. Resisting the norm has become fashionable. In the following chapters, I will trace the commodification and commercialization of the fine art tattoo and its development into a signifier of liberal identity, class stability, and cultural savvy. By studying the use of magazines, television, and the internet by the tattoo community, I will identify the ways in which the tattoo industry changed from the late twentieth century to the present. I will focus on female tattoo artists. I will argue that a confluence of feminism, rights movements, and commodification and commercialization allowed women to attain visibility in the tattoo industry. Commodification refers to the reduction of a spiritual, personal, or culturally significant object into a meaningless item with monetary value. Commercialization is the process by which a commodity becomes entangled with marketing, and is used primarily for financial gain. Both of these concepts can be seen in the tattoo industry. Magazines and television programs made tattoos desirable for the middle class, who contributed to the commodification of the industry by marketing tattoos as fashion items. Companies in a variety of industries were able to utilize the tattoo in their campaigns for products appealing to young rebellious types, who emulated punk and grunge fashion trends.

Tattooing became a staple of alternative fashion by the 1980s. Embraced by youth subcultures including hippie, punk, grunge, hipster, and DIY (an acronym for Do-It-

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 78

Yourself), these styles were co-opted by American consumer culture, and slowly became a part of cultural mass media and production. In the process, tattooing transitioned from being a mark of political resistance to a middle-class fashion statement and a popular commodity. The commodification and commercialization of tattooing was facilitated and hastened by the development of tattoo media, beginning with magazines devoted to tattoo art. Fine art tattoo magazines, with high production values and primarily middle class audiences, were first published in the eighties and reached peak popularity in the 90s.

These publications connected tattoo enthusiasts with potential enthusiasts ,and provided straightforward information about the tattooing. . The tattoo magazines in turn encouraged the production of reality television shows, documentaries, and eventually blogs and other internet sites dedicated to tattooing. The surge in media focusing on the tattoo industry ushered a generation of young adults into tattoo studios. Millennials and

Gen Z-ers grew up with tattoos, and their desire for tattooing their own bodies fueled the contemporary fine arts tattoo industry. The development of social and informational platforms that connected tattoo enthusiasts created a robust tattoo community, focused on the practice of tattooing and its history, artistic value, and social uses. In addition, these platforms have aided the formation of a distinct female tattoo community among influencers, collectors, and artists.

The growth of the tattoo community through various forms of media and the subsequent commercialization of tattooing has resulted in both positive and negative changes for tattooed women and women tattoo artists. From the eighties until today, women have faced less opposition for being tattooed and practicing tattoo art. Women were able to find work related to the tattoo industry in new avenues such as marketing,

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 79

modelling, journalism, and social media management. The influx of accessible information about tattooing further popularized tattooing. Many people within the growing tattoo community worried that the commodification and popularization of tattoos reduced the power of the tattoo as a symbol of political and social resistance, especially for women challenging female body norms. Furthermore, the high visibility of tattooed women in suggestive poses and revealing clothing that ostensibly show their tattoos have created an expectation that women in the tattoo industry are promiscuous.

Contemporary tattoo enthusiasts struggle to find balance between the working class, colonial origins of tattooed women and women tattoo artists in American, with the socio- political power of marking and creating the body and the commercialization of fine arts tattoos. Tattooed women, myself included, navigate these issues within supportive, empowering communities that share their tattoos and lives through a variety of media platforms.

PUNK TRIBALISM

At the end of the 1970s the hippie subculture fell out of favor. Many of the once young protestors settled down into comfortable lifestyles, and some of the former rebels actually supported Ronald Reagan’s conservative revolution. However, a new subculture was forming that opposed hippie peace and love with violence and obscenity. Punks were identified by their spiked hair, vintage shirts, and fascinating array of tattoos.1 Punk kids wore steel-toed boots, fluorescent-colored hair, and body modifications that included piercing, scarification, body modification, and tattoos. Punk styles, which developed from the S/M leather community in the 1960s were tight, sleek, and sharp. Because of

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 80

punks, transgressive violence, sexuality, obscenity, and nihilism became staples of popular culture.2

Emerging at the same time as hip-hop, which appeared in lower income and minority neighborhoods, punk was created by youths belonging to generation X. The children of economically optimistic Baby Boomers, generation X was the first generation to experience a lower standard of living than their parents.3 Because of the economic pessimism that they grew up with, Gen-X punks were nihilistic, yet determined to live life to the fullest. According to Marshall Berman, punk “proclaims and dramatizes radical negation without radical hope, and yet manages to create some sort of hope out of its overflow of energy and honesty and the communal warmth it ignites.”4 Punks were overall pessimistic about every aspect of society, and doubtful that things could change, yet they were passionate about opposing the status quo with vague attempts to topple the capitalist system.

Punks developed DIY, Do-It-Yourself, as an ironic style of consuming popular culture as a result of extended exposure to media and advertising.5 DIY creations such as music, zines (low budget, independent magazines), and performances were consumed by other members of the punk community, creating a self-sustaining economy of art and entertainment. The purpose of these made-at-home forms of media was to refuse mass consumption, and many early punk music and publications offered an oblique critique of postwar society. The punks championed leisure and community over work and rationalization, which they saw as traits indicative of being trapped in the American corporate system.6 Punks religiously consumed the creations of other punk artists, leaving behind normative society for a community that sustained itself while maintaining

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 81

independence and authenticity. After watching their parents succumb to the comforts of middle class comfort, punks were determined to oppose the large corporations that seemingly ran the world. They distrusted the hippies that appeared to retract the values they once boisterously espoused by turning to the New Right.7

Punks were originally seen as commercially unavailable because of their open hostility towards mass culture, which included the violence and rampant drug use that was associated with the subculture.8 Punk identity hinged on the premise of being different and anti-establishment. Punk music mimicked the spastic flows of television, video games, and commercial amusements created by a generation raised on high-sugar diets and plagued by mental health disorders.9 Their music and fashion were shocking to mainstream America, and the lifestyle choices that many punks made solidified the connection between punk aesthetics and outsider status. A pillar of the punk/DIY lifestyle was to create personal forms of culture that were superior to those handed by large corporations to sheep-like consumers, as they believed that mass-mediated culture that was commercialized by corporations were superficial and inauthentic.10 According to

Lauren Langman, these young rebels, like many subcultures before them, encouraged

“the re-emergence of the carnival” which legitimated “a variety of forms of transgressions as critique and resistance,” including tattooing.11 Punk encompassed many different cultural and political agendas, but was unified in their artistic and aesthetic tastes, opposition to the norm, and reputation for being nihilistic, pessimistic, and violent.12 While many subcultural youths appreciated and even joined the punk movement, most of American society considered it a symptom of the end of civilization, and feared the impact of the punk movement.13

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 82

Bands such as the Sex Pistols, Sousxie and the Banshees, and the Clash

“articulated the anger and alienation many young people felt.”14 Not only did their lyrics discuss violence, sex, and radical politics, but their music inspired it, and its members performed it. Although punk originated in the US, English punk music groups grew to greater fame than many American bands, and became a huge part of the subculture in

America. The Sex Pistols, an English group that formed in the mid 70s, is responsible for creating look of punk: colorful hair, extreme body modifications, black clothing, studs and spikes.15 Another group from London, The Clash, was widely known for directing their anger towards global inequality and injustice. Because punk youths displayed themselves as crazy, unpredictable, and violent, many dismissed their political statements as hysterical outbursts. Punk artists and performers were interested in “modernist and postmodernist ideas about signification, reification and commodity fetishism, self- reflexivity and intertextuality, and the cultural politics of subversion,” and their lyrics reflected these ideologies.16

The punk community was criticized for their hypocritical condemnation of art and culture institutions. Punks often considered these institutions to be plagued with elitists, who refused authentic art in favor of greed. They coined the term “sellout” to describe

“over-dependence on capitalism to support one’s lifestyle,” often succumbing to the superficiality of mainstream art circles.17 Bands who gained enough fame to get signed by major record labels, artists who displayed their work in notable galleries and museums, and designers who sold their ideas to fashion labels were all labeled as sellouts. Many so-called sellouts were ostracized by the communities that had once inspired and supported them. According to Ryan Moore, the fear of selling out has been

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 83

associated with masculine insecurities, as “mass culture is associated with stereotypically feminine qualities like passivity and vanity.”18. Punks were aggressive and defensive about their status, maintaining the rugged individualism that has been associated with

American masculinity since the formation of the country. To cooperate with institutions was a sign of weakness, and selling out was to give up the self. These “high ideals about non-conformity” turned punk into “competition about individualism.”19 Needless to say, the Punk subculture did not include many women.

One of the most noticeable and popular forms of punk transgression was tattooing, and the punks’ tattoo style of choice was tribalism. Tribalism refers to designs taken from and influenced by cultures from aboriginal tribes of Samoa, Borneo, Hawaii, and New Zealand.20 Tribal style tattooing became popular in the 1970s within the S/M and leather communities from which the punk styles emerged. A subculture of punk with elements of new age spirituality called Neo-Primitivism developed during the late 1970s, led by Fakir Musafar. Musafar, born Roland Loomis in Aberdeen, SD, did a stint in the army during the Korean War, earned degrees in engineering and creative writing, and worked in the advertising industry before changing his name to Fakir Musafar and making a career out of body modification. He was a white, middle class man who studied the spiritual and cultural practices of aboriginal tribes and combined them with elements of S/M to create a subculture separate from both punk and S/M.21 Neo-Primitives practiced ritual tattooing, piercing, and other forms of body modification to emulate aboriginal tribes, in an attempt to find a sense of humanity that modern life could not provide.22

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 84

By the 1980s, tribal tattoos were a staple of punk culture, although few carried the spiritualism and sentimentality that the Neo-Primitives intended for the practice. Punks were attracted to the ideas that Neo-Primitivism offered, such as connectedness to a community and displaying the inner authentic self, but separated the style from the cultures where they originated. Punks generally did not concern themselves with eastern philosophies or elaborate rituals, and utilized tribal tattooing as a form of cultural transgression. Tribalism was popularized by Pilipino-American tattoo artist Leo Zulueta.

Some critics acknowledged the issue of appropriation that white middle-class punks getting tribal tattoos created, but Zulueta asserts that “it was more of an appreciation,” and he would not copy directly, but rather “use the ancient imagery and use it as a springboard.”23 Whether or not countercultural youths knew that their tattoos were appropriative, the style became a significant mark of punk culture during the 1980s.

Punks were attracted to tribal designs because they seemed simple and easy to replicate in the DIY fashion. Tribalism usually required only one color and minimal details, making them easy starter subjects for young rebels to tattoo.24 The “Hawaiian band” tattoo design, created by emerging tattoo artist Mike Malone during the late 1970s, became a badge of honor and a symbol of dedication to the punk lifestyle.25 A Hawaiian band would be an all-black shape, usually around the upper arm, detailed with tribal shapes and accents, such as swirls, triangles, and interlocking forms. Hawaiian bands could be simple or intricate, done at a professional studio or at home with a needle and ink. They became the first tattoo trend, and are now so ingrained in 80s counterculture that they are now “simply a relic of an earlier era” of tattooing in America.26

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 85

Like the hippies before them, most punks eventually sold out or gave into the pressures of modern capitalist society. Punk was replaced by the grunge scene that believed that replaced the aggressive rebellion of the punks with personal introspection.27

Grunge rejected the consumption of the Yuppies, the urban professionals that followed the New Right, and the competitive non-conformity of the punks. Their fashion was simple and functional, and they popularized thrift shopping. Those in the grunge subculture had a carefree attitude that “has a desperate quality to it,” a hopelessness from believing that no good will come in the future, leaving only the present to enjoy.28 While maintaining the nihilism and pessimism of the punks, grunge saw no use in rioting.

Instead, they metaphorically laid back and tried to relax while consumer culture ruled the world. Despite their ideological differences, punk and grunge shared numerous aesthetic and social traits.

END OF THE CENTURY ARTISTS

Women were integral to the tattoo industry throughout the punk and grunge eras, helping people through spiritual healing, empowerment, and regaining control of their bodies and lives.29 Mifflin accurately states that “female tattooists became soul doctors in a nation afflicted by escalating anxieties about the body.”30 As AIDS took hundreds of lives, Regan’s conservative policies restricted access to abortions, and the media projected conflicting and increasingly unattainable body standards for women, tattooing became a way of regaining bodily control and confidence. Becoming tattooed allowed women to find support in a community that celebrated differences and encouraged self-

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 86

expression. Many women identified with the tattooed ladies of the past, inspired by their bravery, entrepreneurship, and freedom.31

Unfortunately, the masculinity of the punk movement did not encourage feminine innovations within the tattoo community. Few women tattoo artists gained popularity during the punk era, and fewer rose to fame for artistic individuality. Margot Mifflin goes so far as to say that women tattoo artists “eroded the very concept of a women’s aesthetic” during the 80s and 90s by copying manly styles like tribalism.32 The women who did manage to gain notoriety did so within the male-oriented, and sometimes sexist, tattoo styles that were aesthetically masculine. One woman artist, Pat Fish excelled at

Celtic designs with intricate knots, that was popular among men as large muscle- enhancing designs.33 Andrea Elston became notable for her impressive biomechanical pieces, which make the flesh look like it rips away to reveal the body’s fantastical mechanical or electronic inner workings. The style itself was based on “imagery that builds from male driven fantasies” of women “mummified by technology, at once physically restrained but sexually available.”34 One of the only women whose unique designs became a popular trend later became a marker of female objectification. Jill

Jordan used her fashion background and knowledge of the female form to design the

“tramp stamp,” a lower back design that accentuates the curve of the hips and buttocks.35

Unfortunately, the design later became a fashion trend and marker of female sexual availability, typically consisting of flowers, butterflies, and other socially acceptable subjects for women. The lack of female tattoo artists gaining fame during the 1980s and

90s is partially due to the attention that media paid to women artists’ sexual attractiveness, which took attention away from their individual work. The

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 87

commodification of the tattoo resulted in the commodification of the tattooed woman so much so that “to the same degree that Victorian women were expected to repress their sexuality, contemporary women are obligated, now, to express it.” 36

On the other hand, individual trends within the tattoo community reflected the feminist spirit that remained in some tattoo circles. Uterus tattoos became a subject of interest after Judy Chicago’s performance of The Dinner party in 1979.37 First revealed at

The Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, a triangular table is set with plates of food arranges to resemble vaginal imagery, with table settings and table engravings honoring influential women throughout history. While the opening was sold out, critics found the vaginal imagery distasteful.38 This prompted particularly rebellious feminists in the 80s to have similar imagery tattooed as a form of corporeal protest. Similarly, women began reclaiming the pin-up as a “hallmark of feminine power and ethos,” to oppose commercial femininity and gendered presentation.39 Historically, pin-ups were tattooed on sailors and soldiers who would not be able to see women for many months, and got tattoos of overtly sexualized women. Women tattoo artists redesigned pinups to expand the expression of female erotic ideals. Women of color, disfigured women, and even satirical zombie pinups displayed new forms of sexual imagery that opposed the traditional feminine ideals. Although women tattooists were not praised for their artistic innovations during the 1980s and 90s, artists still developed icons and techniques that reflected a feminine spirit and community.

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 88

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE

Despite their variety of attempts to subvert the mass-mediated capitalist consumer culture that rules America, subcultural styles have continuously been reproduced for the masses. The ways in which the punk and grunge subculture, modern primitivism, and tattooing as a whole have become popularized and commercialized can be explained through Consumer Culture Theory. Arnould and Thompson identify four ways to analyze the reasons why people consume specific items over others. Consumption choices depend on how the commodity will reflect their cultural identity, what community the commodity implies membership to, the person’s own societal structures that encourage or dissuade from certain forms of consumption, and the way the media portrays the consumption of certain products.40 Because the media portrayed tattoos, the tattoo community, and the tattooed individual more positively, the only thing that kept many people from getting tattooed was their immediate social group. However, as more subcultures and social movements embraced tattooing, people had more social support in their decision to get inked.

Tattoos continued to lose their taboo status throughout the punk era, and began to gain social and commercial notability. As punk fell out of fashion, so did the associations with violence and obscenity that was characteristic of the subculture. Additionally, the acceptance of tattoos by the middle class during the 80s and 90s was facilitated by New

Class social movements such as the women’s and peace movements from the previous decades, the countercultural transition from aggressive punk to “lazy, slacker” grunge, and the popularization of “alternative” style.

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 89

As discussed in the first chapter, tattooing was traditionally a working-class practice in America, which facilitated its association with delinquency. Mindy Fenske asserts that “class is produced by the performance of the body in cultural space and practices of the body are reciprocally interpreted as measures of social status.”41 In other words, because only working class people had tattoos, it became a societal marker of low-class backgrounds. Punks, however, brought tattooing into the middle class more than any subculture before them. Janis Joplin may have inspired hippies to get small bits of ink, but punks went out of their way to show off their bold, black, tribal work. While the punk movement included all classes, many youths who later emulated the punk style lived in the suburbs, went to large public schools, and shared fashion trends with their middle-class peers. As the radicalism of the punk movement dwindled, style items like thick leather bracelets, fishnet tights, and tribal tattoos disseminated into general middle class youth culture. Additionally, because “the social elite sets the standard for tasteful and appropriate behavior, they guarantee their position at the top of the social hierarchy,” and bring their choices in style with them.42 Once punk was large enough, its aesthetic tastes and styles became part of the general middle class youth lifestyle, and larger music, fashion, entertainment industries “descended into ravenous frenzy” onto what it once shunned.43 Successful grunge bands sported tribal tattoos and cited punks as their fashion and music inspirations, further pushing businesses to accept and adopt the imagery.44 To avoid the negative associations that the term punk recalled, many marketers used the term

“alternative” to refer to a combination of styles that symbolized youth and rebellion. Hot

Topic, a mall store launched in 1988 that specializes in countercultural clothing and accessories, is a testament to the commercialization of alternative style.45 Tribalism,

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 90

although already a notable trend in the tattoo industry, became a popular alternative design choice for a variety of consumer products.

Unfortunately, this mainstreaming of the tattoo within the middle class removed some of its subversive power. “Mainstream groups alter the subcultural meanings of symbols from the ritual and affiliative to the vendible and decorative”, according to

Christina Fabiani, and subsequently remove their sociopolitical power.46 To middle class youths in the late 80s and early 90s, tribalism and tattoos were fashion items utilized by their punk peers. However, by replicating them and consequently spreading the style to other middle class consumers, they diluted the rebellious connotations that made tattoos enticing.

The acceptability of tattoos, especially with foreign or aboriginal influences, was aided by the onslaught of New Class social movements that were popular among the middle class towards the end of the 20th century. These included the Self-Help movement, the New Age movement, feminist spirituality, ecology, and the Men’s movement, all of which brought attention to the spiritual power of the human body.47 The

S/M communities who found pleasure from every aspect of bodily experience, including pain, were highly influential in the spread of New Class social movements. Self-Help refers to the trend of pop psychology and emphasis on self-awareness that began in the late 70s.48 New Age describes the conglomeration of Eastern religions popularized during the 1960s, new ideas about identity and human potential, and practices and symbols borrowed from wiccan, pagan, and other obscure belief systems.49 The Men’s movement was an attempt to create a ‘new masculinity,’ in which men were encouraged to connect more emotionally and spiritually with themselves and other men.50 To these groups and

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 91

many more, social activism took place within the self, aligning with the grunge philosophies of maintaining personal comfort and order. This trend became known as the

“cult of the individual,” in which an “intense preoccupying self-absorption” manifests itself through certain sets of fashion and lifestyle choices.51 Middle class consumers bought books, subscribed to magazines, and donated to organizations that would supposedly aid them in their personal transformations and grant them access to unique subcultural communities.

To those who subscribed to these nontraditional ideologies, tattoos were seen as

“decorating the temple of the body.”52 Getting tattooed required discipline and self- control, and most middle class consumers only considered tattoos acceptable if they were artistic, well thought out, and carried personal symbolism. New Class social movements encouraged artistic tattooing as rituals of self-actualization, transformation, spiritual growth.53 Although tattoos worn by the middle-class youths were symbols of self- awareness and spiritual connectedness, rather than depictions of delinquency, many still appreciated tattooing’s lower class roots. Unlike their parents, middle class youths during the 80s and 90s appreciated aesthetic sense that is not bound by rigid standards,” giving them a sense of authenticity and freedom that adopting working class cultural symbols carried.54 More so than wearing healing crystals or dying one’s hair, tattooing was a dedication to beautifying the body and freeing the spirit.

Despite their growing popularity, middle class youths in the 1990s still had to

“reconcile their desires for tattoos with their fears of being associated with low-status groups,” and employ “a set of legitimation techniques to help maintain their social status.”55 Adhering to any of the social movements that were popular during the time

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 92

served as adequate legitimation, but many found more general ways to explain their choice to get tattooed. One of the most significant negotiations between acceptable self- expression and nonconformity was maintaining other social boundaries regarding tattoo design and placement. People got tattoos as “decorative tokens of individuality and nonconformance,” but still upheld traditional American ideas of gender, race, class, which “simultaneously supported and destabilized dominant power relations that regulated large-scale concepts of normativity and abnormality.”56 For women, this usually meant getting tattoos of butterflies, flowers, and other typically feminine images, often hidden from the public view or placed in a sexually alluring location on the body.

Middle class customers paid more for tattooists that labelled themselves as artists and had formal art training to prove their credibility. Some of the same middle class clients who wanted to maintain the rebellious identity that tattoos implied claimed they got inked to

“repudiate the technocratic, materialistic, and depersonalized values” of the period, and as a “means of transcending the most negative aspects of the modern world.”57 These ideas of transcendence and rejecting materialism stemmed from the New Class movements, but were often framed in relation to the economic pessimism and nihilism that the punk and grunge generations shared. Especially within grunge scenes that championed a laid-back attitude and a messy aesthetic, tattoos symbolized one’s rejection of strict beauty standards that relied on consumerism and materialism.

Whether to subvert bodily norms, become spiritually enlightened, or oppose the rigidity of the American capitalist system, tattoos were widely used throughout the late

20th century to display aspects of identity. Not only were social movements that encouraged body modification becoming widely accepted by the middle class, punk and

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 93

grunge styles were being used and promoted commercially by the 1990s. Tattooed people faced less stigmatization, and tattoo artists enjoyed a wider variety of customers with higher incomes. Unfortunately, these trends generally only benefited the middle-class women, while working class women were still stigmatized and abused within the tattoo industry. In many punk and grunge circles, “women were still relegated to the sidelines as girlfriends and spectators,” unable to participate in the liberating industry of DIY art and performance.58 Additionally, women were still asked to unnecessarily strip for small tattoos, verbally harassed, and inappropriately touched in tattoo shops throughout the

1980s.59 In biker communities, dehumanizing “property of” tattoos were still common on women into the 1990s.60 Despite the middle-class acceptance of tattoos, women in specific subculture groups and working class communities still faced opposition and harassment in the tattoo industry.

Tattoos not only lost their status as taboo marks of deviance, but became signifiers of a middle-class lifestyle that idealizes individualism and follows niche market trends plucked from urban youths. Corporate America found ways to coopt almost every aspect of hippie, grunge, and punk subcultures, and combine them into an ever-changing

“alternative” style. The increased visibility, popularity, and availability of tattoos created a “thirst for information relating to tattooing, leading to the introduction of tattoo focused media.”61 In what follows, I will examine how tattoo magazines and television shows aided and hastened the commodification and commercialization of the tattoo industry, complicated women’s place in the tattoo community, and changed tattooed women’s experiences in mainstream society.

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 94

TATTOO MAGAZINES

Tattoo magazines were the first medium that created tattoo focused content, and helped to solidify and connect subculture groups and the tattoo industry. Magazines were not just collections of tattoo pictures or flash sheets, but sources of information that were established as vehicles for artists to share their work, resources for documenting the history of tattooing, sources for advertising and reporting about tattoo related events, and sites for artists and their clients to share their experiences with tattoos.62 Tattoo magazines increased the visibility of fine art tattooing, and as a result, increased the size of the tattoo community. Alternative people interested in tattoos could easily access information about tattoos, personal testimonies, and design ideas, making them feel more welcome to participate in the tattoo community. Likewise, many tattoo magazines emerging during the 1980s and 90s specifically chose images that would appeal to these audiences. Because highly visible “corporeal changes move the recipient closer to the aesthetic ideal of the group,” tattoos became a necessary commodity within youth countercultures depicted in tattoo magazines.63 By choosing to display styles that were popular among youth groups, tattoo publications encouraged the consumption of tattoos to mark countercultural identity. Magazines also facilitated the development of tattoo trends, the first being tribalism.

Tattoo magazines altered the way that people saw themselves and others within the tattoo community. One of the most noticeable results of the increased publication and consumption of tattoo magazines is the divide between low class and middle class tattoo industries. Lowbrow magazines including articles on tattoos had been circulated among biker gangs and other working class groups since the mid 20th century, but magazines

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 95

appealing to middle class consumers did not exist until the late 1970s. The North

American Tattoo Club began publishing Needlepoint in 1978, which “set the standard for tattoo publications in terms of content and language,” and inspired artists to engage with other tattoo-focused publications.64 Although not necessarily catering to middle-class audiences, the creators of Needlepoint did “seek to legitimate tattooing by investing it with middle class cultural capital.”65 Magazines as a medium were already associated with middle class leisure and consumption, so creating class-neutral magazines about tattooing already brought its attention to the middle class. These new tattoo-focused publications put more effort into crediting tattoo artists than their lowbrow counterparts, and used fewer sexually explicit photos of women.66 As the tattoo industry started drawing in more middle class customers and gaining more attention in the media, publications focused more on class distinctions. Specific highbrow tattoo magazines emphasized the breaking away of a new tattoo industry, highlighted tattooists’ fine arts training, and published interviews and articles about middle class clients.67

In 1982, Ed Hardy edited and published what is considered the first highbrow tattoo magazine, Tattootime. The first issue was titled “New Tribalism,” and included articles on anthropology and archeology that appealed to an educated audience.

Tattootime was the first magazine to advocate using non-western imagery in the

American tattoo industry, and suggested to their audience that “the values and mythologies of these cultures may be appropriated to promote meaning for their own tattoos.”68 Their campaign to use nonwestern practices to facilitate a connection to the body reflected and reinforced the growing New Age ideologies that were popular during its publication. While not all issues of Tattootime focused on designs and practices that

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 96

appealed to the spirituality of the middle class, most included language that condemned those not “inside of the business” of fine art tattooing.

Tattoo Advocate, first published in 1988, was the first tattoo magazine to explicitly exclude traditional working class tattoo styles and artists from the new middle class industry. The magazine “promoted fine arts tattoos and actively disparaged other less sophisticated forms of tattoo” by publishing accounts of unsafe work environments and verbal, physical, and sexual assaults in working class tattoo shops.69 Additionally,

Tattoo Advocate was one of the most opinionated tattoo magazines as their writers and editors were known for being very open about their leftist political views.

In the same year, Easyriders, a motorcycle magazine popular among working class tattoo enthusiasts, created a subsidiary publication, simply titled Tattoo. Because they were expected to have the same fan base as their parent company, the publishers of

Tattoo had to appeal to both their lower-class consumers and reach towards the growing middle class market. Issues of Tattoo included nude photos of tattooed women and ads for tattoo machines, which were condemned by the highbrow tattoo industry, but put more effort into crediting tattoo artists than typical biker publications. Both fine art and traditional working class tattoos were featured side by side, and the featured images became less pornographic throughout the 1990s. Despite these efforts to appeal to a wider variety of consumers, Tattoo’s main audience was still primarily working class. Many issues of Tattoo included letters to the editor, articles, and personal statements opposing the elitist fine art tattoo community, and the liberal “yuppies” encroaching on lowbrow magazines and the traditional tattoo industry.70

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 97

MODERN PRIMITIVES

In 1989, V. Vale and Andrea Juno published what would later be called “the final discourse surrounding contemporary tattooing.”71 Modern Primitives was a magazine- style book that explored the practices and people that comprised the Neo-Primitive movement, and connected them to the histories of tattooing in America. Most pages of

Modern Primitives includes images of nontribal people performing body modifications alongside old photos of tribespeople with similar markings or decorations, and a description linking the two. The explanations linking the sets of images typically described the nontribal person feeling “primal urges,” and use ancient or aboriginal cultural practices as justifications for changing their bodies. The Modern Primitives, led by Neo-Tribalism’s founder Fakir Musafar, mentioned previously, connected notions of spirituality, personal growth, and power to their body practices, utilizing some of the same rhetoric as the New Age movements. The book is broken up into sections, each focusing on one key person within the Modern Primitive community, beginning with

Musafar himself.

The publication of Modern Primitives brought Neo-Tribalism and the Modern

Primitive lifestyle into mainstream tattoo media. While Tattootime’s “New Tribalism” achieved commercial success, Vale’s and Juno’s book was the first to fully reveal the variety of body modification practices that were being explored in the west. In fact, it was probably the success of New Tribalism that encouraged this radical subculture to use the format of a magazine for their book, with many large images, informal writing, and short interviews. Primitivism, the ideology that guided the Neo-Tribal and Modern Primitive movements, was not embraced by the tattoo community when it was introduced a decade

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 98

earlier. When Musafar and his cohorts performed their tribal rituals at the 1978 National

Tattoo Association convention, they were derided or ignored by the majority of their fellow tattoo enthusiasts.72 Ten years later, though, tribalism had become a fashionable marker of punk identity and corporeal rebellion. Modern Primitives was the first publication to refer to the tattoo community as a “tribe,” and became a sort of manifesto for young people looking to escape the pressures of mainstream society.

The Modern Primitive movement took off after Vale and Juno’s publication, and attracted those “diametrically opposed to civilization and technology.”73 Unlike the audiences of the World’s Fair, who paid to admire technological advancements and be amused by primitive traditions and practices, middle class Americans during the 80s and

90s admired the authenticity of tribal cultures, and were dismayed by the rapid advancements in science and technology. As Margo DeMello puts it, “here in the west we live in such a cultural wasteland such that people tend to gravitate towards things from the past.”74 Because young Americans were desensitized and disinterested in western culture, they turned to civilizations that seemed mystifying and exotic. Thus, icons such as Fakir Musafar became “the modern primitive product of the process of modern primitivism,” the results of centuries of orientalism and colonialism in the west, but also the creators of a new form of exoticism.75 Modern Primitives were engaged in a larger movement, which including the slew of New Age and New Class groups, that attempted to “reconfigure the structure of United States society by using its notion of primitive society as a model.”76 By choosing to engage in aboriginal practices rather than participate in normative society, Modern Primitives critiqued modern life by comparing it with the exoticism of foreign cultures. It is important to note that these groups did not

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 99

advocate for a full return of tribal culture, but rather what they perceived tribal life to be like, formulated from a lifetime of ingrained colonialist ideology. In an interview with

Leo Zulueta, who had already publicly denied his work as an act of appropriation, the artist implied that the rituals practiced by the Modern Primitives were no longer performed in the communities where they originated.77 By denying the existence of an active aboriginal community to carry on these practices, the Modern Primitives justified their use, adaptation, and combination of various cultural traditions from many parts of the world, some which were and are very much alive.

Modern Primitives was followed by The Customized Body written by Ted

Polhemus and edited by Housk Rnadall in 1996, and Return of the Tribal by Rufus

Camphausen in 1997, both focusing on the western trend of performing tribal rituals.78

Both were books formatted in the style of Modern Primitives. Because “the exotic is an invention made possible through the process of performative iteration and reiteration,” each new publication glorifying the revival of aboriginal practices added more mysticism to the Modern Primitive lifestyle.79 While the Modern Primitives insisted that their goal was representation rather than imitative appropriation, the exoticism that they produced through their performances became as trendy as the tattoos they wore. Fenske’s notion that “exoticism reveals more about the culture that produced it than the (imagined) foreign culture” it attempts to portray can be upheld by studying the Modern Primitive movement in late 20th century America.80 The number of tattoo magazines that glorified tribal rituals and the hoards of white, middle class youths that consumed them revealed the degree that orientalism and exoticism remained a part of mainstream America.

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 100

Not only did Modern Primitives recall the history of displaying exotic tribal tattoos in America, it addressed its sideshow and working class histories as well. One of the outliers among those interviewed for Vale’s and Juno’s book was “Tattoo Mike”

Wilson, who denied any philosophical or religious reasoning for his tribal designs.

Instead, Tattoo Mike describes his history as a sideshow performer, and emphasizes the aesthetic sense and physical transformation of tribal tattooing.81 A transcript of the interview is printed alongside photos of Tattoo Mike performing under circus tents and mingling with his freak show colleagues, while smoking cigarettes and wearing blue jeans. Tattoo Mike’s inclusion in the publication “both authorizes the modern primitive’s exotic performance as well as contests the performative authority of modern tribal imagination.”82 His history of performing among tattooed tribesmen and freaks gives legitimacy to the continued use of tribal tattoo designs in American cultural performances. However, Wilson’s denial of a spiritual connection reveals the superficiality of tribal tattoos on nontribal bodies. His conglomeration of designs from a variety of tribal communities does not accurately represent any one cultural identity, other than that of the Modern Primitives. Modern Primitives, The Customized Body, and

Return of the Tribal all include the history of American sideshows. By placing these histories alongside the ideologies of the Modern Primitives, the offensive presentation of the exotic is “both cited and, through displacement in the context of New Age rhetoric, partially revised.”83 Notable figures in the tattoo community utilized the growing popularity of tribal tattoo to alter the perception of American exoticism, and reframe the history of appropriative display as performances of authenticity.

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 101

Additionally, Modern Primitives connected tribal tattooing to the history of deviant tattooing in the west. Focusing mostly on the use of working class tattoos as marks of belonging, tattoo publications framed gang tattoos as a “site for the enactment of subcultural urban ‘tribal’ identity,” emphasizing community and ritual aspects that they share with the tattoo community.84 Despite their interest in urban “tribes,” these middle-class publications still downplayed the artistic integrity and skill of working class tattooists. Instead, their rhetoric suggests that “the ritual and aesthetic possibilities inherent to tattooing overcame the disrespectful history of disdainful and degenerate art.”85 To the Modern Primitives, and their middle-class audience, tattooing was a traditional practice of spiritual and personal growth, that was used to provide cheap entertainment at the circus and pledge allegiance to deviant groups. They then saw themselves as saviors of this lost art form.

Numerous women were interviewed for Modern Primitives, revealing and increasing the respectability that women had within the Neo-tribal community and the tattoo industry as a whole. Notable female body artists such as Vyvyn Lazogna and

Raelyn Gallina, who practiced piercing, branding, and scarification on many within the lesbian community, were included. Musicians and performance artists Genesis and Paula

P-Orridge were interviewed together about their spiritual body practices. Genesis, a transgender woman, and Paula, cisgender, performed and popularized new age mysticism and spirituality, Goddess worship, and neopagan rituals. Additionally, many photographers who documented body rituals and performances were interviewed for the publication. Heather McDonald was a photographer and designer who lived in Japan as a denizen of the Yakuza gang. In her interview, she describes the body modification

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 102

practices, including full body tattooing and subdermal genital implants, that the notorious

Japanese gang practiced. Another notable artist interviewed for the publication was

Sheree Rose, whose photography focused on sadomasochism, sexuality, death, and body modifications and rituals. She is especially famous for photographing her second husband, Bob Flanagan, and documenting his experience living with cystic fibrosis. In

1989, Flanagan’s performance piece Nailed, in which he nailed his penis and scrotum to a board while singing, “If I Had a Hammer.” Modern Primitives highlighted the successful careers of these female artists, and connected them in a publication that combined tattoo history, new age spirituality, neo-tribal rituals, and contemporary feminist discourse.

MAGAZINE MADNESS & INKED COVER GIRLS

By the 1990s, dozens of publishers were starting tattoo magazines of their own.

Skin & Ink, Tattoo: Savage, and Tattoo: Flash all released their first issues in 1993, followed by Tabu Tattoo in 1966, and Skin Art and Tattoo Revue, both released a year later.86 In 1997, the first gender specific tattoo magazine, Tattoos for Men was published, and Tattoos for Women began the following year. These publications reveal the segmentation and gender divide that began to permeate the fine arts tattoo industry in the

1990s. Gender focused tattoo magazines reinforced societal expectations for men and women, and reminded audiences that these expectations must be upheld, even in body art.

These magazines facilitated the development of gendered tattoo trends, including lower back “tramp stamps” for women, and large tribal chest pieces for men, while discouraging men and women from exploring tattoo styles outside of their prescribed gender expectations.

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 103

The production of new tattoo magazines continued into the new millennium, with

Prick Magazine emerging in 2000, and Inked Magazine in 2004.87 It was not until 2008 that a tattoo magazine was aimed at nonwhite audiences. Urban Ink, published by the same company as Rebel Ink, enjoyed less popularity than its counterpart for white audiences. Despite their shared publisher, Urban Ink had thinner paper, lower quality images, and almost nonexistent editorial standards.88 Tattoo artists were often not credited when images of their tattoos were printed, and some even refused to appear in

Urban Ink because of its low quality. Furthermore, many of the models featured in Urban

Ink were hypersexualized women with tattoos that were considered low quality among fine art tattooists. Fabiani asserts that the magazines with lower income or minority readers “excluded tattooing practices among deviant groups from the redefinition of body ink as an art form with professional standards and ethics.”89 By printing a lower quality product, displaying tattoos as sexual decorations, and not respecting tattoo artists of color, Urban Ink told its minority audience that they did not belong within the middle class fine art tattoo community.

Unfortunately, women were also not generally respected in tattoo magazines.

Female artists were not given much visibility, and when they were featured the focus was on their sexual appeal rather than their artwork.90 Similarly, the judges and photographers at tattoo conventions were mostly male, and the photos they submitted to tattoo magazines were of women they found attractive.91 Some women accepted being sexualized so that their careers could advance, while those who complained were seen as

“lamenting about their own less than stellar career,” even by other women.92 While tattoo magazines were successful in uniting the tattoo industry and its participating subcultures,

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 104

women were largely left out of the community unless they were willing to get naked. The women who did succeed in the tattoo media proclaimed that battling cultural bias against tattooing was more important than validating their position as women in a male dominated field.93

Tattoo magazines, and the women that they chose to include, perpetuated middle class ideas of beauty and class by displaying “white bodies with high-quality, and thus expensive, ink.”94 Some of the models featured had only one or two tattoos, but were conventionally beautiful enough to earn a place in alternative publications. Like those in magazines, most women chose discreet locations for their tattoos, with conventional feminine imagery.95 However, a number of women during the 1980s and 90s became heavily tattooed and participated in tattoo media, including magazines, books, and other publications.

In 1988, Kristine Kolorful earned the Guinness World Record for most decorated woman. She began getting tattoos as a hobby, and enjoyed winning contests at tattoo conventions. In those days, convention contest winners earned no prize money, so those who participated did so for their own enjoyment and expression. Unfortunately, Kolorful

“lacked the business acumen to control, much less cash in on the sale of her image.”96

Images of her body were stolen by photographers, and she earned little money as a tattoo collector, even during her multiple years as a world record holder. During her time as a heavily tattooed woman, Kolorful was often scrutinized by the public and assumed to be a “biker babe.”97 She was often disheartened that people ignored her friendliness and intelligence because of her tattoos, and put effort towards using tattooing as a “social touchstone” to speak about other issues relating to identity and discrimination.98

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 105

It was not until 2004 that women were able to gain a say in how femininity was presented in tattoo magazines. Sally Feldt cofounded Total Tattoo, and until very recently was the only top editor of a tattoo magazine who identified as a woman.99 While understanding the natural appeal of women on magazine covers, Feldt refused to force tattooed women to portray themselves as sexual objects. Every issue of Total Tattoo has a tattooed woman on the cover, but they were always modestly dressed. Additionally, each cover model’s biography is included in the issue they appear on, to emphasize the importance of personal identity and stress that their models are not just pictures, but people.

On the other hand, some magazines utilized the intimate nature of tattoos to heighten women’s sexuality. A 2011 issue of Garage magazine, an art culture and fashion publication, featured a close shot of a woman’s tattooed pubic area on the cover.

The simple butterfly tattoo was significant not only because of its scandalous placement, but because of its designer, internationally famous conceptual artist Damien Hirst.100

Although not featuring a notable tattoo artist, nor a heavily tattooed woman, this magazine cover reveals the level of influence that tattooing had by the 2010s, and the position tattooed women had in society. Despite the long history of women challenging gender roles and fighting to be recognized as artists rather than sexual objects, women were still being depicted with stereotypical imagery designed by male artists, and advertised as hypersexual canvases.

A good example of this is Megan Massacre. One of today’s most famous and accomplished female tattoo artists and magazine models, her career demonstrates how women get caught in the confusing battle between female empowerment and commercial

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 106

success. She has been featured in numerous magazines wearing only lingerie and sometimes topless. Even though she has spoken out against women being hypersexualized in the media, she has continued to pose with little or no clothes. She opposes the stereotypes surrounding female tattoo artists, and resents being labeled as

“another tattooed chick model” by her male coworkers.101 Because of her success as an alternative model, she is often seen as less artistic or creative. Massacre and many other female tattoo artists are caught between their own values and the “relentless conflation of femininity and sexuality in pop culture.”102 Massacre’s conflicting ideals show how much pressure American media puts on women, especially those within the tattoo community.

Tattoo magazines successfully brought together the male-dominated tattoo industry and its masculine countercultural consumers, but often left women and people of color out of the conversation until the last decade. Unfortunately, this exclusion only became more apparent as the tattoo industry grew and moved to television and social media platforms.

TATTOOS ON TV

In 1981, French sociologist Jean Baudrillard published the groundbreaking book

Simulacra and Simulation, which prompted academics to question the ways that communities interact with media. Baudrillard explained that our contemporary society is constituted by the media, and reality no longer relies on personal experience but the representations of people, places, and events in the media. Furthermore, these depictions of life through the media are deceptive, creating a perceived reality that makes real life meaningless. Images, objects, and ideas are replaced by symbols in a phenomenon

Baudrillard calls, “the precession of simulacra.”103 The tattoo industry began its descent

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 107

into simulacra through television, which presented dramatized and often conflicting perceptions of the tattoo industry, only some of which were based in reality. By presenting subcultures, including the tattoo industry, through popular media, the images and ideas portrayed become more representative of the tattoo community than real interactions between people within the industry.104

Television has become a staple of American society, and representation on television is especially important when there are few other sources of information on a subject.

Despite the numerous tattoo magazines that brought the tattoo industry into the middle- class consciousness, it was not until the creation of tattoo focused television that tattooing went from a subcultural trend American fashion trend. Television programs about tattoo culture rapidly accelerated the commodification and commercialization of the tattoo industry by bringing individual tattoo artists into the spotlight as mainstream celebrities, positioning tattooing as a profitable industry, and revealing the specifics of the tattooing experience that magazines could not fully capture. On television, the tattoo industry was portrayed as a glorious form of accessible rebellion, but still associated with psychopathy and deviancy in lower class groups.

Some of the tattoo industry’s first appearances on television were through hour-long television documentaries. Channels like A&E Discovery and The Learning Channel contributed to the commercialization process of the tattoo industry by “becoming little more than the circus sideshow of channels dedicated to the exploration of high cultural pursuits.”105 Positioning tattooing as both a normalized practice and an ancient tradition, these television networks dedicated to providing educational entertainment often shifted between labelling the tattooing as an emerging art form and an amusing commercial

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 108

activity. These documentaries “give public voices to tattoo enthusiasts; and in this process, strangers to the body project are able to hear about, and gaze into, the lifestyle of a tattoo enthusiast.”106 Artists were often interviewed for these television documentaries, but were asked more about their alternative lifestyles than their artistic interests. The emphasis on tattooing as a subcultural trend and lifestyle choice resulted in the denial of tattoos as pieces of art. To this day, more attention is given to the tradition, authenticity, and durability of a tattoo rather than the visual elements and artistry of it, even within the tattoo community.107 Additionally, this emphasis on tattooing as a subcultural practice often excluded working class tattooists from the conversation. While documentaries provided helpful information for prospective customers and exposure for tattoo artists, tattoo-focused television programs exacerbated the issues present in tattoo magazines, such as class exclusion and gendered presentations.

Having already been coopted by various other industries, rebellion, and the image of the tattoo, became just another marketing tool for many television companies. One of the most important and influential contributors to the popularity of the rebel market was

MTV, an American television channel that became a “breeding ground for heard-like nonconformity.”108 First launched in 1981, MTV quickly became the primary source for cultural and subcultural content, including music videos, popular television series, award shows, and even political events. While at first seeming like a victory for undervalued subcultures and artists, MTV as a channel displayed a homological image of American youth culture. Furthermore, because of its wide reach and commercial success, “the assemblage of subculture is made instantly accessible, subject to only the availability of the merchandise.”109 MTV not only presented the rebellious lifestyle, but ran

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 109

advertisements and commercials that gave viewers access to the commodities that would enable them to look and act the part. By showing tattoos alongside commercial items such as Doc Martens boots, hair dyes, and other subcultural commodities, “the transgressive, erotic body became more mainstream,” and commercialized. Music videos and television programs featured on MTV included scantily dressed tattooed bodies,

“maximizing the erotic and challenging policed boundaries” of public appearance.110 The artistic qualities of the tattoo design were ignored for its use as a rebellious and sexual commodity. MTV’s exhibition of middle class subcultural styles normalized tattooing, but subsequently equated them with easily purchasable fashion commodities.

During the 21st century, the development of tattoo reality shows even further exacerbated the class divide and commodification of the tattoo industry. Further, these reality shows heightened the hypersexual expectations for tattooed women, and gave an unrealistic portrayal of how women were treated in tattoo parlors. Programs popular among teens and young adults continued “singing the glories of pseudo-rebellion” that remains, “the monotone anthem of advertising, film, and TV sitcom.”111 In 2005, the first tattoo reality show, Miami Ink, was released by The Learning Channel, and was followed by LA Ink in 2007 two years later. The series’ focus was showing how tattoo shops were run, how artists interacted with clients, and the process of creating a fine art tattoo.

Additionally, the show chose already high-profile tattoo artists to work the shops to

“highlight the technical skill required for high-quality designs and application.”112 This effectively raised the aesthetic bar for the entire tattoo community, as intricately designed tattoos became more the norm.113 Despite the choice to feature high class tattoo artists, the show also aired footage of unhygienic practices such as wiping away hair with gloved

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 110

hands and ripping plastic wrap with teeth.114 To those who understood and experienced tattooing off-screen, these practices were a gross misrepresentation of the tattoo industry.

A typical episode consisted of a customer entering the tattoo shop, explaining their choice of tattoo subject, artist, and placement, and receiving the tattoo. There was a large emphasis on the “individual’s choice to represent some event, person, emotion, or aspect of identity through a specific design,” and few customers were featured on the show without an explainable reason for being tattooed.115 Some episodes included reactions from friends and family “that range from shock, to dismay, to incredulity,” revealing the variety of responses that middle class customers receive after getting a tattoo.116 The narratives behind the customers’ tattoos reinforced the need for middle class consumers to create excuses and legitimation techniques to get tattooed, as well as seek out expensive custom-designed pieces. Tattoo reality shows that focused on the customer experience within a tattoo shop gave audiences an opportunity to become familiar with the process of getting tattooed, but also created several social prerequisites for entering the middle class fine arts tattoo community.

Another type of tattoo reality show was introduced in 2012, which focused on the craftsmanship and creative capabilities of tattoo artists within the industry. Ink Master is a competition show with judges, weekly eliminations, unique challenges, and large prizes, following the formula that series such as Project Runway established the decade prior. The contestants lived in a loft together, and each week they would compete in

“grueling tattoo sessions designed to test the most essential skills you must possess to be a master tattooist,” only some of which resembled the real world. The last contestant on the show is crowned as “Ink Master,” given a $100,000 prize, and is featured in Inked

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 111

Magazine. Ink Master is on its thirteenth season, and has three spinoffs including one dedicated to discovering female tattoo artists entitled Ink Master: Angels. The success of

Ink Master reveals how far the tattoo industry and the commercialization of tattooing has come. Not only are tattoos being done on “human canvases” for the sole purpose of providing public entertainment, but the artists creating them are doing so to prove their own commercial value to the tattoo industry.117

The same year that Ink Master premiered, so did shows such as Tattoo Nightmares,

Tattoo Rescue, My Tattoo Addiction, and America’s Worst Tattoos, which displayed negative accounts of the contemporary tattoo industry. Rather than displaying the creative abilities and positive interactions of the tattoo industry, these shows “focus on low- quality tattoos and continue to ostracize amateur and untrained ‘scratchers’ from the industry.”118 Whereas shows like Miami Ink and Ink Master display the ways that the tattoo industry has become a more welcoming fine arts community, programs focusing on the negative aspects of tattooing show what to avoid. Unfortunately, most of these shows focus on mistakes that beginner artists make, belittle working class tattoo styles, and demonstrate that “long held associations between tattooing psychopathy do still remain.”119 Through reality television, the tattoo industry’s most marketable and entertaining aspects are commercialized, while the realities of being tattooed are hidden from consumers.

SEXUALITY AND STARDOM

The first woman to gain fame through tattoo focused television was tattoo artist

Kat Von D, who joined the cast of Miami Ink halfway through the show’s first season.

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 112

According to Mifflin, “her success is more an indicator of women’s growing profile in the industry than a reflection of her talent,” as she was the only female tattooists featured on the show.120 Von D specializes in black and grey realism, and is especially known for her fine line monochromatic portraits. In 2007, she left Miami and became the main star of a spinoff series, LA Ink, filmed in her hometown. She originally chose close friend

Amber “Pixie” Acia, and two other female artists to share the spotlight with her.

However, cast changes were made by the second season because the women were

“dedicated artists more interested in working than generating the drama they were asked to deliver.”121

While Kat Von D’s visibility as a successful female tattoo artist encouraged other women to pursue the trade, she was often perceived as a “sellout who made a commercialized spectacle of a secret society” or a good artist who should have put more time into their art, rather than “cultivating her celebrity.”122 In 2008 Von D began her own Sephora cosmetics line, which included a collection of tattoo covering makeup. In

2009, she wrote a book about her work, revealing personal insights and techniques that were once industry secrets. Kat Von D made a successful career out of tattooing, but became a television personality and national celebrity by commodifying herself and her tattoos, creating a questionable path for future women tattoo artists to follow.

Unfortunately, one of Kat Von D’s most lasting effects on the tattoo industry was the precedent she set for women tattoo artists to be sexual. Unlike Megan Massacre, who seems ambivalent about her position as a sexualized tattoo icon, Von D has been known to emphasize her sexuality and femininity as selling points for her personal brand. In a

2010 Bizzare magazine interview, Von D stressed her use of “makeup and all things

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 113

girly” because she believes, “when a woman dons non-normative tattoos, such as morbid imagery in highly-visible locations, ‘it’s important to still carry yourself in a feminine way’.”123 Von D’s adherence to traditional views of femininity and gendered expression made her an agreeable television personality, but presented a narrow-minded view of how tattooed women could present themselves.

However, many women utilized the attention that being a heavily tattooed woman garnered them to make political statements. The Riot Grrrls, prevalent during the 1990s, and the Suicide Girls, during the 2000s, used their tattoos as symbols of feminine empowerment, and their media attention as a political stage. These young women published articles and DIY zines that focused on female sexuality and personal trauma, providing information and support.124 These all-female protest groups also exposed “the links between commercial objectification and girls’ body image” with publications focusing on eating disorders and parodies of the media’s representations of femininity.125

The images that they used in their publications attempted to “capture the individuality of the model and highlight her idiosyncrasies and imperfections rather than airbrushing them to conform to a homogeneous standard.”126 Their emphasis on individuality and idiosyncrasies naturally led them to include many women with tattoos and other body modifications. While their intentions may have been to oppose normative beauty ideals, their presence coincided with the rapid commercialization of tattoos, and subsequently added to the growing tattoo trend. Additionally, the revealing photographs of tattooed women that were meant to be freeing and inspiring contributed to the perception of tattooed women as sexual deviants and commercial objects. Their publications rarely cited tattoo artists, and most of their featured models were thin, white women. The Riot

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 114

Grrrls, and later the Suicide Girls, both attempted to utilize their visibility as tattooed women to bring attention to other feminist issues, but unknowingly perpetuated class and gender regulations on tattooed women.

One woman, however, was able to successfully communicate her political message without being sexualized or commercialized. Maria Jose Cristerna, more popularly known as the “Vampire Woman,” is a Latinx artist who appeared in the tattoo media in 2011. With prosthetic horns implanted in her head, prosthetic fangs, multiple facial piercings, and tattoos covering 98% of her skin, Cristerna gained attention for being the most modified woman in the world.127 In her words, “the media wanted a freak to show on TV, and I twisted the rules in order to be more helpful socially.”128 She spoke out during interviews about the machismo culture in Latin America, and the ways that women suffered because of the patriarchal structure of contemporary society. A victim of domestic abuse herself, she used her visibility to address the Latinx subservience and violence that plagued her community. Although asserting that “none of them [the modifications] reflect the abuse I suffered,” the media continued to make psychological assumptions about Cristerna.129 Multiple interviewers, articles, and audiences questioned her parenting skills and intelligence because of her heavily modified body and history of abuse.

Despite the progress that women have made within the tattoo industry, female tattoo artists and body artists are still assumed to be sexual deviants or unable to perform traditional feminine tasks. The popularity of tattoo-focused media has only exacerbated these issues, as they typically only portray conventionally beautiful women as accepted members of the fine art tattoo community. The divide between celebrity “positive

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 115

deviants,” who receive expensive custom tattoos and are perceived as radical political protestors, and unwelcome “negative deviants,” whose body art is linked to unfavorable personal and cultural traits, continues to grow.130 Women in the media who adhere to conventional beauty standards while donning tattoos are rewarded for their subversive art, while others are morally questioned. This phenomenon has allowed women to continually be sexualized, commercialized, and commodified within the tattoo industry.

In the next chapter, I explore the growing role of the tattoo collector, one who travels and networks to create an assemblage of fine art tattoos that have notable social and economic value. Many tattoo collectors are women who intentionally subvert bodily norms and encourage other women to take control of their bodies. Additionally, the increasing number of women getting tattooed in the new millennium gave female tattoo artists an opportunity to develop unique feminine styles that would appeal to the growing female tattoo community. The women who became tattoo celebrities during the 1980s and 90s became role models for a new generation of tattoo enthusiasts and collectors, and encouraged tattooed women to pursue new occupations within the growing tattoo industry.

1 Ryan Moore, Sells Like Teen Spirit: Music, Youth Culture, and Social Crisis, (New York: NYU Press, 2010), 689. 2 Lauren Langman, “Punk, Porn, and Resistance: Carnivalization and the Body in Popular Culture,” Current Sociology 56, no. 4 (2008), 666. 3 Moore, Sells Like Teen Spirit, 33. 4 Marshall Berman, quoted in Duncan Humphreys, “Boarders, Punks, and Ravers: An Introduction to the History of Commercialized Rebellion,” Master’s Thesis, University of Otago, 1998. 5 Moore, Sells Like Teen Spirit, 274. 6 Ibid, 728. 7 Humphreys, “Boarders, Punks, and Ravers,” 35. 8 Tom Frank, “Alternative to What?” The Baffler, no. 5 (1993). 9 Moore, Sells Like Teen Spirit, 265.

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 116

10 Humphreys, “Boarders, Punks, and Ravers,” 16. 11 Langman, “Punk, Porn, and Resistance,” 657. 12 Humphreys, “Boarders, Punks, and Ravers,” 18. 13 Moore, Sells Like Teen Spirit, 221. 14 Langman, “Punk, Porn, and Resistance,” 665. 15 Ibid, 666. 16 Moore, Sells Like Teen Spirit, 230. 17 Humphreys, “Boarders, Punks, and Ravers,” 38. 18 Moore, Sells Like Teen Spirit, 290. 19 Humphreys, “Boarders, Punks, and Ravers,” 36. 20 Margo DeMello, Bodies of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community, (New Jersey, Duke University, 2000), 85. 21 Christina Fabiani, “(Im)Permanent Body Ink:The Fluid Meanings of Tattoos, Deviance, and Normativity in Twentieth-Century American Culture,” Master’s Thesis, University of Victoria, 2017, 99. 22 Ibid. 23 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 87. 24 Ibid, 88-92. 25 Ibid, 91. 26 Ibid, 89. 27 Humphreys, “Boarders, Punks, and Ravers,” 89. 28 Moore, Sells Like Teen Spirit, 826. 29 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 172. 30 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 72. 31 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 174. 32 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 85. 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid. 35 Ibid, 87. 36 Ibid, 130. 37 Ibid, 86. 38 Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, ceramic, porcelain, textile, 1979, (Brooklyn Museum). 39 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 85. 40 Eric Arnould and Craig Thompson, “Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty Years of Research,” Journal of Consumer Research 31, 2005. 41 Mindy Fenske, Tattoos in American Visual Culture, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), 39. 42 Ibid. 43 Frank, “Alternative to What?” 44 Humphreys, “Boarders, Punks, and Ravers,” 17. 45 Ken Spring and Luke Mayton, “The Paradox of Punk,” International Journal of Education and Social Science 2, no. 10 (2015). 46 Fabiani, “(Im)Permanent Body Ink,” 94. 47 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 136. 48 Ibid, 144. 49 Ibid, 145-148. 50 Ibid, 148. 51 Nick Crossley, Embodiment in Contemporary Society, quoted in Fabiani, “(Im)Permanent Body Ink,” 69. 52 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 140. 53 Ibid, 143. 54 Ibid, 141.

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 117

55 Katherine Irwin, “Legitimating the First Tattoo: Moral Passage through Informal Interaction,” Symbolic Interaction 24, no. 1(2011), 50. 56Fabiani, “(Im)Permanent Body Ink,” 97. 57 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 186-188. 58 Moore, Sells Like Teen Spirit, 567. 59 Margot Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo (New York: Powerhouse Books, 2013), 76. 60 Ibid, 77. 61 Michael Rees, “From Outsider to Established – Explaining the Current Popularity and Acceptability of Tattooing,” Historical Social Research 41, no. 3(2016), 164. 62 Michael Atkinson, Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art, (Toronto, University of Toronto, 2003), 63. 63 Clinton Sanders and D. Angus Vail, Customizing the Body: The Art and Culture of Tattooing, (Philadelphia, Temple University, 2008), 21. 64 Fabiani, “(Im)Permanent Body Ink,” 84. 65 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 101. 66 Ibid, 102. 67 Ibid, 98-100. 68 Ibid, 104. 69 Ibid, 105. 70 Ibid, 114-126. 71 Ibid, 174. 72 Ibid, 181. 73 Ibid, 180. 74 Ibid, 88. 75 Fenske, Tattoos in American Visual Culture, 120. 76 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 184. 77 Fenske, Tattoos in American Visual Culture, 121. 78 Ibid, 111. 79 Ibid, 113. 80 Ibid, 114. 81 Ibid, 128-130. 82 Ibid, 128. 83 Ibid, 136. 84 Ibid, 137. 85 Ibid, 138. 86 Fabiani, “(Im)Permanent Body Ink,” 107. 87 Ibid. 88 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 121. 89 Fabiani, “(Im)Permanent Body Ink,” 70. 90 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 97. 91 Ibid, 98. 92 Ibid. 93 Ibid, 99. 94 Fabiani, “(Im)Permanent Body Ink,” 107. 95 Ibid. 96 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 80. 97 Ibid, 79. 98 Ibid, 82. 99 Ibid, 124. 100 Ibid, 127-130.

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 118

101 Ibid, 115. 102 Ibid, 130. 103 Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994. 104 Howard Sercombe, “Boots, Gangs and Addictions: Youth Subcultures and the Media,” Edith Cowan University, 1998. 105 Atkinson, Tattooed, 64. 106 Ibid, 63. 107 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 101-110. 108 Ibid, 72. 109 Sercombe, “Boots, Gangs and Addictions,” 10. 110 Langman, “Punk, Porn, and Resistance,” 658. 111 Frank, “Alternative to What?” 119. 112 Fabiani, “(Im)Permanent Body Ink,” 107. 113 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 111. 114 Alejandra Walzer and Pablo Sanjurjo, “Media and Contemporary Tattoo,” Communication & Society 29, no. 1(2016), 78. 115 Fenske, Tattoos in American Visual Culture, 19. 116 Ibid. 117 David Knowles, “Ink Master: TV Review,” The Hollywood Reporter, 2012. 118 Fabiani, “(Im)Permanent Body Ink,” 107. 119 Rees, “From Outsider to Established,” 163. 120 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 111. 121 Ibid. 122 Ibid, 114. 123 Fabiani, “(Im)Permanent Body Ink,” 109. 124 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 116. 125 Moore, Sells Like Teen Spirit, 564. 126 Ibid, 836. 127 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 141. 128 Ibid, 142. 129 Ibid, 141. 130 Katherine Irwin, “Saints and Sinners: Elite Tattoo Collectors and Tattooists as Positive and Negative Deviants,” Sociological Spectrum 23, no. 1(2003), 27-57.

MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTANCE & MASS COMMODIFICATION 119

CHAPTER 4: TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED

“This is the perpetual problem with the commercialization of a subculture. The symbols of the subculture depreciate the more money you make from them. Some group of young people picks up an artefact, often discarded by mainstream fashion or running exactly counter to it, and appropriates it, makes a style which rejects and resists the consumerism and market-domination of their lives. In the process, they bestow on the artefact the connotation of youth, of protest and resistance, of freedom. It becomes an icon. In this most controlled of societies, this symbolic value is precious indeed. It is marketable. So the icon becomes a mainstream commodity. As it does, the symbolic content is washed out. Sometimes this happens quickly, so a style is gone in a season. Sometimes, because of the power of the icon or skill in the marketing or the raw beauty of the artefact, the symbolic value is maintained or recharged, like Levi’s jeans and

Harley-Davidson motorcycles.” - Howard Sercombe, 19981

CAPITALIZING ON THE ALTERNATIVE

At first, tattooing as a medium posed a challenge to corporations looking to capitalize on its growing popularity. Tattoos simultaneously decorate the body and permanently modify it, allowing it to easily become a fashion statement, but resisting the

“throw away culture” that mass consumption enables and encourages.2 In one sense, a tattoo is an aesthetic object that one wears, but in another it is a permanent change to the body. Additionally, unlike most material products, a tattoo’s “consumption cannot be divorced from its mode of production.”3 The consumer, the person paying for a tattoo, is a witness to the product’s creation, a participant in the creation of the tattoo, sometimes only as the medium but often as a creative agent during the design process, and an owner of the product. The multi-step, time-consuming, painful, and ritualistic process of getting a tattoo creates a unique consumer experience that would be difficult to mass produce.

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 120

By the end of the 20th century the tattoo had become a common fashion icon, and tattooing was a billion-dollar industry. After the Gen X punks came Millennials, a generation raised on grunge, mega consumerism, and mass media.4 Unlike their cynical punk and soulful grunge predecessors, Millennials grew up during a time of economic prosperity and enjoyed the parade of consumer goods and middle class luxuries that their parents could afford to give them. Consumer culture was always changing as a variety of subcultures, fashions, and lifestyles, including those considered “alternative” and unconventional were suddenly transformed into brands. In fact, during the late 90s and early 2000s, the style of the rebel became the central image of consumption, cleansed of the anti-establishment behavior that had previously constituted rebellion. Instead,

“alternative” became a catch-all label for rebellious youthfulness, “symbolizing endless, directionless change, and eternal restlessness with ‘the establishment’- or more correctly, with the stuff ‘the establishment’ convinced him to buy last year.”5 Newspapers, magazines, and television constantly bombarded young people with ideas on what to do, wear, and think, while also providing media condemning those same practices. Youths growing up in this confusing mix of media used tattooing to “both challenge the commodification of their generation, as well as to participate in that commodification.”6

One of the most influential factors in the commodification and commercialization of tattooing was the globalization of the market facilitated by the creation of the World

Wide Web. The internet had been in existence since the 70s, but the World Wide Web gave people access to information stored on thousands of computers from the comfort of their homes. Released for public use in 1993, the World Wide Web gave Americans access to information and media from around the world. This increased middle class

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 121

interaction with outsider groups whose religious, ethnic, and cultural habits differ from their own and subsequently, their views on alternate clothing, make-up, preference for body sizes, tattooing, and many other cultural products were challenged.7

Around the same time that tattoos began to appeal to middle-class consumers, marketers started to experiment with market segmentation. Inspired by the emphasis on individuality, niche marketers created specific products and advertisements to appeal to different demographics. Companies targeting young people often put effort towards accommodating non-conformist groups, because anything popular enough for consumption “inevitably falls under the domain of corporations that maximize profit by expanding the scope of the commodity form.”8 In other words, by marketing to a variety of consumer groups, corporations not only became the prime sellers of niche products, but controlled the availability and desirability of the items that defined the subculture.

Companies that marketed towards non-conformists and rebels made sure to idealize individuality and idiosyncratic tastes while disparaging conformity, despite their investment and influence in mass culture.

Unfortunately, those who attempted to survive outside the market were

“incorporated through commodification, or they are suppressed and forced to rely on the market.”9 Small businesses and attempts at DIY communities were unable to compete with the power of consumer capitalism aided by technology. Corporations would buy out creators producing new styles, or replicate their products and sell them for lower prices, effectively stealing their buyers. Dick Hebdige describes this process as cultural co- optation, whereby “subcultural signs” are converted into “mass-production objects,” with their original implications and meanings diluted or lost.10 The process that advertisers go

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 122

through in order to find, adopt, and commodify subcultural styles has become known as cool-hunting.11 Specifically, the city has been the “site for the production of cool,” because of its intermingling cultures, styles, and ideas.12 However, unlike the beats in the

50s or the hippies in the 70s, marketers did not search inner-cities and subcultural hotspots in the hopes of finding authenticity. Instead, companies sent researchers to find information about what young people were creating that could be adapted to mainstream audiences and resold. In the contemporary market, it is “no longer only about goods that become fashionable and generate profits, but about objects manufactured with the purpose of becoming trendy.”13 Cool-hunters are responsible for researching subcultural trends, so that companies can co-opt their styles and remarket them as fashion items for mainstream consumers.

The commercialization of alternative practices and styles resulted in the formation of another youth subculture known as the Hipsters. Yogi Hendlin calls hipsters “the quintessential postmodern consumer,” and credits them for bringing tattooing into contemporary fashion.14 (acceptable rebellion 214) They were named after the Hipsters of the 1940s, white suburban youths who emulated the jazz lifestyle, and emulated their dress, slang, drug use, relaxed attitude, self-imposed poverty, and sexual permissiveness.

This new generation of alternative youths effectively combined the sentiments of numerous youth subcultures. The 2000s Hipster is typically college-aged, nihilistic, and antiestablishment. They “go out of their way to thwart societal expectations and buck norms,” enjoy “reveling in their marginalization while celebrating antiheroes,” and adore kitsch. Like the punks, they value themselves and others based on “subcultural capital,” such as having done or seen something first, knowing important people, or participating

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 123

in exclusive events. Access to subcultural capital makes one a “high-status insider,” among others “who feel themselves to be outcasts in society and who invest their identities in the traditions of bohemia and rebellion.”15 A study on body modifications and commodification conducted in 2000 reveals the amount of subcultural capital that tattooing holds within the hipster subculture.16 Foster and Hummel’s findings show that tattoos obtained by young adults were “substantially free of class and ideology, much as any other commodity is purchased in consumer culture,” as opposed to the highly politicized tattoos of the hippies or the spiritualistic tattoos of the 80s and 90s.17 2000s hipsters are not part of the tattoo community, as few can name tattoo magazines or have attended a tattoo convention, but consume tattoos as commodities in a consumer-culture inventory that hold increasingly diverse meanings for different groups.18 As opposed to their countercultural predecessors, hipsters form their identities within the scope of mainstream commodities, and pride themselves on being trendsetting consumers rather than subversive creators. Because of the 21st century hipsters, tattoos became a mark elite consumerism and subcultural status.

By the turn of the century, most people within the tattoo industry were aware of its growing commodification and commercialization. Numerous tattoo artists and celebrities even participated and profited from the cooptation of what was once a mark of deviance and youth subculture. In 1999, Ed Hardy and Mike Malone set up Sailor Jerry

Ltd., a company that produced clothing, playing cards, and other trinkets incorporating traditional tattoo designs. In 2006, Camel cigarettes launched their Artist Packs, a series of cigarette packages that were designed by notable tattoo artists. The following year,

Camel set up a Camel Lounge at the annual Meeting of the Marked tattoo convention.

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 124

The willingness of many tattoo artists to participate in these commercial ventures makes it “difficult to demarcate a clear boundary between tattooing’s encroachment on, or adoption by, fashion.”19 Furthermore, the mainstream press has been increasingly glorifying the growing list of tattooed celebrities, including soccer player David

Beckham, actor Johnny Depp, and musicians Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. However, tattoo artists usually scoffed at tattooed celebrities as “fashion promoters who tend to lack both originality and genuine and refined taste.”20 Clothing and fashion labels such as

Mossimo, Calvin Klein, Guess, and Polo used tattooed models in their magazine advertising, and “even Barbie has had a tattoo.”21

Not unlike the mediums discussed previously, the internet was slow to create tattoo-specific media. However, the recent boom of internet sites, blogs, and social media accounts dedicated to tattooing has resulted in a “spectacularization and increased dramatization of behavior, information, and aesthetics” within the tattoo community.22

The internet has granted unlimited access to the tattoo industry, increasing the popularity and size of the tattoo community. Michael Atkinson notes that “internet sites are the most encompassing of all media sources” because of the volume and variety of information available, and therefore allows newcomers to access the knowledge that would have taken years for an older tattoo enthusiast to acquire.23 Tattoo artists’ and studios’ personal web pages and social media accounts make accessible an “enormous diversity of ideas and designs to become known throughout the world.”24 Like tattoo magazines before them, the increased flow of information and communication has resulted in a stronger tattoo community. People from across the country, in areas where tattoo studios

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 125

may be scarce or tattooing is still particularly stigmatized, can find comradery and helpful suggestions from others who share their interest in tattoo art.

On the other hand, the availability of information and accessible conversation about tattooing has bred controversy and conflict both about tattooing and within the tattoo community. The growth, commodification, and commercialization of the tattoo industry has resulted in a “partial caricaturing” of young tattooed people engaging in

“nothing more than cultural whimsy, a passing fancy of a lost generation of youth.”25

More experienced tattoo enthusiasts critique younger generations’ quick acclamation to the tattoo community, and distrust their skill, style, and motivations. They often assert that new members of the tattoo community impulsively dismiss the “ideological potential of the body project,” by opting for tattoos that resemble fashion trends more than personal experiences of beliefs.26 Critiques of this type go all the way back to the punks of the 80s, whose tribal tattoos Ed Hardy himself now calls “corny.”27 More recently, many complain that those who find common tattoo designs online through pop culture websites such as Pinterest, Buzzfeed, Wired, and Mashable elude the “desirable process of planning and selecting something more personal and intimate,” much like choosing a flash design from a shop’s wall.28 Within the tattoo community, distinctions are made between “those who love tattoos and those who get tattoos because they are led or encouraged to leave their inhibitions behind and go with the mainstream.”29

Atkinson argues that “instead of ignoring the media as a wasteland devoid of meaningful cultural substance, we must grasp the opportunity to learn from these accounts and portrayals about the conflicting sentiments about tattooing.”30 The internet is where contemporary Americans search for information, relationships, and

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 126

entertainment, and ignoring its role in developing culture is becoming impossible as the

21st century unfolds. Conversations about tattoo trends, icons, and experiences are encouraged and facilitated through the internet. Even tattoo magazines are benefitting from transitioning to virtual platforms and social media pages, enjoying the increased socialization and interaction that online mediums allow. Websites such as Tattoodo and the female-focused Lady Tattoo have created online communities that range from general to incredibly specific.31 Despite its turn away from distinct political transgression,

“trivializing tattooing as a consumer trend of contemporary pop culture dismisses the multitude of ways in which people construct their tattoos as deeply meaningful ideological expressions,” even if they fall outside of what is accepted in mainstream society or the tattoo community.32

TATTOO COLLECTORS

The divisions and smaller subgroups within the tattoo community has led to the creation of an elite group of tattoo collectors. These individuals dedicate more time, effort, and money on tattooing as a serious hobby, and many earn their main source of income through the tattoo industry. Becoming a tattoo collector is a “physically, psychologically, and culturally transformative experience.”33 Tattoo collectors emphasize the personal meanings behind their tattoos, but also research the iconography and stylistic motifs that are accepted by their tattooed peers. Many collectors begin with small, lower quality tattoos, but then make a conscious effort to become a collector of larger, more artistically unique pieces. Tattoo collectors often plan areas of the body or thematic patterns as “conceptual and stylistic wholes.” 34 This emphasis on aesthetic continuity

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 127

and dedicated planning lead many tattoo collectors to cover up the tattoos they acquired before identifying as a collector.

Tattoo collectors operate within different social expectations and beauty ideals, whereas everyday tattoo enthusiasts still adhere to the conventions of normative society.

To passionate collectors, unfinished tattoos and pieces of empty skin are “shielded from public view and considered embarrassments that call for apologies and explanations.”35

This viewpoint opposes the way that everyday Americans view skin and body modifications, and the transition to this viewpoint is part of what makes one a legitimate tattoo collector. There exists within the tattoo community a “stigma of commodity,” where tattoo collectors judge other tattooed people based on the commodified nature of their tattoos. Collectors as a group are against tattoos that are “impersonal, subject to fashion, obtained to show off, and therefore lack an authentic personal meaning,” such as flash designs or trends copied from the internet.36 Learning to become a tattoo collector requires one to learn these hierarchical social standards and expectations. Elite tattoo collectors emphasize this process of “recruitment” that trains them to enjoy the tattooing experience, qualify tattoos based on personal meaning and aesthetic and artistic value, and behave within the tattoo community. One of the most important lessons of being a tattoo collector is learning the boundaries of displaying tattoos. In order to maintain their own reputation as humble collectors and uphold a positive image of the tattoo community as a whole, tattoo collectors must learn the boundaries of where and how to display their artwork. Collectors avoid low quality tattoos not only for their own aesthetic reasons, but to avoid perpetuating a negative public image of the entire tattoo industry. Tattoo collectors take it upon themselves to not only uphold their own standards, but to

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 128

positively portray the tattoo industry through high quality art. Large amounts of effort are put into negotiating the limited “canvas” space of the body. Collectors often avoid offensive or explicit imagery on publicly visible areas of the body, save large areas of skin for well-planned pieces of art, and place tattoos where they complement the shape of the body.37

Another important aspect of becoming a tattoo collector is the way that one sees themselves in relation to tattooing. Most collectors, “do not wear or own tattoos, they are tattooed,” and the tattoos that adorn their body are “no more easily removed from collectors’ identities than their deepest beliefs.”38 This emphasis on being one with their tattoos further separates tattoo collectors from minor enthusiasts who follow tattoo trends.

Aligning with the foundational ideas set forth by the punks and New Age spiritualists, contemporary tattoo collectors see their tattoos as extensions of themselves, representations of their innermost traits, and part of their identity. In fact, for many their status as tattoo collector overrides their other identities based on age, gender, race and ethnicity, class, and even ability.39

Beverly Yuen Thompson has cited these ideas and perceptions as evidence supporting tattooing as “serious leisure.” Tattooing as an industry and a subculture has grown large enough that distinctions can be made between people who engage with tattooing as “casual leisure,” and those who dedicate their lives to tattooing. Thompson argues that tattoo collectors share the qualities of serious leisure activities, including

“perseverance, availability, extended effort, special benefit, unique subcultural ethos, and a related personal identity,” making them distinct from those on the outskirts of the tattoo community.40 Those who are excluded from the inner circle of the tattoo community are

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 129

“middle class and largely conventional individuals who see getting tattoos as fun, hip, and trendy.” Higher in social rank are the avant-garde tattooees, who get large pieces but are usually limited by their resources or lack of control over their social, political, and economic standing. At the top of the social ladder are elite collectors, who set trends and spend large amounts of money on “the best, most expensive, and prestigious tattoos available.”41 As tattoo leisure overlaps with other subcultures and hobbies, like music or sports, each of these hierarchal groups has outliers, leaders, and subgroups within them.42

Many of the most famous tattoo collectors and personable tattoo artists make a living by being internet influencers. Influencers are individuals with sway over how their fans behave, what their fans believe, and what their fans buy, and often utilize their authority, knowledge, and position within a niche group to gain influencer status.

Influencers can be categorized by their number of followers on social media, the types of content they post online, and by the level of influence they have over their followers.

Because of the prevalence of influencers in every social media platform and niche community, consumers often look to influencers to guide their decision making, and brands work with influencers to promote the sale of their products.

Within the tattoo industry, influencers are “adopting a range of standpoints and roles,” and “painting the mediascape with their own interpretations of the tattooed body... relying heavily on personal biographies and narratives about living in tattooed skin.”43

Tattoo influencers connect with their viewers by being both personable and personal, often resulting in conflicting ideas and accounts of what it is like to exist within the tattoo community. Tattoo influencers come from all segments of the industry, including minor

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 130

hobbyists, serious collectors, celebrity tattoo artists, and academic journalists.

Furthermore, each influencer typically has accounts on more than one social media platform, and may post different content for audiences with different sizes, demographics, or specific interests. In this chapter, I highlight only female influencers, not because there are fewer or less notable male influencers, but because the development of the influencer’s role is especially important for women. In the traditionally masculine, and still male-dominated tattoo industry, the internet and social media have opened a variety of economic opportunities for women other than becoming tattoo artists. Whereas becoming a professional tattooist requires penetrating the inner circle of typically male artists, not to mention years of apprenticeship and training, creating a social media account and posting personal content is relatively free. The ease of becoming an online influencer, compared to pursuing a traditional career in the tattoo industry, has led many women to build their lives around sharing their experiences as women in the tattoo industry.

TATTOO INFLUENCERS

Instagram is one of the largest social media platforms today, and Instagram influencers are some of the most wealthy and noteworthy. Tattoo influencers on

Instagram emphasize aesthetics, as the platform relies heavily on images collected into a collage on the user’s profile. The most famous Instagram influencers are tattooists, artists, and models, who benefit from the visual emphasis of the platform. Ryan Ashley

Malarkey, Monikka Velvet, and Michela Bottin are tattoo artists who transferred their high profile within the tattoo community to their social media platforms.44 Malarkey,

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 131

whose net worth totals over 2 million dollars, was the first female to win the grand prize on Ink Master, and is frequently featured in Inked magazine and on the Inked YouTube page. As of 2020, she has over one million Instagram followers, and recently created an account for her unborn child, due in May. Other influencers like Mira Mariah, Brittany

Randell, Masha Vivo, Kandace Layne, Sasha Unisex, and Jess Chen have developed or heightened their tattooing careers from their internet fame. These female artists cater to women and focus on creating feminine tattoo styles. Their work has been featured in female-oriented publications like Cosmopolitan, and is worn by celebrities in the music and fashion industries. Becoming an Instagram influencer can take years of building a fan base, defining a style or brand, and gaining support from sponsors.45 Sponsored

Instagram influencers can make up to $100,000 a year, on top of income from other social media platforms or tattooing clients. However, even “nano-influencers” with only a few thousand followers can make between $30K and $60K yearly from ads and small sponsorships.46

YouTube provides tattoo enthusiasts with different types of content and viewing options than Instagram, and influencers who dedicate most of their efforts to this platform are called YouTubers. YouTubers manage individual channels like television stations, with videos on a variety topics and recurring segments being made on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis. Most tattoo YouTube channels provide tips for entering or engaging with the tattoo community, information on tattoo history, styles, and procedures, personal stories, and opinions on various tattoo topics. Many tattoo YouTubers film videos in their own home, and the video medium allows them to share their surroundings, lifestyle, and personality better than through static images on Instagram. Additionally, YouTube

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 132

channels often foster their own social groups within the tattoo community by collaborating with other influencers, answering fan questions, and guiding conversations in their video’s comments section. All YouTubers, no matter their popularity, topic of interest, or amount of content, are paid by YouTube. The amount of income they receive is based on the number of times video advertisements are watched in the middle of their uploaded content. The average YouTube channel receives $2 to $5 per 1000 video views, allowing even the smallest channels to profit from their videos.47

YouTube influencers in the tattoo community are overwhelmingly female, and their channels often include videos on beauty, style, home décor, food and nutrition, or fashion in addition to their tattoo content. The combination of these topics may be a result of coincidental interests, as women are more likely to be interested in feminine topics, but also may be a way to maintain social status. Like the women featured in tattoo magazines, female YouTubers often must negotiate between their identity as a woman and their interest in tattoo culture. They may, like Kat Von D, be performing stereotypical feminine roles in the hopes of offsetting the stigma that surrounds heavily tattooed women. On the other hand, they may be genuinely encouraging a balance between a healthy lifestyle and identifying with the tattoo community.

Tattoo YouTubers tackle a variety of topics in their videos, but some of the most popular are informational sessions are targeted at newcomers to the tattoo industry.

Almost every tattoo YouTuber has discussed techniques for properly healing a tattoo, tattoo shop etiquette, and how they came to acquire their first tattoo. Another popular type of video is the Tattoo Tour, where an individual shows off each tattoo on their body, some including personal anecdotes about the meaning or process of getting the tattoo.

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 133

Many of these videos are of middle class women revealing their tattoo collections to other tattoo community members. When fine arts tattoo parlors or large conventions are unavailable, these collections of tattoo tours serve as an introduction to the world of tattoo collecting for newcomers, and create an online inventory of tattoo collectors.

YouTubers catering to newer tattoo community members often include pain ratings and the cost of each tattoo, giving their viewers insight that others can only acquire through years of getting tattooed or communicating with a multitude of experienced tattoo enthusiasts. Additionally, many tattoo YouTubers speak out against the phenomenon of tattoo copying that has plagued the contemporary tattoo community. Extending the issue of commercialized tattoo trends, some influencers have had their tattoos directly traced and copied by tattooists that prioritize profit over artistic integrity.

Swedish YouTuber Katrin Berndt is one of the most notable tattoo influencers on the site, and has made multiple videos describing her experience with tattoo copying.

Berndt began her YouTube career eight years ago, and now has over 450K subscribers, as well as sponsorships from multiple clothing, makeup, and feminine hygiene brands. She often uploads “haul” videos, where she tests the products sent from the brands that sponsor her. Berndt’s career as an alternative model also makes her a popular choice for companies looking to attract consumers from the worlds of fashion and alternative culture. Because of her success as a model and influencer, her tattoos are almost always on display, making them an easy target for tattoo copying. Berndt has made multiple videos focusing on the copying of her chest piece, a large colorful tattoo of a woman’s head wearing headpiece with a scarab beetle, flowers, and jewels draped all throughout.

In the videos focusing on tattoo copying, she shows lower quality imitations of her chest

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 134

tattoo, condemns tattoo artists for not creating their own custom designs, and dissuades newcomers in the tattoo industry from participating in tattoo copying.48

The UK based YouTuber Monami Frost appeals to young female tattoo enthusiasts, and puts emphasis on being able to function as a productive and healthy member of society, as well as, not despite, being a heavily tattooed woman. She is extremely popular, with over 700K subscribers. She also owns her own clothing line and is sponsored by a variety of vegan health and beauty brands. However, her videos about raising a family and veganism often generate more interest than her videos about tattooing. In fact, some of her tattoo videos have been heavily critiqued by the tattoo community, including one where she explains her choice to get a “blacked out” sleeve, a portion of her arm filled in with black ink, leaving little to no visible skin.49 In her video

“Why I Covered My Swastika Tattoo,” she reveals that she got her arm covered in ink to cover a swastika tattoo, because people did not understand it’s “original meaning” as a

Hindu spiritual symbol.50 She admits that, “it’s not my culture, but I find it beautiful,” evoking strong reactions from many of the same tattooists and scholars who question the appropriative nature of the tribal tattoo trend. While the majority of her content seems helpful and family friendly, the ability for anyone to become a tattoo influencer allows outdated or hurtful opinions to spread.

A young woman who goes by the username Qcknd, based in Philadelphia, has become one of the most prominent American tattoo Youtubers. Qcknd began five years ago, and has gained almost 200K subscribers.51 She became extremely popular in the

YouTube tattoo community for creating the “Tattoo Collectors Tag,” a series of questions that relate to the subjects, prices, and placements of an individual’s tattoo. “Tags” have

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 135

recently become a popular phenomenon in the YouTube industry, where someone creates a formula for others to follow, and “tags” them to complete the challenge answer the questions on their own YouTube channel. If the Tag is interesting and easy enough to complete, it can go viral, setting a trend. Qcknd’s Tattoo Collectors Tag asks other tattoo enthusiasts to qualify how much of a tattoo collector they are, with questions such as

“What tattoo did you travel the farthest to get?” What tattoo artist has tattooed you the most?” and “Which tattoo took the longest to complete?” As opposed to most tattoo

YouTubers who assume that their viewers are new to the tattoo community and in need of information, Qcknd’s series of questions appeals to experienced tattoo enthusiasts and collectors.52 However, she still appeals to younger, less experienced viewers with her

“Tattoo Talk Tuesday” series. Since the start of her YouTube career, Qcknd posts a video every Tuesday discussing a different topic related to the tattoo industry, many of which include helpful information for beginner tattooees. Some of the weekly topics covered include how to handle the pain of getting tattooed, the healing process, the different styles of tattoo, personal regret, cost, etiquette, legal restrictions, and social stigma.53 For someone just beginning to think about getting a tattoo, Qcknd and many other tattoo

Youtubers provide information about every aspect of tattooing, and their friendly faces, intimate settings, and consistent uploads attract viewers at every level of the tattoo community.

In addition to the influencers who recount their experiences being tattooed and collecting tattoos, some tattoo artists have turned to YouTube to share their opinions and anecdotes. However, these channels are often extremely divided, with celebrities like

Megan Massacre and Ryan Ashley Malarkey operating under the Inked YouTube channel

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 136

with over 900K subscribers, and lesser known artists managing their own channels and social media sites in addition to being full time tattoo artists.54 Electric Linda and Holly

Astral are women who, with less than 100K subscribers each, utilize YouTube as an informational site more than a way to earn revenue. They openly discuss artist/client interactions, the process of getting and progressing through a tattoo apprenticeship, their relationships and opinions on other tattoo artists, and the products they use in their tattoo shops. Rarely sponsored and often brutally honest, these women give their viewers insight that many tattoo artists are reluctant to share with the public, especially on such a popular and open platform.55

One standout influencer is British journalist, television presenter, model, and hand-poke tattoo artist Grace Neutral. She began her career around 2010 as a piercer, which quickly led to a career in tattooing. Neutral has numerous body modifications that fall under the category of Modern Primitivism, such as scarification, stretched ear and nose piercings, and a bifurcated “split” tongue, and many that are culturally contemporary and shocking, including reconstructed ears, tattooed eyes, and a removed navel.56 In 2016 Neutral was cast to present Beyond Beauty, a documentary series by i-D, an online fanzine run by Vice Media Group. Beyond Beauty explored bodily expression and beauty trends in South Korea for the first season, and in Brazil for the second. Many of Neutral’s interviews and footage were then recycled by Vice into Needles and Pins, released later the same year. While Beyond Beauty focused on female beauty standards and how contemporary women subverted them, sometimes including tattoos, Needles and

Pins was dedicated to portraying the history tattooing, and the state of the contemporary tattoo industry. Also, rather than four 10 -15 minute segments, each episode of Needles

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 137

and Pins was a full hour.57 In each of six episodes, she travels to a different city notable for their unique body modification culture and prevalent tattoo industry. In this series,

Grace Neutral provides what I believe is the most comprehensive, compact, entertaining, and accessible history of tattooing. She explores a variety of tattooing techniques, ideologies, and subcultures, without excluding stigmatized or marginalized tattoo communities. Although she does put emphasis on tattooing being an expression of identity, she also explores ways that tattoos are still being used to demonize and dehumanize people.58

The first episode of Needles and Pins, “Tribes and Tongue Splitting in the UK,” explored Neutral’s current home, London, UK. She explains how London became an international hub for tattoo artists, and the popularity of tattoos in the west. Neutral also investigates why more extreme modifications have become popular among tattoo enthusiasts. She finds that people trying to portray their individuality or countercultural identity must go to greater lengths, because tattoos and piercings have become mainstream. One of her interviews was with a young fan of the Suicide Girls, who voluntarily posed nude for a professional camera crew sent by the Suicide Girls organization. Although the young tattooed girl claimed to feel empowered by the online attention, Neutral worries for a generation of young girls who must sell their sexuality to feel fulfilled and confident. The girl’s tattoos become an entryway into an industry of hypersexualized women with body modifications, that seems to be straying from its original feminist intentions.59

Other episodes, “Erotic and Illegal Tattoos of Japan,” and “Underground Tattoos in South Korea,” explain the extreme stigmatization that the tattoo industry, and

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 138

especially tattooed women, face in East Asia. In both countries, tattoos are historically connected to violent gangs and are illegal or heavily restricted because of these associations. The Yakuza gang has been a notorious organization in Japan for decades, and Neutral interviews numerous artists and tattoo enthusiasts who worked with Yakuza about how the Japanese tattoo industry is straying from its gang affiliations. Neutral also explores the strict East Asian beauty standards that make being tattooed extremely taboo, to the point that many young women are disowned by their families. Neutral speaks with women in both Japan and Korea about how their relationships have suffered once family and friends find out about their tattoos. At the same time, though, Neutral reveals that underground tattooing scenes are developing unique techniques and styles that have brought East Asian tattooing away from its unsavory history. Artists interested in global pop culture, anime, and ancient tattooing are redefining the tattoo industry in East Asia, much like the Tattoo Renaissance did for the west.60

Some episodes focus on explaining the history and contemporary use of specific tattoo styles. The third episode, “New Zealand’s Ancient Tattoo Identity,” explains the history of Ta Moko, a traditional Maori style of tattooing that involves community based rituals and tattooing ceremonies. Neutral disproves the idea that tribal tattoos are no longer being used in their places of origin, and displays how significant tattooing can be for indigenous groups. Although not directly stating her opinion on tribal tattoos, she probes her interviewees for opinions opposing the colonialism and exoticism that tribal tattoos on non-tribal people perpetuate.61 Similarly, in “Gang Tattoos in LA,” Neutral unfolds the history of Chicano tattooing and explores the ways that tattooing is used in gang communities. The artists and tattoo collectors she interviews emphasize the

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 139

importance of “earning” a tattoo, especially those displaying pride for one’s hometown, family, or accomplishments. These minority and working class communities are often left out of the fine arts tattoo community. Many people remove their tattoos because of stereotypes and gang affiliations that accompany this lowbrow style of tattoo. However, some individual artists are utilizing social media to gain fame and commercial success in the middle-class tattoo market, despite not owning a tattoo shop or having formal training. Neutral interviews several popular Chicano artists, who emphasize their dedication to their working-class roots and the personal ritual of tattooing.62

In the final episode of Needles and Pins, “Las Vegas’ Tattoo Economy,” Grace

Neutral discovers new ways that the tattoo industry has been coopted and commercialized in one of America’s largest tourist cities. There, she finds tattoo schools that break away from the traditional apprenticeship, sharing what Neutral considers “sacred” knowledge to students who can pay upwards of $30,000 a year for the two year program. She visits

“boutuqie” tattoo parlors set up in casinos, near wedding venues, inside shopping malls, and along every main road. Neutral finds tattoo shops with kiosks that display premade flash designs to choose from, that are open 24 hours and frequently tattoo intoxicated clients, and that employ numerous untrained artists. Additionally, Las Vegas’ liberal policies regarding prostitution have led many women to get branded with tattoos that permanently mark them as sexual commodities and forced into sex work. Neutral visits a nonprofit organization that offers tattoo removal services to individuals negatively impacted by their tattoos, and interviews many women trying to escape from their pimps.63

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 140

In her documentary series, Grace Neutral reveals the history behind the contemporary global tattoo industry, through the accessible platform of a web series. Her findings often contrasted with western ideas of foreign places and practices. She reveals thriving indigenous societies in an anti-colonialist and anti-appropriationist way. She interviewed gang members and prostitutes whose tattoos represent the struggles they have faced throughout their life. Neutral’s enlightening and respectful web series is a gold mine for young audiences looking for information about tattoo history and culture, and Neutral herself is a beautiful role model for women with body modifications.

This small sample of popular tattoo collectors and influencers displays the variety of ways that female tattoo enthusiasts can participate and profit from the tattoo industry without being a traditional tattoo artist. However, it is important to note the lack of ethnic and class diversity among these famous tattooed women. To clarify, I have not omitted women of color from this study of women tattoo influencers, but rather found that the most popular, by follower count and views, are white, middle class, conventionally attractive women. Several women of color have been able to become notable tattoo artists in recent decades, but few, if any, have found financial security through strictly being a tattoo influencer. This lack of diversity among non-artist tattoo influencers reveals enduring class, gender, and beauty norms and a lack of outreach to minority tattoo enthusiasts within the fine arts tattoo community.

1 Howard Sercombe, “Boots, Gangs, and Addictions: Youth Subculture and the Media,” Edith Cowan University, 1998. 2 Mary Kosut, “An Ironic Fad: The Commodification and Consumption of Tattoos,” The Journal of Popular Culture 39, no. 6(2006), 1040-1041. 3 Ibid, 1041.

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 141

4 Margo DeMello, Bodies of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community, (New Jersey, Duke University, 2000), 188. 5 Tom Frank, “Alternative to What?” The Baffler, no. 5 (1993), 12. 6 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 189. 7 Michael Rees, “From Outsider to Established – Explaining the Current Popularity and Acceptability of Tattooing,” Historical Social Research 41, no. 3 (2016), 165. 8 Ryan Moore, Sells Like Teen Spirit: Music, Youth Culture, and Social Crisis, (New York: NYU Press, 2010), 499. 9 Duncan Humphreys, “Boarders, Punks, and Ravers: An Introduction to the History of Commercialized Rebellion,” Master’s Thesis, University of Otago, 1998. 10 Josh Adams, “Bodies of Change: A Comparative Analysis of Media Representations of Body Modification Practices,” Sociological Perspectives 52, no. 1(2009), 106. 11 Yogi Hendlin, “Acceptable Rebellion: Marketing Hipster Aesthetics to Sell Camel Cigarettes in the US,” Tobacco Control 19, no. 3(2010). 12 Moore, Sells Like Teen Spirit, 525. 13 Alejandra Walzer and Pablo Sanjurjo, “Media and Contemporary Tattoo,” Communication & Society 29, no. 1(2016), 71. 14 Hendlin, “Acceptable Rebellion,” 214. 15 Moore, Sells Like Teen Spirit, 604. 16 Gary Foster and Richard Hummel, “The Commodification of Body Modification: Tattoos and Piercings from Counterculture to Campus,” Eastern Illinois University, 2000. 17 Ibid, 19. 18 Ibid, 20-21. 19 Rees, “From Outsider to Establishd,” 164. 20 Walzer and Sanjurjo, “Media and Contemporary Tattoo,” 76-78. 21 Mindy Fenske, Tattoos in American Visual Culture, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), 1, 75. 22 Walzer and Sanjurjo, “Media and Contemporary Tattoo,” 72. 23 Michael Atkinson, Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art, (Toronto, University of Toronto, 2003), 64. 24 Walzer and Sanjurjo, “Media and Contemporary Tattoo,” 73. 25 Atkinson, Tattooed, 65. 26 Ibid. 27 DeMello, Bodies of Inscription, 182. 28 Walzer and Sanjurjo, “Media and Contemporary Tattoo,” 74. 29 Ibid, 75. 30 Atkinson, Tattooed, 66. 31 Deborah Burns, “Digital Ink: Social Media and Tattoo Culture in Consideration of Gender,” in Interfacing Ourselves: Living in the Digital Age, ed. Chistina Bodinger-deUriarte (New York: Routledge, 2019). 32 Atkinson, Tattooed, 65. 33 D. Angus Vail, “The Outside of a Thigh is Half a Back: Negotiating the Canvas among Fine Art Tattoo Collectors,” the Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society 28, no. 4(1999), 264. 34 Ibid, 266. 35 Katherine Irwin, “Saints and Sinners: Elite Tattoo Collectors and Tattooists as Positive and Negative Deviants,” Sociological Spectrum 23, no. 1(2003), 35. 36 Gretchen Larsen, Maurice Patterson, Lucy Markham, “A Deviant Art: Tattoo-Related Stigma in an Era of Commodification,” Psychology and Marketing 31, no. 8(2014), 676. 37 Vail, “The Outside of a Thigh is Half a Back,” 267-271. 38 Ibid, 273. 39 Ibid, 274.

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 142

40 Beverly Yuen Thompson, “Women Covered in Ink: Tattoo Collecting as Serious Leisure,” International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure 2, no. 1(2019). 41 Irwin, “Saints and Sinners,” 30. 42 Yuen Thompson, “Women Covered in Ink.” 43 Atkinson, Tattooed, 66. 44 Elissa Mae, “Top 5 Influencers to Follow in the Tattoo Community,” Medium, 2019. 45 Lauren Adhav, “The 27 Most Inspo-Worthy Tattoo Artists You Need to Follow on Instagram,” Cosmopolitan, (Cosmopolitan, 2019). 46 Audrey Conklin, “How Much Money Do Social Media Influencers Make?,” Fox Business, (Fox Business, 2020.) 47 Werner Geyser, “How Much Do YouTubers Make?: A YouTuber’s Pocket Guide,” Influencer Marketing Hub, (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2019). 48 Katrin Berndt, “Katrin Berndt,” YouTube channel (YouTube), accessed 2020, https://www.youtube.com/user/Katrinberndt. 49 Monami Frost, “Monami Frost,” YouTube channel (YouTube), accessed 2020, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC79Pfi2FCgEHjLqBbGDnKwA. 50 Monami Frost, “Why I Covered My Swastika Tattoo/ Black Arm,” YouTube video, 14:56, “Monami Frost,” December 23, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU- gxEJRSdc&t=577s. 51 Qcknd, “Qcknd,” YouTube channel (YouTube), accessed 2020, https://www.youtube.com/user/Qcknd. 52 Qcknd, “I made a thing! Tattoo Collectors Tag!,” YouTube Video, 17:26, “Qcknd,” January 31, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq40gFIRLag&t=15s. 53 “Tattoo Talk Tuesday Archive & Public Record,” YouTube playlist, “Qcknd,” accessed 2020, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDR6RN4sZ1nJtXge1LC1BSbb_pUZfywmY. 54 Inked, “Inked,” YouTube channel (YouTube), accessed 2020, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-AqLLFKh8QoCsXaPAg4aRQ. 55 Holly Astral, “Holly Astral,” YouTube channel (YouTube), accessed 2020, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-AqLLFKh8QoCsXaPAg4aRQ; Electric Linda, “Electric Linda,” YouTube channel (YouTube), accessed 2020, https://www.youtube.com/user/LindaRodahl 56 Tish Weinstock, “Grace Neutral was Born to Be Different,” interview with Grace Neutral, i-D (Vice, 2015). 57 Grace Neutral, Beyond Beauty, directed by Nick Walters, i-D (Vice Media Group, 2016). 58 Grace Neutral, Needles and Pins, Vice TV (Vice Media Group, 2016). 59 Needles and Pins, “Tribes and Tongue Splitting in the UK.” 60 Needles and Pins, “Erotic and Illegal Tattoos of Japan,” and “Underground Tattoos in South Korea.” 61 Needles and Pins, “New Zealand’s Ancient Tattoo Identity.” 62 Needles and Pins, “Gang Tattoos in LA.” 63 Needles and Pins “Las Vegas’ Tattoo Economy.”

TATTOOS, ONLINE AND COMMERCIALIZED 143 CONCLUSION:

WOMEN IN THE NEW MILLENIUM, ARTISTS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

The internet provides ways for thousands of tattooed women to talk, share stories and information, find entertainment, and learn the ways of other tattooed women. People can book tattoo appointments, scroll through portfolios, and connect with artists across the world through social media. However, the influx of female influencers and online entrepreneurs has forced many women to attempt internet fame. Due to the increased commercialization of the tattoo industry, companies are “converting prestigious tattoo artists into sponsors for brands and products.”1 The tattoo artists who get work with large sponsors receive more visibility, as was the case for all the Ink Master stars. As the tattoo industry struggles between traditional values and commercial takeover, the tattoo shop

“on occasion acquires the dimensions of a supermarket and other times, claims of an artistic status.”2 The fashion, beauty, and music industries all want to bring tattooing into their commercialized sphere, but its mode of production and permanence make it difficult to completely commodify.

Tattoo artists navigating within this quickly growing industry must perfectly maintain their online presence. Women are still harshly scrutinized by the male- dominated industry, and their “intensely personal yet provocatively public art poses a complicated challenge to the meaning of female beauty.”3 A female tattoo artist can be stigmatized for being too sexual and sharing too much of their personal lives or sharing too little and not being overtly sexual. Additionally, the most famous female tattoo artists are still those that adhere to conventional female beauty standards. Tattoo artists Megan

WOMEN IN THE NEW MILLENIUM, ARTISTS IN THE DIGITAL AGE 144 Massacre, Grace Neutral, and Ryan Ashley Malarkey, as well as influencers Katrin

Berndt, Monami Frost, and Qcknd, are all thin, white, middle class women.

Unfortunately, it is still true that “social acceptance experienced by a tattoo wearer continues to rest primarily on the wearer’s own status in Foucauldian power structures” such as gender, race, and class.4

Additionally, all the effort that female tattoo artists have to put into their online presence takes away time and energy from their artistic practice. While the internet can be a informational source and a “showcase,” it also becomes “a means to encourage copying and creative laziness.”5 The ever-growing tattoo consumer population allows people without proper training or artistic integrity to tattoo anyone who offers to pay.

Currently, there is now a separation of older generations who adhere to a guild-like training system, and young tattoo artists who first attended fine art schools. Many experienced tattooists who were trained in the traditional fashion fear that young tattoo artists are compromising durability and technique for a beautiful picture to post online.6

A great deal of stress comes from the fact that “young tattoo ‘stars’ are part of a new culture of tattooing that hinges on utilizing media,” and “decades of struggle, an established career, and tenaciousness” cannot guarantee success.7

Because the associations between tattooing and fashion grew through the end of the century, it often gets compared to another popular body modification: plastic surgery.

Plastic surgery includes nose-jobs, breast augmentations, fat removal or liposuction, and other forms of bodily reconstruction. Instead of implanted horns or facial piercings, women tended to get plastic surgery to conform to beauty ideals established by magazines, television, and celebrity beauty icons.8 Additionally, the rise in tattooing

WOMEN IN THE NEW MILLENIUM, ARTISTS IN THE DIGITAL AGE 145 correlated with the shift in interest from society to self. To many naysayers, tattooing became as superficial as retail therapy, expensive spa vacations, or other forms of commercial self-help. Another concern about the rapid growth and popularity of tattooing was the scrutiny of people, but women especially, who get meaningless tattoos to follow trends rather than to display a personal experience or symbol. In the mid 2010s, 69% of tattoo removal requests came from who were white, single, and college educated, reflecting the growth of the middle-class tattoo market, and their lack of attachment to their tattoos.9 This begs the question: do contemporary women feel pressured to get tattoos because of their increased presence in fashion and celebrity culture? The self- presentation of women online include gendered images “with emphasis on physical appearance and titillation or hypersexualization,” while men are portrayed neutrally.10

Inked magazine’s Facebook page includes more images of women than men, with 76% of the women dressed in revealing clothing or lingerie, and 86% with a mainstream body type.11 These figures reflect not only how companies within the tattoo industry capitalize on women’s bodies, but show how much women are pressured to adhere to conventional beauty standards, even within a subculture dedicated to breaking the norm.

The gender discrimination seen in the 20th century in the tattoo community against women and people of color continues within the tattoo industry today. To this day, few black female artists have not been able to gain popularity on a large scale. Many artistic women still exist under oppressive systems that do not allow them to afford an unpaid year long tattoo apprenticeship.12 Additionally, few minority women are encouraged to enter the fine arts tattoo industry. There is little interest in custom tattooing in many communities because of the urban “scratcher chic” tattoo style that was

WOMEN IN THE NEW MILLENIUM, ARTISTS IN THE DIGITAL AGE 146 popularized by Lil Wayne, and continues to be stylish among other celebrity people of color such as J Balvin, Fetty Wap, Trippie Red, and Trey Songz.13

In the 21st century, the tattoo industry is conflicted in its associations with delinquency in American culture, histories of colonialism and dehumanizing display, sexist tendencies, subversive and expressive functions, presence in the fashion industry, and increasing commodification and commercialization. Women, especially women of color, are forced to reconcile their identity with a community that perpetuates white, able bodied normative beauty standards. While online influencers provide entertainment, information, and support for numerous tattoo enthusiasts, the fine art tattoo community still seems exclusive, and caters to a young middle class audience. The contemporary tattoo industry is more diverse, but in the fine art tattoo community, it is the responsibility of the socially privileged consumer base to welcome and accept the millions of tattoo enthusiasts who are excluded.

However, the growing presence of diverse tattoo artists and collectors is leading to the development of more inclusive tattoo communities and subcultures. The increasing number of women acquiring, discussing, and studying tattoo culture will hopefully create a market that opposes the hypersexualizing, objectifying, and commodifying of tattooed women. Women are more active than ever in the tattoo industry, and are utilizing online platforms to encourage others to join and diversify the community. Additionally, the academic discourse surrounding fine arts tattooing is rectifying the false histories and presumptions that have circulated in the past. By welcoming tattoo enthusiasts from all walks of life and sharing the true histories of tattooing, the tattoo industry and community

WOMEN IN THE NEW MILLENIUM, ARTISTS IN THE DIGITAL AGE 147 can finally become what it had always claimed to be: a safe space for all of the misfits looking to express themselves.

1 Walzer and Sanjurjo, “Media and Contemporary Tattoo,” 79. 2 Ibid, 76. 3 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 147. 4 Christina Fabiani, “(Im)Permanent Body Ink:The Fluid Meanings of Tattoos, Deviance, and Normativity in Twentieth-Century American Culture,” Master’s Thesis, University of Victoria, 2017, 112. 5 Walzer and Sanjurjo, “Media and Contemporary Tattoo,” 74. 6 Mary Kosut, “The Artification of Tattoo: Transformations within a Cultural Field,” Cultural Sociology 8, no. 2 (2014), 149. 7 Ibid, 148. 8 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 78. 9 Ibid, 132-135. 10 Burns, “Digital Ink.” 11 Ibid. 12 Mifflin, Bodies of Subversion, 115-118. 13 Ibid, 121.

WOMEN IN THE NEW MILLENIUM, ARTISTS IN THE DIGITAL AGE 148

Figure IV: SARAH GIACALONE, CLEVELAND TATTOO Figure V: AMY BERNADETTE, PITTSBURGH TATTOO ARTS CONVENTION, FEBRUARY 2020 EXPO, MARCH 2020

Figure VI: APRIL STEAD, PITTSBURGH TATTOO EXPO, Figure VII: ASHLEY LUZANO, CLEVELAND TATTOO ARTS MARCH 2020 CONVENTION, FEBRUARY 2020

149

Figure VII: ALITA DI FERRARI, CLEVELAND TATTOO Figure IX: ABBY ESTES, PITTSBURGH TATTOO EXPO, ARTS CONVENTION, FEBRUARY 2020 MARCH 2020

Figure X: NYCHELLE ELISE, CLEVELAND TATTOO ARTS Figure XI: RACHEL HELMICH, PITTSBURGH TATTOO CONVENTION, FEBRUARY 2020 EXPO, MARCH 2020

150

REFERENCES

Atkinson, Michael. Tattooed: the Sociogenesis of Body Art. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003.

Bogdan, Robert. Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

DeMello, Margo, and Gayle S. Rubin. Bodies of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community. Durham: Duke University Press, 2000.

Fenske, M. Tattoos in American Visual Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body. New York: New York University Press, 1996.

Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.

Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. Staring: How We Look. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Mifflin, Margot. Bodies of Subversion: a Secret History of Women and Tattoo. Brooklyn: PowerHouse, 2013.

Needles and Pins. Vice TV. Vice media Group, 2016.

Osterud, Amelia Klem. The Tattooed Lady: A History. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2014.

Rubin, Arnold. Marks of Civilization: Artistic Transformations of the Human Body. California: California University Press, 1988.

Sanders, Clinton, and D. Angus. Vail. Customizing the Body: The Art and Culture of Tattooing. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008.

Vale, V., and Andrea Juno. Modern Primitives: An Investigation of Contemporary Adornment & Ritual. San Francisco, CA: Re/Search Publication, 1989.

151