such a beautiful book <3

Am so excited

"In the never-ending project of women's self-transformation, tattoos are both an end and a beginning, a problem and a solution... Collectively, they form a secret history of women grappling with body politics from the Gilded Age to the present" - from the conclusion of the book.

This is a fascinating and gorgeous book, bursting with photos of tattoos of all sorts from the last hundred plus years, along with history, context, and critical analysis. Mifflin details the history of tattooing among western women, from the tattooed ladies of the circus, to the rise of tattooing post-second wave feminism, to the explosion of mainstream tattoos in the 90s.

A very good and interesting book about the history of women and tattoo. As a woman that fell in love with tattoos as a very young age when it was still a weird thing to love, I really appreciated that book.

Not a very deep book but worth reading if you are interested in women & tattoo.

2.5/5

I was rather surprised to see that my local county library had a copy of this, and seeing as how it'd been on my TBR for the last decade, it was best to snatch it up before it got belatedly weeded. Since adding this, I've racked up some more ink and split off from the gendered straitjacket, so some of this info was interesting and some of it was needlessly essentialist. The details regarding Victorian bluebloods (including various members of royalty) being inked were the most engaging, and I did appreciate Mifflin's efforts to comment on the fraught colonial/postcolonial relationship tattooing continues to have as the structures of imperialism shift in methodology but not in intent. However, it was rather trite to weigh down women with 'dainty' and 'gentle' and 'flowing' descriptors and then complain about certain representatives who 'went along' with stereotypes, as if a jail cell could redeemed so long as the bars were covered up with flowers and gift wrap. There was also some jarring moments of repetition, which I understand is more normal in a coffee table book but, if you are going to put together a material that folks are able to read from start to finish, you have to account for those who are going to do exactly that. All in all, good intent mixed with okay commentary and some pictures that are mostly cool, some remarkable, on the amazing to why was that included scale. I'm just glad I didn't have to pay 40 bucks in order to read it.

I read the second edition of this book, which was published January, 2013.

I love that this book is not only a resource and historical reference for people who are really into tattoos and modifications, but also a great source for people who aren't. It stands on its own whether you're opening the cover to see the art, to learn about the (largely unknown) history of women within tattooing, or because you'd like more information about why we do it and what it represents.

It's accessible enough to be read and understood by just about anyone: complete novices to tattoo, or experienced and highly decorated individuals.

Interesting history, would love to see updated edition (I read this book several years ago), with more information about artists like Jacci Gresham.

An interesting look at the partly forgotten history of tattoo that manages to blend individual stories and critical political, cultural and anthropological analysis. Even for an enthusiast like myself, the book offered new information and a narrative so much more interesting than but how will your tattoos look when your old. Well, first of all, my body is not a commodity, and second: fucking fantastic. I can't believe we're still talking about this. Read the book and educate yourself, fool.

super informative with plenty of beautiful illustrations and photographs from the mentioned time periods

A decent book that I wish were better. I enjoyed the history of tattooed ladies and society women getting tattooed, and am particularly smitten by one of the latter. The strength of this book comes from the images and quotes from tattooed ladies and ladies who are tattooers. It is pretty heavy on badly-done tattoos, unfortunately, and there are several mentions of the 1990s staples: fairies and tribal. However, hearing what women thought about their tattoos and what they think about tattooing is pretty interesting, even if the author does seem to be trying to make some sort of more academic point/s that never really go anywhere. I'd still say to grab a copy if you're really into tattoos.

cool and all until it gets to that 90's tribal shit.......