Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo

by Margot Mifflin

Bodies of Subversion  was the first history of women's tattoo art when it was released in 1997, providing a fascinating excursion to a subculture that dates back to the nineteenth-century and including many never-before-seen photos of tattooed women from the last century. Newly revised and expanded, it remains the only book to chronicle the history of both tattooed women and women tattooists. As the primary reference source on the subject, it contains information from the original edition, including documentation of:

•Nineteeth-century sideshow attractions who created fantastic abduction tales in which they claimed to have been forcibly tattooed.
•Victorian society women who wore tattoos as custom couture, including Winston Churchill's mother, who wore a serpent on her wrist.
•Maud Wagner, the first known woman tattooist, who in 1904 traded a date with her tattooist husband-to-be for an apprenticeship.
•The parallel rise of tattooing and cosmetic surgery during the 80s when women tattooists became soul doctors to a nation afflicted with body anxieties.
•Breast cancer survivors of the 90s who tattoo their mastectomy scars as an alternative to reconstructive surgery or prosthetics.

The book contains 50 new photos and FULL COLOR images throughout including newly discovered work by Britain's first female tattooist, Jessie Knight; Janis Joplin's wrist tattoo; and tattooed pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber. In addition, the updated 3rd edition boasts a sleek design and new chapters documenting recent changes to the timeline of female tattooing, including a section on: celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D, the most famous tattooist, male or female, in the world; the impact of reality shows on women's tattoo culture; and, therapeutic uses of tattooing for women leaving gangs, prisons, or situations of domestic abuse. 

As of 2012, tattooed women outnumber men for the first time in American history, making Bodies of Subversion more relevant than ever.

"In Bodies of Subversion, Margot Mifflin insightfully chronicles the saga of skin as signage. Through compelling anecdotes and cleverly astute analysis, she shows and tells us new histories about women, tattoos, public pictures, and private parts. It's an indelible account of an indelible piece of cultural history."
—Barbara Kruger, artist

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Art, Feminism, Womens, Gender, Historical

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

If you'd like to have a chat with me, you'll find me now on Skolay: skolay.com/writers/margot-mifflin

Margot Mifflin is an author praised for writing "delicious social history (Dwight Garner, The New York Times). She wrote the first history of women's tattoo culture, Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo, and The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman, a finalist for a Caroline Bancroft History Award.

Her 2020 book Looking for Miss America, the first cultural history of the Miss America pageant, is a Cosmopolitan Best Nonfiction Book of 2020, a New York Post Best Book of 2020, a Publishers Weekly Best Summer Book, a National Book Review 5 Hot Books Pick, and a PureWow 12 Best Nonfiction Books of 2020. It was awarded the 2021 Pop Culture Association's Emily Toth Best Book in Woman's Studies award.

“A spellbinding…first-rate analysis of the United States’s most distinctive beauty contest.” —The Los Angeles Review of Books

“Mifflin’s lively book reads as an obituary…She’s cleareyed about the pageant’s many hypocrisies and failures…But Mifflin, too, is invested in the pageant’s sense of specialness.” —The New York Times

“Mifflin is as alive to the pageant’s historical grotesqueries as she is to the weirdo details of its founding.” —The New Yorker

“This incisive and entertaining history deserves the spotlight.” —Publishers Weekly

“Nothing short of fascinating.” —Cosmopolitan

Reviews

[Hadas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book! Very informative and interesting.

[Gabriela Pistol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Splendid vizual, foarte informativ (în istoria artei tatuajului, cu accent pe "artă") și cu o solidă perspectivă sociologic-feministă.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Bodies of Subversion’ is a largely visual history of tattooed women, and thus quite a quick read. The narrative is more anecdotal than the academic-sounding title might suggest, but still informative. Perhaps most interesting is how the social acceptability of women getting tattoos has waxed and waned in the Western world. There was a fad in the 1880s for society ladies to get discreet tattoos, which is rather enchanting. Allegedly even Queen Victoria had one, although opinions seem to be divided on that. More visible in the historical record are the 19th century women whose tattoos were their livelihood, as they toured with circuses showing them off in freakshows. During the 20th century, more women began to do the actual tattooing, although the author notes that plenty of sexism remains the industry. In the late 20th century (my edition is from 2001), tattoos have become more mainstream for women, although Mifflin makes the good point that they still appear transgressive if not concealable beneath ordinary business wear. Getting a tattoo on your face or hands retains quite a powerful stigma.

The range of designs and styles shown in ‘Bodies of Subversion’ demonstrate how fashions in tattoos have changed over the decades. This made me think about their permanence on the body making it into a history book of sorts, whether this is an intentional feature of the designs or not. Mifflin doesn’t speculate very systematically upon why women get tattoos, but there are some thoughtful comments and examples. The interview material can get a bit repetitive, as I felt that the underlying ideas weren’t that clearly articulated. This book wasn’t as in-depth a study as I might have liked, but it was still compelling and quite inspiring. The pictures of Elizabeth Weinzirl’s beautiful tattoos were a particular highlight.

[Anya Weber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and vastly entertaining. Margot Mifflin unveils the history of tattooing among western women, from roughly 1860 to the 1990s. I'd expected this to be regular-sized, but it's actually large, kind of like a soft-bound coffee table book. There are lots of photos of tattooed women from all eras and walks of life; Mifflin examines the reasons that women have been drawn (heh) to tattoo through the ages, and the significance of body art within the feminist, Pagan, spiritual, punk, mainstream, and biker-chick communities. Fascinating content here about women tattoo artists (those who tattoo others), as well as "collectors" (those who receive tattoos).

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish this book was longer. It has some awesome tattoo photos of both artists and their work, and is an interesting look at how women broke through this male dominated industry. It analyzes how gender plays a role in the industry. One thing that really stands out in my mind is how different women and men display themselves and their ink in industry events/contests, and how sexualized women continue to be, even in this "fringe" group.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting limited cultural history of tattooed and tattooing women in the US.
Good pics although I wish there were many more.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

At its best in the later sections where there is more analysis and interrogation of tattoo culture, but the history of 19th/early 20th century tattooed women is interesting too.

[Leonard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well illustrated with a lot of history about tattoos and women if you find that subject interesting.

[Britt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feminism + tattoos = INCREDIBLE BOOK. This is a fantastic, fascinating read. And the gorgeous pictures just make it that much better. I can't believe I waited so long to read this.

As a heavily tattooed woman myself, it really made me appreciate the rich history of tattooed women, and the role it plays in why, where, & what we get tattooed. The concept of using it as a way to own my own body in the face of abuse & the litany of legislation written by old white evangelical men to tell me what I can & can't do with my body was something I had never actually consciously THOUGHT about, but it really struck home with me.

This book made me even prouder to be a feminist, and a tattooed one at that. I bought a copy for my (female) tattooist as well. I hope she enjoys it as much as I did.

[Carey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It filled in the lady shaped gaps in the history of American tattooing. A lot of the literature on tattooing portrays women with tattoos as sluts, lesbians, or both. I don't mean in the good way either. In regard to other books, I kept thinking, "Hey, author, you really couldn't find any women to interview who weren't maybe drunk and getting a rose tattoo on their boob?" Oh no, they couldn't because all of those ladies were busy getting interviewed by Mifflin.

So, thank you, Margot Mifflin for writing a history of female tattoo artists and collectors. This book is both fierce and intelligent. It also has really amazing photographs.

[Jillian Mcclelland · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good. This history of women in tattooing is a fascinating and very unexplored/undervalued aspect of society. I adored reading about its evolution through the early 20th Century as a form of torture into how it has changed in the contemporary period into a form of self-expression. Recommended for women to view how feminism is a varied concept, and recommended for men as well so they can appreciate the hard work and tenacity many women had to face to achieve recognition. Permanent place on my shelf.

[Sara Willis · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are looking for a survey of women's tattoo history this might be your book. If you are looking for in depth analysis or anything other than superficial conclusions you may want to look elsewhere. Tattoos and women with tattoos are already a spectacle which draws interest, perhaps this book relies to heavily on that fact to present much else. To be fair, it is a good cursory glance at the history which I think is its purpose.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories of female tattoo artists are interesting, but the overall history of tattooed women--from circus acts to today--is kind of slight. It almost comes across as more of a picture book of tattooed ladies.

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were some really cool older photos in this book. Tattooed ladies, I love them.

[Alison Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing look at the often undiscussed subject of women's tattoo history. Definitely an interesting read!

[Jenny J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting social and feminist history of women and tattoos. Lots of great photos.

[Erin Bookishness · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting look at western tattoo culture and how women interact with it. This book is predominantly about cis white women, although it does make an effort to include women of color and queer women. Over all I liked the book although I was very put off by the fact that it gets some historical facts about clothing wrong, but that’s sort of a personal interest of mine so it’s something I notice in books. The only thing I found stylistically odd was that this book was written in the 90s and then updated in the 00s but it uses present tense, which causes it to read as very dated and out of touch because it’s talking about the difficulties for women tattoo artists to find and support each other as if it’s happening in the now and social media doesn’t exist, when what it really means is that before social media it was hard for artists to find each other.

[WaterstonesBirmingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not just a beautiful cover.

An in depth and well researched look at the modern history of women and tattooing.

It focuses mainly on the west, starting with The Tattooed Lady in the circus, to women as tattoo artists in the early 1900's and right up to the modern day industry and the struggles for female tattoo artists as well as tattooed women.

With a great selection of photographs and snippets of interviews from a who's who of female tattoo artists, this is a must read for anyone interested in the subject.

Grace

[elizabeth roberts-zibbel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading this. I can now describe myself as a “heavily tattooed” woman, and the history of both tattooed and tattooist of the female variety was interesting and informative. The theories about why women might turn their bodies into canvases all felt on the mark. I took photos of some of the author’s thoughts and quotes from those interviewed to think about later.

[Magali · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating. Learned a lot (history of tatooing, why women got tattoos, what it meant), and the discussion around whether tattoos should be treated as art or a sociological/cultural phenomenon was really interesting. Rather inspiring...

[Dominika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good research, interesting material - but the further I got, the more I felt there is something lacking, that this needs a way deeper dive and maybe interviews with multiple artists or even wearers of certain tattoos (ie black culture and tattoos).

[Jann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite what I was looking for, but still an interesting read. I was mostly interested in the section on 19th century and early 20th century tattooing. I would have liked a deeper dive into it. The writing was more casual/anecdotal than I expected. Overall, a cool coffee table book to have.

[Aleasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

More about women tattoo artists than anything. I was hoping for a more in depth look into what makes tattoos themselves so liberating, in particularly for women

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating history on women and tattoos.

[Sundar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Am so excited

[Alexandra Watters · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the pictures of the beautiful work.
I did get lost in the repetitive histories of who and when. The early chapters were best and I learnt a lot about early tattoo history for women.

[Gabby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book! Very interesting and I knocked it out in one two hour plane ride.