"THIS IS MY BODY": GENDER, TATTOOING
Major Advisor: Dr. Jay Ruby
This thesis is an experimental work combining anthropology and photography in the form of a written text and photographic essay. I first discuss the practices of anthropology and photography and their usage as they developed from the 1800s to the present to place my work in context. The body of the thesis examines the rise in interest in the practice of tattooing in the United States and its implications for women. Women's bodies serve as a site of social control through gendered appearance and idealized beauty standards. Tattooing is visual communication, written on the body, which is linked historically to deviance and remains stigmatized in the West. Tattoos on women, especially the "new" tattooing of the past ten years or so, are a form of resistance to gendered appearance standards and social control.
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ABSTRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
CHAPTERS
1. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 1
2. ANTHROPOLOGY/PHOTOGRAPHY:TOWARD PRAXIS . . . . . . . . 5
3. BODIES, APPEARANCE AND CONTROL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4. THE MARKED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
5. ALTERNATIVE IMAGING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 45
6. CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
REFERENCE LIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 92
I would like to thank Dr. Jay Ruby, Department of Anthropology, for his support and encouragement and for providing me with a wealth of resources, Professor Martha Madigan, Tyler School of Art, for her sharp eye and photographic suggestions, the Richard Cross Thesis Grant, the women I interviewed and photographed, Cale for confidence, Sue for excellent editing, and finally, I dedicate this to all women who resist oppression everywhere.