Amazing book! Very informative and interesting.

‘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 divid...

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, mains...

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...

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.

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

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.

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

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 c...

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, tha...

This book is a fast read with mentions of tons of figures in the tattoo community with accompanying pictures. It also offers some analysis of trends in female tattoo designs and fashions. As well, it looks at the challenges female tattooists have faced over the years and how the culture has changed today. I quite enjoyed it but am thirsty to find out so much more. I wish the book was three times as long with more pictures of the people she mentioned and more in depth looks at certain women's his...

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 s...

A necessary volume detailing the participation of women in the male-dominated world of western tattoo. Thoroughly educational, it does its absolute best to objectively handle a subject about which just about everyone has a strong subjective opinion. Mostly it succeeds, though a jibe in the introduction stuck with me for the duration of the book. The only drawback is that it occasionally reads like a laundry list of names, especially around the middle, but even so, it serves its purpose of illust...

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.

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.

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

A great analysis of women and taattooing.

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

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

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...

Although the content was very interesting and I definitely learned a lot, the structure and the way it's set out was confusing to me. There were so many names dropped I couldn't have possibly remembered every single one and then she'd mention them again a chapter later and I would be confused at who she's talking about. Also she'd talk in depth about one artist but the images showing the artist and their work would be shown somewhere on some other unrelated page. This made it difficult to link a...

Great collection of stories and photos, but preachyLoved learning the history of women and tattoos. Saw a lot of images is I'd never come across before. But wish the author has stuck to what her subjects were saying instead of constantly derailing the narrative by pointing out obvious feminist issues or editorializing off topic.

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.

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.

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

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

Fascinating history on women and tattoos.

Am so excited

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.

Last year I heard Margot Mifflin talk about this book, and what she says in person is a little different from the overall tenor of this book. This book is likely to appeal to people already interested in tattoos rather than the history of female independence and Mifflin writes for that audience. This book has a beautiful collection of pictures but it is notable that that only "beautiful" tattoos are featured, which from an historical perspective leaves some noticeable gaps. In the book Mifflin w...