Bodies of Subversion

The first history of women's tattoo art, this is a fascinating excursion into a subculture that dates back to the 19th century, with many never-before-seen photos of tattooed women from the last hundred years. The book chronicles the surge of women's interest in tattoo in the suffragist '20s and the feminist '70s, as well as breast cancer survivors who tattoo their mastectomy scars; the parallel rise of tattooing and cosmetic surgery during the '80s; Maud Wagner, the first known woman tattooist, who in 1904 traded a date with her tattooist husband-to-be for an apprenticeship; Victorian society women --including Winston Churchill's mother -- who collected tattoos as custom couture; 19th century sideshow attractions who created fantastic abduction tales in which they claimed to have been forcibly tattooed, and more.