Customizing the Body: The Art and Culture of Tattooing Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)If you have ever considered getting tattooed, have ever wondered what possesses someone to get one, what kind of people get them, how your life would change after getting one, why so many people are getting them these days, and why very few of them today look like the ones your grandfather or his war buddies had, this book addresses all these questions and many more in a most thorough and mostly unbiased way. The book is actually an academic study written by a university professor who, during the course of researching and writing the book, became a tattooed person. It contains plenty of statistics as you would expect in an academic study, but also lots of colorful anecdotes:tattooists talking about the types of tattoos or customers they refuse, women who explain why they got their first tattoo, various customers on pride and regret. There are so many interesting facts in this book, it really does read like an anthropological study, which it is, and I believe it would make interesting reading for nearly anyone who's ever found themselves looking at an inked armed and muttering "Why?!" or especially those who might look and say, "Hey, why not?!"
A few interesting facts from the book . . . Some classically trained fine artists are gaining acceptance in tattooing doing custom, commissioned, one-of-a-kind pieces . . . Women often get tattooed after a breakup . . . Most tattoo regret comes from getting one with poor craftsmanship . . . Men's first tattoos tend to be on the arm, women's on the breast . . . your social life will change if you get one . . . They really do hurt.
This book is unique in that nearly every other book on the subject falls under the rubric of tattoo fandom.
I read the book several years ago, and I'm still "clean skinned".

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Product Description:
Originally published in 1989, this ground-breaking ethnographic exploration of tattooing - and the art world surrounding it - covers the history, anthropology, and sociology of body modification practices; the occupational experience of the tattooist; the process and social consequences of becoming a tattooed person; and the prospects of "serious" tattooing becoming an accepted art form. Curiously, despite the greater prevalence of tattoos and body modification in today's society, there is still a stigma of deviance associated with people who get or ink tattoos.Retaining the core of the original book, this revised and expanded edition offers a new preface by the author and a new chapter focusing on the changes that have occurred in the tattoo world. A section on the new scholarly literature that has emerged, as well as the new modes of body modification that have come into vogue, are included along with a new gallery of photographs that show some splendid examples of contemporary tattoo art. A directory of artists' websites invites readers to discover the range of work being done around the world from "suits" (full body tattoos) to skulls.

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