Ok, so the section I read tonight was not totally about tattoos, but the case study at the end of the "Preview" chapter of Eve Shapiro's Gender Circuits was, and it is really what I found the most interesting about this section.
To be fair though, I should have read another page last night because Shapiro discusses the impact of challenging gender norms by discussing drag communities and how many begin to play with gender once they have been a part of that community of a while. Interesting stuff, to be sure. And Shapiro also talks about how technologies such as Second Life (yes she did discuss SL) allow people to bend gender rules and play with identity.
But the case study on tattooing is where I want to take this. Again, brings it home for me in a big kind of way. Shapiro does an excellent job of discussing, briefly, the history of tattooing. But more interesting is the meaning or meanings behind tattoos and what they say about us. Probably the most obvious thing is that tattoos have never been and still are not looked kindly upon for women. Shapiro argues that "tattoos on men and women are interpreted in vastly different ways boosting masculinity while threatening femininity" (40). This got me thinking about my own tattoos, those of my partner, and those of my niece. If you look at my partner's tattoos, they pretty much tell a story on their own. There is a pooh and tigger, which needs some explanation, and two Indian themed tattoos which pretty much stand on their own. A fourth needs explanation. People see it and do not understand what it means at all. My niece's are probably what I would call the epitome of a woman's tattoos. She sports a lady buy, maybe a butterfly, and one associated with her two girls. These are the types of tattoos that I can see being appropriate gender scripts for a woman. My two tattoos are unique. They did not come from the wall of a tattoo parlor, and as such, if you don't ask, you won't know what they mean. One of them matches my partners and thus the tattoo she has that needs explanation. The other one people mistake all the time, but people rarely enter into a discussion with me about it.
So what do my tattoos say about my gender? I hope nothing. They are very personal to me and not meant to scream femininity nor masculinity; they are meant to say something about my inner being. While I am thoroughly enjoying Shapiro's text, I hate to think of all of this gender scripting and what it says about me.
It's late, I'm tired, I'm outta here.
To be fair though, I should have read another page last night because Shapiro discusses the impact of challenging gender norms by discussing drag communities and how many begin to play with gender once they have been a part of that community of a while. Interesting stuff, to be sure. And Shapiro also talks about how technologies such as Second Life (yes she did discuss SL) allow people to bend gender rules and play with identity.
But the case study on tattooing is where I want to take this. Again, brings it home for me in a big kind of way. Shapiro does an excellent job of discussing, briefly, the history of tattooing. But more interesting is the meaning or meanings behind tattoos and what they say about us. Probably the most obvious thing is that tattoos have never been and still are not looked kindly upon for women. Shapiro argues that "tattoos on men and women are interpreted in vastly different ways boosting masculinity while threatening femininity" (40). This got me thinking about my own tattoos, those of my partner, and those of my niece. If you look at my partner's tattoos, they pretty much tell a story on their own. There is a pooh and tigger, which needs some explanation, and two Indian themed tattoos which pretty much stand on their own. A fourth needs explanation. People see it and do not understand what it means at all. My niece's are probably what I would call the epitome of a woman's tattoos. She sports a lady buy, maybe a butterfly, and one associated with her two girls. These are the types of tattoos that I can see being appropriate gender scripts for a woman. My two tattoos are unique. They did not come from the wall of a tattoo parlor, and as such, if you don't ask, you won't know what they mean. One of them matches my partners and thus the tattoo she has that needs explanation. The other one people mistake all the time, but people rarely enter into a discussion with me about it.
So what do my tattoos say about my gender? I hope nothing. They are very personal to me and not meant to scream femininity nor masculinity; they are meant to say something about my inner being. While I am thoroughly enjoying Shapiro's text, I hate to think of all of this gender scripting and what it says about me.
It's late, I'm tired, I'm outta here.
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