I grew interested in Chapter 10 early on in the way Caplan describes how the central focus of some earlier investigations on tattoos was not focused on criminals. Rather, they placed an emphasis on the significance of tattoos as a form of “individual identification and differentiation” (Caplan 157). Caplan then quickly moves onto what people in 19th century Europe, more specifically, Britain, thought about tattooing. It was also baffling that Lacassagne, who Caplan also references, wrote that men tattooed themselves as a manifestation of vanity and of a need to display their supposed primitive and criminal natures. He also called it a way for them to defeat boredom. Like I said earlier, I find this baffling, because while it may be possible that some had tattooed themselves for vain reasons or to display a part of the crime the had committed or because they were bored, how were they so quick to write this off as the reason for every single person in a prison to get a tattoo. It just feels like they were overeager, in a way, to write these people and their tattoos off as savage to further their own narrative and opinions without even stopping to consider other possibilities.
Chapter 11 reminded me of the chapter on prisoners that were sent to Australia. These Russian and Soviet convicts were using tattoos as a way of fighting against the government that sought to mark their bodies as a form of punishment. Their tattoos were seen as a way of fighting back and forging their own identities within a type of punishment that seeks to take it away. It is also just terrible that prisoners were branded similar to how people in Russia would stamp their “inanimate property with initials and other seals” as a way of marking ownership (Schrader 179). These marks only serve to further push people into the “other” category, however, it is interesting how others used these brands as a way to prove they were part of a community and how those brands were supposedly proof of experience.
Chapter 12 was an interesting read in that I guess I never thought about how tattoos really came to be popular in America. They were so normalized to me throughout my entire life that I had never stopped to consider it. To realize that the tattoos became popular in America because of the general public’s fascination with what they called the “exotic” was a surprise. It was also interesting to see how tattoos also seemed to play a supporting role despite some of these tattooed people being known by their fully tattooed bodies. What I mean is that people were also greatly interested in the story these people had to tell that was supported by their tattoos and tattooed bodies. It makes me consider how tattoos are a form of stories and storytelling today as well and how such ideas could have existed for a while now.
Chapter 13 just felt like a reminder of how much I’ve never thought about tattooing before. For instance, I never considered that people were thinking about tattoo removal as early as 1891. I had thought that the idea of removal was a much more recent concept and idea. I thought it was also interesting that tattooing had ben considered acceptable during the Civil War as a way of expressing loyalty to the country. It’s also surprising that the earliest record of a professional tattoo artist’s shop was in 1846. That feels somehow both earlier and alter than I had expected. I expected earlier primarily because of what we learned from previous chapters about how tattoos garnered a lot of public fascination starting early one. But at the same time, I thought it would be later considering how much tattoos were stigmatized and seen as something done by “savages.” It really brings into mind the idea of civilized versus uncivilized that was talked about in a previous chapter.
Chapter 14 discusses the contemporary opinion on body modification and while reading this chapter, I couldn’t help but think of my own experiences. The author describes these body modifications as having a type of power to them and that despite things like tattoos and piercings being different types of body modification, they are perceived differently. In my personal experience, I’d say that there is a power in body modification. I don’t have any tattoos but I have piercings and each one has given me a feeling of power, of, in a way, fighting against the control that my parents seek to have over my body. It’s very minimal in the sense that I have gotten all my piercings with the permission of my mother but the idea is that she was only accepting of them because they were not tattoos and that they were still something that helped me get closer to the type of body that I want. She views the permanence of tattoos as something bad and reasons that piercings, despite their ability to leave a scar, are less permanent, and therefore more acceptable.