Though I read Schildkrout first, I wanted to talk about Rubin first in that it gave an interesting history to tattooing in America. The origins of certain styles and their emergence in America was not something I ever really thought about so it was interesting to read. Rubin, to a certain extent, made tattooing in America sound like a political game, and it was to some degree. It made me think about tattooing in America specifically and what it came from, and it made me appreciate how the culture is changing today. Rubin’s writing also gave tattooing and those with tattoos a lot more agency. They felt more like individuals that had control over their own bodies and choices. His writing made tattooing this culture that stands adjacent to art, something that is meant to be appreciated.
Schildkrout, on the other hand, wrote about tattooing in a way that took away any agency from tattooing. I found an interest in their references to body politics and Foucault specifically. I had to read some of Foucault’s writing for a class before and from what I understood, he talked about how politics and society aims for control over the body and that gaining said control leads to power. Body politics has sadly always been relevant and it still is today and it made me really reconsider the idea of agency in relation to tattooing. With the way that Schildkrout was writing, it really seemed like even those who get tattoos to stand against society and fight back against governments seemed like toys in the hands of a higher power. Tattooing as a way of reclaiming the body after punitive tattooing works in the perspective of the individual, but they still stood as a way to mark them as an other or a criminal in the eyes of society, their crime still defining them. There are also those that tattooed themselves to adjust their life paths but in doing so, you are leaving your body at the mercy of the higher power that you are trying to take divine power from. It seems tattoos can never truly be untangled from its connection to the body and the attempts to control the body.