One of the most fascinating things to me about this class is thinking about the skin and tattooing as the act of inscribing the skin. I really liked what Schildrkout had to say about this in relation to feminist theory and the emphasis on the body and embodied experiences, a topic we have been addressing a lot in my feminist theory class. I have been drawing a lot of connections between these two classes because of the ways they each emphasize the body as a physical representation of identity. In the case of my feminist theory class, identity is present in the body through the ways it is expressed but also the ways in which the body can sense when things are wrong, which is tied to identity. For example, there’s the classic image of women tensing up when walking alone at night. They might not know in their heads that they feel unsafe, but their body does. Our bodies are a language. Our bodies communicate. In the case of tattooing, tattoos can reflect so many aspects of our identity — group membership, our values, etc. I absolutely loved the way Schildkrout summarized this concept, saying that “the body, as a canvas, is not only the site where culture is inscribed but also a place where the individual is defined and inserted into the cultural landscape. Tattoos, scars, brands, and piercings, when voluntarily assumed, are ways of writing one’s autobiography on the surface of the body” (Schildkrout 338). I think the idea of tattooing as a way of telling one’s story, as an autobiography, is really powerful because it means the person themself is the writer of their own story. They can reveal what is most important to them, document stages of their life, and reclaim their bodies. The Rubin article had so many pictures that demonstrated the art of storytelling on the body. I appreciated the emphasis on tattooing as a high art that takes significant focus and attention to do well. People’s autobiographies are a big deal, so it is the responsibility of tattoo artists to portray them well and assist people in telling their stories.