Abstract
Tattooing has historically been associated with masculine subcultures. Therefore, men are often represented as tattoo artists—rarely women. LA Ink is the only reality tattoo television show that has a predominantly female cast. How does this representation impact women working in the tattoo industry—the object of the representation? Interviews were conducted with seventy women who are either tattoo collectors, tattoo artists, or both, and asked about their thoughts on the representation of women on tattoo television shows and the impact on the industry. Interviewees also provide insight on their experiences of being a heavily tattooed woman or artist. This article uses Robert Stebbins’ theoretical framework of ‘casual leisure’ to hypothesize that the target audience of LA Ink and other shows, is more likely casual tattoo collectors of both genders, less invested in the tattooing profession than artists or serious collectors. The article also uses feminist theory to understand the particular role of women working in the male dominated industry as well as the social differences for women when they become heavily tattooed, as compared to men.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andrejevic, M. (2004). Reality TV: The work of being watched. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc..
Atkinson, M. (2002). Pretty in ink: Conformity, resistance, and negotiation in women’s tattooing. Sex Roles, 47(5/60), 219–235.
Atkinson, M. (2003). Tattooed: The sociogenesis of a body art. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Barnett, E. (2013). “Do women really want to watch each other eat cat hair?” Telegraph. April 30. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10025885/TLC-channel-launch-Do-women-really-want-to-watch-each-other-eat-cat-hair.html
Birmingham, L., Mason, D., & Grubin, D. (1999). The psychiatric implications of visible tattoos in an adult male prison population. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 10(3), 687–695.
Brill, D. (2008). Goth culture: Gender, sexuality and style. Oxford: Berg.
Brook, B. (1999). Feminist perspectives on the body. New York: Longman.
Budgeon, S. (2003). Identity as an embodied event. Body & Society, 9(1), 35–55.
Butler, J. ([1990] 1999). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.
Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of “sex.”. New York: Routledge.
Collins, P. H. (1986). Learning from the outsider within: The sociological significance of black feminist thought. Social Problems, 33(6, December), s14–s32. https://doi.org/10.2307/800672.
Collins, P. H. (2008). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. New York: Routledge.
Cooke, D. (2017). 10 reasons the tattoo community doesn’t respect tattoo reality TV shows. Huffington Post, 4 March. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dawn-cooke/tattoo-reality-shows_b_4896805.html.
Corwin, C. (Producer). (2007-2011). LA Ink [television series]. Silver Spring: Discovery Communications, Inc.
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum: 139–168.
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(July, 6), 1241–1299.
Davis, A. Y. (1983). Women, race & class. New York: Vintage Books.
Dececco, J., Williams, M., & Andros, P. (1995). Bad boys and tough tattoos: A social history of the tattoo with gangs, sailors, and street-corner punks 1950–1965. New York: Routledge.
DeMello, M. (2000). Bodies of inscription: A cultural history of the modern tattoo community. Durham: Duke University Press.
Fenske, M. (2007). Tattoos in American visual culture. New York: Palgrave.
Friedman, A. F. (2015). The world atlas of tattoo. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Gilbert, S. (2000). The tattoo history source book. New York: Juno Books.
Gimlin, D. L. (2002). Body work: Beauty and self-image in American culture. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hage, P., Harary, F., & Milicic, B. (1996). Tattooing, gender and social stratification in micro-Polynesia. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2(2), 335–350.
Halnon, K. B., & Cohen, S. (2006). Muscles, motorcycles and tattoos: Gentrification in a new frontier. Journal of Consumer Culture, 6(1), 33–56.
Harding, S. (2003). The feminist standpoint theory reader: Intellectual and political controversies. New York: Routledge.
Hartsock, N. (1999). The feminist standpoint revised, and other essays. New York: Basic Books.
Hicinbothem, J., Gonsalves, S., & Lester, D. (2006). Body modification and suicidal behavior. Death Studies, 30, 351–363.
Hooks, B. (1982). Ain't I a woman: Black women and feminism. Boston: South End Press.
Irwin, K. (2003). Saints and sinners: Elite tattoo collectors and tattooists as positive and negative deviants. Sociological Spectrum, 23, 27–57.
Leblanc, L. (1999). Pretty in punk: Girls’ gender resistance in a boys’ subculture. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Mifflin, M. (1997). Bodies of subversion: A secret history of women and tattoo. New York: Juno Books.
Moraga, C., & Gloria, A. (Eds.). (1981). This bridge called my back: Writings by radical women of color. Albany: State University of New York (SUNY) Press.
Mulvey, L. (1999). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. In L. Braudy & M. Cohen (Eds.), Film theory and criticism: Introductory readings (pp. 833–844). New York: Oxford UP.
Harris Poll. (2016). Tattoo takeover: Three in ten Americans have tattoos, and Most Don’t stop at just one. February 10. http://www.theharrispoll.com/health-and-life/Tattoo_Takeover.html
Roberts, T. A., & Ryan, S. A. (2002). Tattooing and high-risk behavior in adolescents. Pediatrics, 110(6), 1058–1063.
Rubin, A. (1988). Marks of civilization. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, University of California.
Russell, C. A., & Puto, C. P. (1999). Rethinking television audience measures: An exploration into the construction of audience connectedness. Marketing Letters, 10(4), 393–407.
Salamon, W. (2010). Hijacking the branded self: Reality TV and the politics of subversion. In S. Van Bauwel & N. Carpentier (Eds.), Trans-reality television: the transgression of reality, genre, politics, and audience (pp. 293–300). United Kingdom: Lexington Books.
Sanders, C. R. (1989). Customizing the body: The art and culture of tattooing. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Schertenlieb, S. (2004). The inked experience: Tattooing as a positive body project for women’s self-narration and resistance. Carlisle: Digitalcommons.com.
Smith, D. E. (1993). Texts, facts and femininity: Exploring the relations of ruling. New York: Routledge.
Stebbins, R. A. (1997). Casual leisure: A conceptual statement. Leisure Studies, 16, 17–25.
Stebbins, R. A. (2007). Serious leisure: A perspective for our time. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.
Stebbins, R. A. (2009). Leisure and consumption: Common ground/separate worlds. New York: Palgrave MacMillian.
Stebbins, R. A. (2011). The semiotic self and serious leisure. The American Sociologist, 43(2/3), 238–248.
Thobo-Carlsen, Mik. 2014. How tattoos went from subculture to pop culture. Huffington Post, 27 October. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mik-thobocarlsen/how-tattoos-went-from-sub_b_6053588.html.
Thomas, S., Crenshaw, K. (2004). Intersectionality: The double bind of race and gender. Perspectives Magazine. American Bar Association. (Spring), p. 2.
Thomas, N., Cole, A., & Douglas, B. (Eds.). (2005). Tattoo: Bodies, art, and exchange in the pacific and the west. Durham: Duke University Press.
Thompson, B. Y. (2015). Covered in ink: Tattoos, women and the politics of the body. New York: NYU Press.
Valentine, B. (2000). Gangs and their tattoos: Identifying gangbangers on the street & in prison. Boulder: Paladin Press.
Von, D. K. (2009). High voltage tattoo. New York: Collins Designs.
Von, D. K. (2010). The tattoo chronicles. New York: Harper Design.
Woodstock, L. (2014). Tattoo therapy: Storying the self on reality TV in neoliberal times. The Journal of Popular Culture, 47(4), 780–799.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Thompson, B.Y. LA Ink: tattooing, gender, and the casual leisure of tattoo television. Int J Sociol Leis 2, 301–316 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-018-00026-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-018-00026-8