With the rise of the reality show in popular American culture, the tattoo has taken a step out of the recesses of society through shows, such as LA Ink, that star heavily tattooed female artists such as Kat Von D. Beverly Yuen Thompson’s study, Covered in Ink: Tattoos, Women, and the Politics of the Body, is a welcome addition to the sparse literature on females in the tattoo sub-culture. The growth of the tattoo industry has seen not only an increase in the number of women getting tattooed, but also in the number of women tattooing. This shift has allowed for a focus on the heavily tattooed woman, one that Thompson’s book addresses.

Within the six chapters that comprise the main body of Covered in Ink, Thompson addresses issues of reactions from others in the work place, among family, and in public. The issues are bookended by chapters on history on the front end and tattoo etiquette at the back. Throughout each chapter personal narratives are utilized to illustrate and expand on the issues presented. Thompson’s own narratives begin each chapter exposing her status as what she defines as a heavily tattooed woman and placing herself centrally within her research community.

The most intriguing chapter is one that goes beyond the basics of the interactions between the inked and the un-inked to look at the professional side of tattooing and the gender issues inherent in the tattoo industry at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Thompson discusses not only the issue of women breaking into the male-dominated field of tattooing, a traditional art form that relies on the master-apprentice relationship that can reinforce gender discrimination despite employment legislation, but also delves into the realm of the client-artist relationship that is at the heart of the tattoo process. Scrutinizing the gender expectations of clients brings the collaborative nature of tattooing to the forefront, allowing the reader to examine the deeply-rooted gender issues that persist despite the shifts in the tattoo industry.

Thompson concludes her book with a call for a new tattoo etiquette. This short chapter deviates from the rest of the book in its lack of supporting evidence from the tattoo community in the established format of narrative from Thompson’s research community. This leaves the reader wondering as to any personal bias that may reflect the individual’s concerns rather than the community’s. Within this brief discussion the threads of body issues and feminism are most apparent to those familiar with contemporary feminist theories of the body. I believe that Thompson is making a call to expand the feminist agenda on body politics in the public setting to address issues of the tattoo community. Pulling narrative—both her research informants and her own—back in, could strengthen her articulation of the relevance of this etiquette and the necessity of inclusion of tattoo etiquette with feminist calls for revising public interactions for women.

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[Review length: 478 words • Review posted on March 30, 2016]