Comments on: Covered: New Documentary on Women and Tattoos

By: Caroline

Caroline — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:00:40 +0000

It was a wonderful documentary and a necessary one to start a larger discourse about tattooing in general as well as the inequities of the taboo of tattoos amongst women as compared to the dismantling of that taboo amongst men. I am excited for Beverley's next potential project to expose the life of heavily tattooed women in more mainstream professions and not limited to the subculture of tattoo artists as we are seeing more of that in today's society than ever before. Thanks to the women who made the path for tattoo acceptance depicted in this initial documentary, women like myself are more able to express ourselves through tattoos than ever before, despite being teachers, bankers, lawyers, etc. Check out this film if you haven't already!

By: Occupy Yourself {003} « Halo Of Moths

Occupy Yourself {003} « Halo Of Moths — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:51:37 +0000

[...] I was especially happy to find this short article about the documentary on women & tattoos. I want to watch this documentary [...]

By: Elizabeth Kissling

Elizabeth Kissling — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:18:29 +0000

@Melissa – Thanks for commenting. I think the relationship between women’s body image issues and tattoos is complex and fascinating. Constance Eller, an artist featured in the film (& artist who did four of my tattoos), told me once that she thinks women choosing to get tattooed is a powerful statement of ownership of one’s body, especially for those of us who got our first tattoos after age 30. I think there’s something to that.

@Audrey – Thank you! I think the inclusions of paintings is a unique way to include oneself in an ethnography study. There is a lot of rich material about cultural and gendered meanings of different kinds of in this film, and I know Beverly had to cut a lot of terrific material to keep the length of the film to about an hour. She has posted a couple of excerpts on the film’s website.

@Eva – Thank you for that identification! A Ms. editor selected the photograph, and I do not know the source. When I submitted the review I suggested illustrating with a clip from the film, but I really love that photo of Maud Stevens Wagner. I’m going to look for more information about her.

By: Weekly Twitter Updates « Kelli Marshall

Weekly Twitter Updates « Kelli Marshall — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 01:01:25 +0000

[...] a new documentary on women and tattoos: http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/07/08/covered-new-documentary-on-women-and-tattoos [...]

By: Eva

Eva — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 01:24:41 +0000

That’s not just any tattooed woman, that’s Maud Stevens Wagner (see her name tattooed on her right arm), herself a tattooist and mother to another legendary female tattooist Lotteva Wagner.

By: Audrey Bilger

Audrey Bilger — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:49:45 +0000

Excellent review, Elizabeth! I’m fascinated by the connections between Thompson as documentary film maker, tattooing, and painting–all forms of art and creation with varying degrees of prestige and multiple layers of cultural meaning. Without having seen the film–which I will certainly seek out–I also want to see the paintings she created alongside the film and hear more about her process. Thanks for the introduction!

By: Melissa Turner

Melissa Turner — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 02:05:53 +0000

I have 6 tattoos right now and 5 have been done by a woman. I love her work and the shop she is in has many other female artists. There is a really welcoming feel in her shop and no worries that she is thinking what I want done is ‘lame’ or ‘trendy’.

I love my tattoos and although I understand that they draw attention to parts of my body they also take attention away from it. I struggle with body image issues and the tattoos sort of hide what’s underneath. People look at the art, and it hides the arm, the thigh, or the abs.

By: Tweets that mention Covered: New Documentary on Women and Tattoos : Ms Magazine Blog -- Topsy.com

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 02:04:27 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ms. Magazine, Beverly Y. Thompson. Beverly Y. Thompson said: Thanks for the review of @Coveredthemovie @Quisp! http://tinyurl.com/23r9b9v [...]