n this article I use a feminist autobiographical approach to present my ‘tattoo narrative’ as a gendered, embodied account in which I map out key moments in my life over two decades through the images inscribed on my skin. Specifically, I examine how my bodily modifications have magnified the social responses to my body as a woman. For example, as a teenager, I acquired a naval piercing and trendy ‘feminine’, discretely located tattoos to satisfy a heterosexual male gaze. In contrast, as a woman in my late thirties, my tattoos satisfy a different purpose. They are larger, bolder, and more ‘masculine’ in line with the evolution of my feminist politics. However, as an academic, the social responses to my tattoos are more complex. In class defined social spaces such as the university where I work, my tattoos cause trouble because they challenge gendered and classed norms for femininity. I conclude by calling for women to engage in autobiographical writing about bodily modification as a critical feminist political act.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	tattoo, feminism, academia, body modification
Research Division:	Studies in Human Society
Research Group:	Sociology
Research Field:	Sociology not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Cultural Understanding
Objective Group:	Other Cultural Understanding
Objective Field:	Cultural Understanding not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Nash, M (Dr Meredith Nash)
ID Code:	128129
Year Published:	2018
Deposited By:	Office of the School of Social Sciences
Deposited On:	2018-09-04
Last Modified:	2018-12-07
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