Gaining and Losing Control: Tattoos and Interpretive Sovereignty

This article explores the ways in which individuals are able to create their own bodies, influence the perception of others, and shape their memories by getting tattooed. Tattoos can be a powerful way of gaining control and experiencing oneself as an active creator of one’s life. However, in the process of getting tattooed, people have to be passive: they are at the mercy of a person whom they usually do not know well and who has specific personal interests in tattooing others—working efficiently and earning money or a good reputation. Further, the tattooees cannot control how other people will interpret their tattoos. Yet, most tattooed individuals seem to regard the active aspects as more important than the passive act of getting tattooed and interpreted by others and qdevelop strategies to reinterpret their loss of control.