Mifflin, Margot 1960-

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Mifflin, Margot 1960-

PERSONAL: Ethnicity: "White."

ADDRESSES: Home—Nyack, NY. Agent—Laurie Fox, Linda Chester Literary Agency, 630 5th Ave., Ste. 2036, New York, NY 10111; Jodi Solomon Speakers Bureau, 325 Huntington Ave., Ste. 112, Boston, MA 02115. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Herbert H. Lehman College of the City University of New York, New York, NY, professor of English. Lecturer on women and body modification at venues including Barnard College, Vanderbilt University, and New York University. Appeared in television documentaries Women of the Ink, Turner Broadcasting, 1998, and Women and Tattoo, MSNBC, 2001.

WRITINGS:

Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo, Juno Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Contributor to The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History. Contributor of articles on art, women's issues, and books to periodicals, including Elle, Ms., Entertainment Weekly, New York Times Book Review, ARTnews, Believer, and Salon.com.

WORK IN PROGRESS: The Blue Tattoo: The True Story of a Victorian "Savage," a biography of Olive Oatman.

SIDELIGHTS: In her book Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo, Margot Mifflin explores women as both examples of tattoo art and tattoo artists from the nineteenth century to the present. Mifflin delves into issues, including contest nudity and job discrimination, in interviews with tattooed women and artists in the United States, Argentina, and Spain. Mifflin documents early collectors, including sideshow attractions and women such as Betty Broadbent, who entered a beauty contest at the first televised World's Fair in 1939 covered with tattoos. Some of the women learned the art from male artists or from husbands who were artists. Society women who collected tattoos included Winston Churchill's mother, who had a serpent on her wrist. Mifflin notes the rise in female tattooing with the rise in cosmetic surgery during the 1980s. Breast cancer survivors sometimes have art tattooed over their scars, and take pride in their badges of survival and courage. Jacqui Gresham of New Orleans has developed black Betty Boop tattoos for her black customers. The book contains one hundred photographs.