"Today," says the author, "it is in full force."
In 1933, Milwaukee Sentinel broke the news that tattooing was all the rage in London. Conversations among the "smart set", the Sentinel explained, ran thus: "How gorgeously divine my dear! Now you must really give me the address of your tattooer."
The author notes such conversations were once heard about "the new hairdresser, or the new milliner".
And then comes that now familiar line that "smart young women have taken up tattooing".
A piece in The Times in 1958 reported how tattooing was "a fine art" for people "not excluding the ladies".
A similar theme was taken up in 1964 by a magazine called Men in Danger, which again expressed surprise not only that women were getting tattoos but were making "men look like pikers (a gambler who only places small bets)". The eyes of any doubters were drawn to an image of a young woman, and a tattoo which read "I love Elvis".
In 1979, The Oregonian told readers how tattooing had leapt beyond the realms of "bikers, gangs and prisoners" and on to the skin of an "entirely different clientele".
"Once the mark of sailors and bikers, body art is now sought after by the fashion-hungry," said
the Observer in January 2011.
This line might ring a bell with (very) long-time readers of Vanity Fair, which told the world in 1926 that: "Tattooing has passed from the savage to the sailor, from the sailor to the landsman. It has since percolated through the entire social stratum; tattooing has received its credentials, and may now be found beneath many a tailored shirt."
The Observer piece said the "burgeoning" tattoo scene was a "a long way from the stereotype of tattooing as the preserve of sailors and soldiers". The article was keen to point out, however, that "tattoos were once popular with Victorian aristocrats and even, it was rumoured, the royal family".
More than a rumour, in fact, as the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, was one of many European royals to be tattooed.
So what are we to make of all this?
The stories leave Dr Matt Lodder with a wry smile. Lodder compares media representations of tattooing with the film Groundhog Day where Bill Murray's weatherman finds himself living the same day over and over again.
"Sure, tattoos are not confined to sailors, bikers or convicts. My point is that they never have been. And strictly speaking, when the media says tattoos were 'once associated with bikers and sailors', that's true - they have been associated, but by the media.
"It is like same old, same old," says Lodder. "It is like, 'Wow tattooing is the new big thing, it used to be like this but now it is like this.'
"But what I can't quite work out is why that is the case, and why these myths persist. My working hypothesis is simply that if people can't empathise with somebody who has a desire to mark their body then it comes as a surprise and they go, 'Wow, that's weird and strange and people are actually doing that.'
For Lodder it was strange when Cheryl Cole got a tattoo that the reaction was very similar to the tone of the New York Times in 1876.
"It has to be pointed out that even though tattooing is popular, it is still kind of 'dangerous' in a way. There is a frisson of the counter-cultural, that tattooing is not hegemonic or sanctioned. It has never been morally safe, normative or accepted. It involves breaking the skin, of being touched by a stranger and of course there's the permanence factor. If it was true that tattooing was everywhere, and staid and boring, there would be no articles about it."
Established tattooists are happy to admit there is nothing particularly new in the phenomenon.
"Tattooing is not the new big thing," says Naomi Reed, manager at London's Frith Street Tattoos. "It has been around since the earliest civilisations. Everyone from all walks have life have been getting tattooed as long as we have tattoos recorded, from tribal leaders to the monarchy.
Advice on tattoos
- Ask someone you know who has had a tattoo where they would recommend
- Visit as many tattooists as you can. Ask to see a portfolio of their work and certificates of training and hygiene/first aid. Take someone along with you if this makes it easier to ask
- Trust your instincts. Does the place feel, look and smell clean? Can you trust the tattooist? Are they open to questions? Do they explain things well? If you're not sure - leave
"Obviously tattooing was prevalent amongst sailors and the working classes but tattoos can be seen on different social groups the world over. Surprise at women getting tattooed is akin to being surprised at women wearing trousers or demanding an equal wage."
But there are still those who argue that someone getting a tattoo can be an event worthy of remark, says Nina Jablonski, professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania State University and author of Skin: A Natural History.
"Tattooing is a subject of fascination because it was, for all intents and purposes, forbidden for centuries," she says. "Added to the weight of the apparent biblical injunction against tattooing was the Victorian attitude that associated tattooing with the under-classes.
"So now tattooing still titillates because celebrities, sorority girls and accountants are now engaging in something that was previously forbidden and the province of gangsters and prostitutes."
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