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To pierce or not to pierce
The pros, cons and history of body manipulation
by Jill Pavlin
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To pierce or not to pierce
The pros, cons and history of body manipulation
by Jill Pavlin
the Carillon
One girl’s guide to
getting poked
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At this moment, I have one full, fleshy tongue, sans holes or foreign appendages. I also have one clean and unblemished epidermis devoid of any marks, tats or inky images. By the time you reach the end of this article, however, I may be lacking of one of these two features. But I will be a better, cooler, and more-hip person for it. Or will I?
Over the years, I have observed passively as friends obtained and grew out of nose piercing, eyebrow rings and belly button rings. I was shocked when friends of both sexes had their nipples pierced, often at less than sanitary, far too beer-filled locations. I watched the scabs heal on their lower-back tattoos of tribal designs and Chinese lettering. I accompanied one of my friends to the tattooing ordeal the morning following her sixteenth birthday.
Just last summer I learned that my 15 year-old sister got a tattoo for her birthday. Where? Why, her lower back, of course. Of what? Well, I’m not quite sure. She designed it herself. So where does all of this leave me? In hope of discovering exactly where I stand on the piercing/tattooing issue and whether or not it is for me, I have decided to take a deeper look into the history of these forms of body modification and what they mean in and for society today. Also, I want to see exactly what is considered to be cool around these parts with regard to body modification. That is, of course, the most relevant and important part of any good bit of research.
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Tatoos reflect self expression.
-photo by Sean Flotre
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Through the course of my internet-info pilfering and pavement-pounding survey, I have discovered a fair deal of which I was entirely unaware. My guess is that you, the average three to five course load, juice/coffee/soda sipping, adolescent reader, know now about as much as I did before the shedding of my ignorance. Let us examine the origins and impacts of these acts of body mutilation or modification (however you want to look at it) together, shall we?
The word tattoo comes from the Tahitian word “tatu” which means “to mark something.” Exactly what one is marking, besides just some poor exposed flesh, has evolved over the centuries.
The Greeks used tattooing for communication among spies. Later, the tattoo took on a malevolent purpose as Romans used it to mark their criminals and slaves. The Ainu people of western Asia, noted for their introduction of tattooing to Japan, where it developed into a religious and ceremonial rite, used tattooing to show social status. In Borneo, a woman tattooed symbols on her forearm to indicate a particular skill she possessed, thereby upping her status as “marriageable material.”
Today, adolescent girls tattoo cute, sexy, bold and sweet images on their lower backs, shoulders, or their “tummies,” to express emotions or desires, to develop personas, or to shed old ones. Men tattoo sharp, brash, mean, and tough images on their arms, legs, and backs to make their mark. People design their own tattoos to express uniqueness, freshness and creativity. Some do none of this, contradict all stereotypes and put sweet images on hard muscle, or tough images on soft skin. All this is by no means a new thing. Contrary to what some of us 21-century-thinkers may believe, tattooing as a means of expression was not created by the new generation.
It has long been believed that the wearer of an image calls on the spirit and the intent of that image. The ferocity of the tiger, the swiftness of the eagle or the sultriness of some pouty-red uber-botox-injected lips would belong to the guy or gal who possessed the tattoo. This traditional belief remains in evidence today through the proliferation of images of tigers, snakes and birds of prey. And today we have added new images to represent who we feel we are, or want to draw into ourselves, like butterflies, heavenly bodies, tribal designs, brands/logos, or the maple leaf, all of which can belong to the wearer in attitude or just in spirit. That is the beauty of the tattoo!
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Recently, facial piercings have become trendy.
-photo by Sean Flotre
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Now piercing has taken on as many different roles as the tattoo. The Centurions from ancient Rome showed strength and virility by displaying pierced and be-jeweled nipples. In the tribes of some Sioux Indians, a young man, on his journey to manhood would have his chest pierced with eagle claws and then would be hung by them, suspended in the air, as a test of his strength and endurance.
A tribal custom in some parts of Australia and New Guinea is the possession of a pierced septum, which makes the warrior appear savage and fierce. Shamans and High Priests in the ancient temples of the Aztecs and Mayans pierced their tongues as part of a ritual to communicate with their gods.
Some women in India, to this day, pierce their noses to induce a state of submissiveness through the puncturing of a special acupuncture point, or “marma.” And men in Borneo, could choose to have their genitals pierced for courtship and sexual enhancement. Not all unlike its purpose today!
Yes, this trivia is intriguing. But while these are just some examples among countless, a common link exists between them. These acts of body modification are ceremonial, traditional, customary acts associated with some religious, political, sexual, ritualistic way of life or rite of passage.
Today, we pierce because we have the choice. We pierce because it is cool, or in some cases, not cool, and therein lies the interest. There are no set rules or guidelines to follow; no handbook telling us to pierce what, when, with what, and for what reason. Actually, the traditional act of piercing as a rite of passage may be the closest to our truth. We reach adolescence and want to prove it. We feel that we can do this by rebelling through piercing, or today more than ever, fit in by it. As the cycle of perspectives on piercing seems to foretell, with its mainstreaming comes the image of piercing as a fashion trend.
In Western society, we’ve gone from the clean virtually unaltered body as the ideal, to the act of piercing as taboo and rebellious, and onto the be-jeweled and decked out body as the preferred look.
Curious to see just how strong a grip this tattoo/piercing craze has taken on our U or R students, I toured around campus from the Riddell Centre to the Language Institute last week, and asked one hundred random students if they had a tattoo or piercing. Some had visible facial appendages or exposed tattoos, while others chose to reveal to me their little, or on occasion big and grotesque, little secrets. Of the one hundred students I asked, eight had at least one piercing (other than the conventional ear piercing, those don’t count), and three had at least one tattoo.
The most common place to find a girl’s tattoo was on her shoulder, and most girls had piercings in their nose. For guys, the preferred spot for a tattoo was the arm, and the piercing on the ear.
A difference in the types of tattoos requested by males and females is not uncommon said Kate Delaittre, tattoo artist at Razzamatattzz in Regina. “Females are looking for more colour and more fancy designs such as flowers,” said Delaittre. “Males prefer bigger tattoos that are not so colourful. They like flames.”
In her experience, the most requested tattoos are the maple leaf, and, surprisingly enough, the prairie lily. “We [also] encourage people to bring in their own designs,” added Delaittre. “We see a lot of original custom work that shows the artist’s personality.”
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-photo by Sean Flotre
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So, is body modification for you?
Many feel that prodding, puncturing or painting of the pure skin and bodies they were born with is wrong, gross, or just not for them. Others believe it is a sin.
Upon consulting the www.christianteens.about.com website, I found mixed views on body piercing and tattooing from some vocal young Christians of today. Some look to Leviticus 19:28, which reads, “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.”
Others note that other verses in Leviticus 19 tell that it is wrong to plant your field with two kinds of seed, or to wear clothing woven of two kinds of material, or to eat any meat with the blood still in it, or to cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. These acts are quite common and accepted by most people, religious or otherwise, in modern Western society. Logically it seems that if one was to adopt this line of thinking when sizing up body modification, based on what the bible said, one would have some pretty long side-burns and beard hair.
Apart from quibbling over semantics, a predominant view held by Christians is that you need to be aware of the image you present to society. On this issue, some take the position that all fashions should be considered as conveyers of a potential resident meaning or symbolism. It is good that the Christian adorns his/her body in the right way. Much of what is in vogue today is not something with which the Christian should identify, as heavy metal rock music has influenced much of today’s culture. The Bible teaches against the confusion of gender distinctions, as well as the intermingling of gender roles.
Piercing adds to this confusion, as men today often wear earrings, which are traditionally associated with the female.
Furthermore, earrings worn by the male are not without meaning; the earring in only the right ear identifies the homosexual, in only the left ear identifies a male stud or fornicator, and the male who wears earrings in both ears is a bi-sexual (some say). The Christian, therefore, must be ever-conscious of the messages he/she sends in his/her speech, appearance, and mannerism. Earrings on the male and body piercing on the male and/or female are not proper for the good Christian.
Now, the question becomes, is body modification for me?
After much deliberation, not to mention a thorough assessment of the funds available to me, I concluded that a piercing would be my best choice. Piercing is generally cheaper than tattooing, as piercings range anywhere from 40 to 80 dollars, whereas tattoo artists generally charge around a hundred dollars per hour. They are slightly less painful than tattoos, although pain is entirely subjective. Finally, the biggest and best turn-on for me: THEY AREN’T PERMANENT!!
These are all factors that need to be taken into account by individuals, and if you are sure you have a tattoo in mind you can see sticking with you for the long run, then go for it. Being a fickle girl, choosing one image that would stay on my person for the rest of my life, without the aid of some expensive laser-involved intervention, would be way too difficult.
So what kind of piercing do I want exactly?
Although I do like nose piercings, I have seen enough of those little gems floating in the noses of adolescent girls to last me a lifetime. Labret and lip piercings are very cool, but in an I-have-mutilated-my-face-and-I-like-it kind of way. Belly button piercing just isn’t me. Enough said.
I guess that leaves tongue piercing, for which I have always had a warm and mushy place in my indie-rock heart. I would also like to say I am well aware of the certain stigma attached to the piercing of this particular body part. With my newly acquired do-hickey, I hope to aid in the redefinition of the tongue piercing as a means of enhancing one’s image as an…ahem…”slut”… to just a darn cool thing to do.
Now, I have chosen my piercing. How to go about getting it done?
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Rising Sun Tatoo Parlour.
-photo by Sean Flotre
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Step 1: Choosing a piercing studio.
Truthfully. I did this by opening up the yellow pages, turning to the tattoo section and basing my selection on the studio with the best, brightest, and most professional looking ad. Rising Sun Tattoo and Piercing Studio it is! But I wasn’t a total bonehead. I phoned them up, found that the people were pleasant, that they held safety and sanitation in the highest regard, and that the rates weren’t unreasonable: 70 bucks for the piercing, an extra 10 or 15 dollars for extra stylish beads.
Step 2: Getting my piercing!
This required me to get down to the studio, show a nice young woman my identification, fill out a short form, pick out the beads I wanted, give her a sweaty wad of cash, sit down in a chair and lastly, to let her stick a needle through my flesh. Although this may seem way too simple, that’s really all that was involved. That being said, one must take into account the planning and mental preparation that went into getting this piercing.
It isn’t something that should be rushed into. But getting it done was relatively pain-fear (with the exception of a minor, temporary freak-out-attack right after I handed over my money and right before I was called into the back). Oh sure, it wasn’t entirely pain free, but I promise the little clamp thing she used to hold my tongue in place caused me more “pain” than the piercing itself. Now of course, it’s my job to make sure I follow the instructions on my piercing after-care sheet I was given to ensure that nothing goes wrong with my piercing. But the steps are simple and the woman who pierced me made sure I was well-informed before I went on my way.
So if you happen to notice a girl with an abnormally droopy and slobbery tongue logging around campus, think of me and what I have done for your newfound perspective on the art of body modification. Or, you could just chuckle to yourself. It’s up to you.
The friends and foes of the newly-pierced:
Post-nose piercing:
Friend: sea-salt soaks
Foe: A Chilly Willy (the “drink” where one snorts vodka up one’s nose)
Post-tongue piercing:
Friend: Biotene (alcohol-free mouthwash)
Foe: hot liquids, spicy food, lemon juice
Post-belly button piercing:
Friend: Anti-bacterial soap
Foe: belly dancing and shaggy carpets
After-care tattoo no-no’s:
No skin-to-skin contact with people or pets, no scratching, no picking, no peeling, no shaving, no swimming, no sauna, no hot-tub, no sun, no tanning salon, no mud-wrestling, no contact sports.
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