Body Piercing: Reclamation, Enhancement, And Self-Expression

Deviant acts cannot be discussed without taking into account culture, perspective, and religion. Every culture is known for their types of expressions though tattooing, piercings, and body modification. Asian gangs such as the Yakuza are known for their full body tattoos, while African tribes can be associated with wearing rings that stretch their necks. Often, these types of tattooing and body modifications are seen as a sign of beauty or a sign of respect. In the United States, tattooing, piercings, and body modifications are becoming more acceptable, in moderation.

Traditionally, tattoos were meant for sailors, soldiers, bikers and gangs. Along with several changes in the industrialized and technological society of the twenty-first century, the standard for getting body modifications have altered as well. Everyday, people are willing to get permanently marked as an individual choice rather than the customarily perception of belonging to a certain group. Tattoo and piercing shops are not seen as “the backstreet” of the commercial civilization today, it is somewhat an expected sight in all public places. Josie Appleton in “The Body

The body art is an ancient concept of human society. Tattoo and body piercing are the current and common trends of the body art in the American culture. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong to have these things on an individual’s body, if he or she is an art lover but if someone have this just because virtual world personalities have these then it is not relevant for him or her. As my classmates Juliet and Daniela have been mentioned about the harmful consequences of these things on human body in some ways.

The rising popularity of tattoos and body piercing is more than just the latest fashion craze. This type of body art has been a part of this world for thousands of years. Tattoos and piercings have served as amulets, status symbols, declarations of love, signs of religious beliefs, adornments and even forms of punishment (Smithsonian.com). In the later years (1940 – 2000) tattoos and piercings were more common among teenagers and young adults, but now, people of all ages are expressing themselves through body art. To try and understand this rise in the desire to permanently mark ones self, we must first determine the origin and history of tattoos and piercings.

This piercing is given upon the transition to adulthood for young women, and in some cases is never removed. These traditions remain strong in these cultures and can be seen in practice today. Pacific Island cultures also practice ritual body modification including both tattoos and piercings (Why Do People Get Body Piercings?).

Body modifications have existed in our society for centuries and the way in which it is perceived has changed somewhat over the years. But certain stigmas still persists to this contemporary day. One such body modification is the act of inking or marking the skin: Tattooing. Like most body modifications, tattoos are an often misunderstood form of body modification. Despite the stigmas, tattoos have become a unique object of desire to diverse groups of people. But are the popular perceptions of tattoos out of synch with the true meaning behind them? This essay will explore the social and cultural practices of tattooing and the causal connection between the mind and the tattooed body. It will also explore why tattoos engender

Oral piercings have become more and more popular among the past couple of decades, especially with younger groups of people.1 They get these piercings because they think it will make them more popular in their social groups or because they think it looks good to get their tongue or lip pierced.2 Years ago, people got piercings because of their certain religious practices or different ethnic groups, but today oral piercings are becoming increasingly popular with the general population regardless of their cultural beliefs.3 The most common places to get piercings in the mouth are the tongue and the lips.4 Over the years, though, the tongue has become very popular.3 With piercings becoming more prevalent, research is finding that there and many complications and risk factors involved. One of the risk factors from getting an oral piercing is infective endocarditis. This is especially significant for someone who has heart disease because he is more prone to getting infections.5 Furthermore, Oral piercings are not to be considered a simple procedure that can be done by anyone, they should actually be considered a surgery that is to be done by professionals because of the complications that can arise from them.6 Some of the early complications from getting oral piercings include pain, swelling of the piercing site, bleeding, and infections.7 Following, late complications consist of localized periodontitis, irreversible gingival recession, fractured or chipped teeth, and difficulty

2. Piercings reveal that you want to portray an image to the public and potential employers are left to wonder who you are. a. Eyebrow piercings suggest that you want to be seen as if you are tough. Transition to point C: The location of the body art is

Rabbi Lucas, author of the Teshuva, argued in favor of the many precedents in Jewish law for body piercing, which usually restricted piercings in areas including that of the ear and nose (Tattooing and). He reasoned, however, that other than the direction of one’s “moral compass,” there is no reason to distinguish those piercings from those on any other part of the body (Tattooing and). More so, there is the issue of b'tzelem Elokim and tzniut, or modesty. With respect to the traditional Jewish value of tzniut, one has to wonder why "private" parts of the body are being pierced for cosmetic purposes, if the intent is indeed to keep that part private. As told by Rabbi Rob, “While there may be no prohibition against such body piercings they must be placed in the larger context of tzniut, which remains an important Jewish value (Tattooing

In modern day America, it is common to see people with facial piercings and body modifications; of these piercings, one of the most common and striking is the lip piercing. This can consist of a barbell, hoop, spiral, or other types of rings. They are placed in the sides or center of both the upper and lower lips; multiple piercings side-by-side can even be connected with the spiral rings. But in Africa, these lip rings are nothing in comparison to the lip plates found in many of the women of various tribes. While I had heard of lip plating before, I had never seen what they looked like, let alone saw the process. A four minute, thirty two second long video changed my opinion of the words “lip plating” by showing how the plates are placed, the pain they cause, and what happens when a girl chooses to refuse the plate in the Mursi tribe.

No one wants to stray too far from home too fast, or become and individual overnight. We want to be able to crawl back to our parents when the tough gets going. Pulling up the roots in Gail Sheehy’s Predictable Crisis of Adulthood refers to the stage after adolescence when you should be “pulling up your roots”. Your roots in this aspect, is referring to your home. We try to separate our own views of the world from our families. In the process of separating our views from our parents we normally are attracted to fads that are unfamiliar and questionable by our parents. I know piercings is definitely one of the fads my parents will never understand and it’s something I absolutely love. Along with piercings, tattoos are another example of a

everywhere they go, we like piercings because it makes us feel more like ourselves. We like to

In recent years tattooing and body piercing have become increasingly prevalent in popular culture. These forms of body modification are no longer tools used by criminals and gang member, showing their role in society. These practices are used by many of teenagers and young adults in our society today. In fact many of these practices have been a positive trend in American culture, giving adolescents a way of expressing themselves

Your 18th birthday is one of the most important birthdays. You are finally of legal age to get a tattoo or a body piercing. The difficult question you now face is which one do you choose? You would love either, so the decision is mainly based on the expense, aftercare, permanence, and the pain of each. Both are great ways of self-expression but body piercing is an overall better idea.

There is a long list of cultures that utilised tattoos as a form of decoration and communication (Swami, 2011). That said, within some western societies, that historical connection to the tattoo is not that strong. However the art of tattooing has seen a steady growth of its popularity and acceptance, and since the early 1990s, that growth has accelerated dramatically (Caplan, 2000; Cash, 2011; DeMello, 2000; Swami, 2011). The current estimated incidence of tattooing amongst the populations of North America and Europe is approximately 25 percent (Laumann & Derick, 2006; Swami, 2011), with one researcher suggesting those rates could continue to increase to as much as 40 percent of the population (Anderson, 2006).