Thanks to Matte for sending in this textbook photo (I think via the APP convnetion). Let me quickly quote the text: “Is This Man Abnormal? Whether unusual individuals are labeled “abnormal” and perhaps given treatment for psychological disorder depends on a number of factors, including how abnormality is defined by the culture in which they live, who is most directly affected by their behavior, and how much distress they suffer or cause”
Whatever.
The statement above might have some validity on a small scale, like if the question is whether a person is mundane or average in relation to their peers and community. But to actually call someone “abnormal” and suggest they may need psychiatric treatment for being tattooed is ludicrous.
FACT: Almost every society in human history has used body modification as a significant part of the way they expressed themselves. It’s the core of our oldest forms of religion, art, and societal definition. Along with communication (which body modification is a form of), it made us “special” among all animals. I believe that the fact that modern Western society has largely lost this form of expression — and is pressuring the rest of the world to cut it out as well — suggests that our culture as a whole is sick, abnormal, and in need of a psyche assessment… and a whole lot more tattoos.
That said, I suppose you could use my basic logic here to support rape and cannibalism too. But hey, my great grandfather was a famous German cannibal, so maybe I ought to stop this line of thinking before genetics start kicking in.
BME/News and Modblog highlight only a small fraction of what
The following comments were imported from our old comment system:
Posted on 05-15-2006 00:37:04 by outmywindo
Wow. If were that guy in the textbook I don’t know if I’d be laughing my ass of or trying to figure out who exactly to direct my anger at…
Posted on 05-15-2006 01:49:56 by starspring
Hmmmm, well maybe not for the tattooes, but I’d like to wonder whether its pathology that drives him to do all the barebacking videos he does? Self destructiveness is indeed a trait in psychological pathology. AT least he appeared in a David Bowie video…briefly…that counts for something, right?
Posted on 05-15-2006 02:12:17 by glider
Yeah, I got rubbed the wrong way by the interview where he talks about doing bareback porn and being HIV+, if we’re talking about the same person?
Posted on 05-15-2006 02:45:50 by xaonon
“But to actually call someone ‘abnormal’ and suggest they may need psychiatric treatment for being tattooed is ludicrous.”
Yet the textbook never says that. Indeed, it what it does say is completely correct: that whether a given abnormality is considered evidence of a psychological disorder depends heavily on the culture of the people making that assessment. It does say he is unusual, but that is hardly in dispute; much of IAM and the BME readership could be so described. It’s not a bad thing. That the man in the picture probably would in the past be thought mentally ill for his modifications, but nowadays merely eccentric or outside the mainstream, is if anything an indication that things are getting better.
Posted on 05-15-2006 02:58:16 by nixy
yeah, i didn’t think the textbook was saying he was ‘abnormal’ either. they were probably just trying to be hip in including this guy. i felt that they were implying that, though ‘unusual,’ he is not abnormal.
Posted on 05-15-2006 03:29:29 by jeni
Actually I was the one who submitted this photo.
Posted on 05-15-2006 03:33:04 by the_logic_of_crocodiles
i’d rather be abnormal than normal
Posted on 05-15-2006 05:04:15 by Scuba Steve
…downs
Posted on 05-15-2006 06:11:50 by gally99
i think it actually amkes a prett good point:
while some people may consider someone who looks like that abnormal, maybe they’re not… maybe they’re just like you, but they look a little different…
Posted on 05-15-2006 08:23:05 by y!
‘);
jeni – I’m sorry!
‘);
Posted on – The problem I have with this is that I don\’t believe normalicy (or obscenity) should be defined by community standards. I belive that truths like this are bigger than just one culture, unless w\’re just playing a word game.