Check out this excellent body modification blog being run by Tanya (seen below) for an independent study course. If it keeps going like it is, she definitely deserves an ‘A’. And I’m not just saying that because I’m a deviant easily swayed by such photos, I really think it’s done well.
Note the corset piercing scars by the way.
BME/News and Modblog highlight only a small fraction of what
The following comments were imported from our old comment system:
Posted on 03-26-2006 04:52:37 by Smallfry
Hah! I have that same bra! Totally random, but yeah. Go Victoria’s Secret! 🙂
Posted on 03-26-2006 16:04:49 by Kea
I was just going to say the same thing as Small fry. Haha.
Posted on 03-27-2006 21:34:24 by sprout
http://bombsandshields.blogspot.com/
this would be highly recommended
Posted on 03-28-2006 22:42:11 by inza
I haven’t read through all of her posts, but i was quite strikened by some of her statements , like in “Fluid Meanings”:
“but if I act as the young, intelligent, psychologically stable poster-child for body modification, maybe I can alter a few unjustly negative impressions of modification along the way”
I totally disagree with this desire to normalize and justify body modification. First,”negative impressions” that people
have over modified people are not due to the fact that they are observed as part of “marginal subcultures” like Tanya writes. People have “negative impressions” over anything that is different, unusual and strange, that’s the way the human nature works. For example, natural born freaks are viewed with disgust, hate or fear just because they are physically different, and in the same way most people don’t accept body modification because it doesn’t fit into “their” (or i would say created for them by society) notions of how the body should look like.
Putting so much effort to soften “unmodified persons experiences of modification ” , to justify it in front of those who first of all don’t have any right to judge – i see it as conformism and desire to merge body modification with the mainstream where it will loose all it’s substance.
And body modification doesn’t need any poster childs,models or representatives, at least i don’t want to be a part of this culture if it does.
Even if a community, it’s supposed to be community of individuals, who can speak for themselves.
And without any offend to Tanya, i don’t think that with her “girl from a teenage magazine” look she can represent body modification.
Body modification for me is pushing the limits of human body and aesthetics, and if we talk about representations here, i would rather have somebody like Stalking Cat in mind, who has really taken himself to the “over human” level by his modifications, but then again,
i don’t think there should be any representatives.
Another Tanya’s statement that i couldn’t ignore is “Modified people have families, friends, and feelings just like everyone else. The only difference is that our hobbies involve needles and blood rather than balls and cleats”
Well, again she should speak for herself only. First “blood and needles” is not a hobby for me and i guess for some others(and she should use “her” rather than “our”),
and hopefully it’s not the only difference from “everyone else”, at least for some..Tanya should get the fact that not all are or want to fit into the notion “i’m modified but i’m normal like everyone else”. Some are as freaky inside as outside, and that’s beautiful.
Posted on 03-29-2006 02:50:23 by Tanya (it\’s me!)
I felt the need to respond to the last comment, as it was also left on my blog. The first quote that Inza mentions has been quite misinterpreted. If you read on in that particular post, in the very next sentence, I note that my attempts to “soften” modification are for intellectual rather than body modification-related purposes. I specifically mention that “we as a modification community shouldn’t have to legitimize our practices.”
Secondly, I agree that many people’s negative reactions to modification do stem from a socially constructed aversion to uncommon appearances, but Inza is being a bit closed minded in assuming that association of modification with marginal subcultures isn’t ever a reason for negative attitudes toward mods. Behind every discriminatory thought, comment, or action, there can be countless subconscious (or sometimes conscious) reasons.
Also, I don’t mean to be rude, but someone who puts such an emphasis on not judging based on appearances might be considered a hypocrite in describing me as a “girl from a teenage magazine.” I am much more than my pictures might suggest. There’s substance here, I promise. Also, I was never looking to “merge body modification with the mainstream” – for goodness sakes, the subtitle of my site is “Mainstream is boring. Modification is fascinating. Read. Learn. Enjoy.”
As Inza says, “Body modification FOR ME is…” This brings me to one of the most phenomenal things about body modification: there are probably no two people who have had the very same experience of body modding. Right now, I’m exploring the reasons behind body modification, namely my own. I know that I love modding, but I’m picking apart my life story to try and find out why.
Oh yea, and the “needles and blood” reference was a simple generalization. I could have just as easily said “hooks and saline.” All I was trying to say there is that I often encounter people who think that all heavily modified persons are “freaks” or “psychos” to be avoided, and that these assumptions are completely unjustified when based solely on appearance. Extreme mods may reflect the “freak” within, but that doesn’t mean that they also imply a violent or otherwise unpleasant personality. And just an FYI: I may write all nicey nice, and look all cutsie wootsie, but I am way more of a freak than most people know. I agree completely with Inza in that freakiness inside and out is beautiful.
My main point here is that I started my blog for an independent study class that’s based in my school’s psychology department, so it has to be taken for what it is. I love writing, I love modding, and I’m addicted to the internet, so my blog is a product of that. When someone responds to my writing in saying that they “don’t want to be a part of this culture” any longer if it needs representation like mine, it makes me want to scream. I LOVE body modification with a passion. I really do. And it’s that passion that we all, as a modification community, share. THAT’s beautiful.
Posted on 03-30-2006 01:05:35 by sneezy
tanya you do really look like a barbie doll but, i think that is awesome. It is kinda funny that Inza spent so much time critiquing you, i think that we are all aiming for something but preception has sometimes smeered our view of others and sorta given us a blank mind when we come across something or some one that is genuine in looking into the freak inside, could it be that our freak out side and well advanced our insides so we are insecure about the changes made to the outside or is it that we are half way commited to the outside looks but still unsure or is it that we come to a place in our walk that we get stuck and are now thinking that another road must be the way, or could it be that when we see someone that is super hot and seems like a barbie doll that would be “straight laced” what to throw away being a plain skinner and turning into the animal within that might make us uncomfortable? we will truely never know, but keep up the blogging and the modding you again are super hot would love to see more pics and great articles
Posted on 03-30-2006 01:07:57 by sneezy
whoa, i cant type tonight for give the one sentence, maybe tomorrow i will try and fix that, pain killers do an non typing person any justice lol.