Photo Credit: Jerome Abramovitch / chapter9photography.com

Three years ago, John Berg, now the president of marketing firm Taxi NYC, sent out the following message to the employees of another marketing firm, Bulldog New York:

It is with profound sadness that we inform you that Keith Alexander, Bulldog New York’s head of technology, lost his life in a bike accident last evening. Bicycling was one of Keith’s newest passions. Those who knew Keith well saw the intensity and the enthusiasm he threw at new things that excited him. As with most of his passions, Keith was way into bicycling and its technology, history, mysticism and how it’s done at the very highest level. He had become a huge Lance Armstrong fan. These past weeks I would receive several links daily about Lance’s prospects in the Tour de France. There is no question that Keith died as he lived, doing something he absolutely loved.

Keith was with us from the very beginning, committing himself to our success and was a steadfast presence helping us through the bumpy early days. We all loved Keith for his fiery determination, perfectionist qualities and huge heart. Bulldog New York will not be the same without him. We will miss him always.

On this, the third anniversary of his death, I’ve invited some of Keith’s friends and loved ones to share memories, stories, and to comment on their lives over the past three years.

* * *

Sean Doyle:

It is very hard for me to believe that it has been three years already.

I’m not going to do the usual thing that people do on the anniversary of someone’s death and sit here telling stories about the person while they were still with us — there are plenty of other motherfuckers out there who will be better qualified to handle that angle for you.

Instead, I’m going to tell you all a little secret, so hold tight and check this out:

I don’t think a day goes by where I do not ask myself, “WWKAD?”

That’s right, I said it. “What would KA do?” It happens to me almost instantaneously, in any and every situation. Not long after KA was killed, my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Immediately, my mind raced to “WWKAD?” and I received the answer with the quickness: Drop it all and do the right thing by my father. And that is exactly what I did, no matter how hard or fucked up it was.

When I got back to NYC after my father’s death, I needed a job and fast. So, my mind pulled out “WWKAD?” and I did what he taught me (and countless others) to do: I sort of conned my way into a job I wasn’t all-the-way qualified for. Once ensconced in that job, I took the rest of the advice and gave myself 90 days to learn how to do that job better than anyone else had ever done before me.

And now?

Now I run that company’s entire East Coast operations, and I do it better than anyone else ever has.

This whole “WWKAD?” thing has pushed my monkey-ass to do everything I can to better myself every day. To no longer waste time and sit around feeling fucking sorry for myself when shit doesn’t necessarily go my way. Hell, if it wasn’t for “WWKAD?” I probably wouldn’t have got my act together and met my wife.

It’s as if I have this little audio clip stuck in the tiniest portion of my brain that comes rumbling out of the darkness whenever adversity dares to show itself to me, and that clip is Keith’s voice, telling me to push further, to work harder, to learn more.

I might not have know him as long as some, but the lessons he taught me will keep working that Brooklyn magic for the rest of my life.

And you can bank on that shit.

* * *

Kathleen McGivney:

Keith Alexander was the kind of person that is difficult to sum up in a paragraph. Hell, anyone would be hard pressed to try and summarize Keith in a Dostoevsky-length novel. I can’t begin to describe who he was, what he meant to me as a friend, or even share an anecdote without feeling that it doesn’t do him justice. The impact he had on the people who knew him was incredibly deep and long-lasting. I’ve heard some people say he was an asshole, but that really wasn’t it — he was just a straight shooter from Brooklyn who didn’t take shit from anybody and wouldn’t let friends or acquaintances just sit back and whine when things didn’t go their way. He enjoyed a good-natured ball-busting. If you were his friend and something went wrong, though, he’d go out of his way and drop everything to make sure you were okay. And then once you were, he’d bust your balls about it.

I have learned lots of things from Keith, both from his life and from his death. From his life, I learned to never take shit from anybody, to look at things that others might see as setbacks as opportunities, and to bullshit my way through things I knew I could learn quickly. (One of Keith’s mantras: Give me 60 days, and I can learn it.) He encouraged me to take leaps of faith with my career, and it’s his encouragement that still drives me to take informed risks, like starting my own companies. From his death, I learned to never take anyone for granted, and not to ever put off things I wanted to do until later. Since he died, my relationships with my friends and family have gotten stronger, and I’ve strived to live every day to the fullest, just like he did.

* * *

Dee Snider:

Dee Snider was researching his movie Strangeland when he met Keith. While visiting Gauntlet NYC and perusing the shop, Keith recognized him almost immediately, introduced himself and, when he found out Snider was making a movie heavily related to piercing, he invited Snider to come watch him pierce a client, then and there. Snider’s first piercing experience? A Prince Albert.

“Thankfully,” Snider says, “Keith positioned himself between [the client and me], so at least I didn’t have to see this dude’s johnson.

“But Keith realized that, and told me to ‘scooch over’ so I could see the whole process.”

Though it was a bizarre occurrence, Snider says Keith’s bedside manner was stunning, so much so that he brought his six-month-old daughter, Cheyenne, to get her ears pierced by Keith. Snider, during the same visit, got his septum pierced, which went smoothly. As for Cheyenne’s piercings, though?

“He was so nervous,” Snider says, laughing, “the placement was all wrong. We ended up having to take them out and had a dermatologist redo them.”

Strangeland centered on a sadistic serial killer named Captain Howdy, played by Snider, who tortured his victims with bizarre body piercing techniques. Keith ended up serving as the film’s “piercing advisor,” a role Snider says Keith knew would draw backlash from the piercing community, and understandably — Snider admits that the character he created was borne from his own misconceptions.

“I thought it was a self-mutilation thing,” Snider says of body modification, “something done in anger, something done to make you less attractive.” But Keith’s guidance changed his view of the community, and made him realize one thing in particular: This movie was going to piss off a lot of people. Knowing this, Snider readjusted his focus and sought to drive home the fact that Captain Howdy was an outsider, that he was not a member of the community, and that he was a bad guy who was tarnishing the reputation of pierced and tattooed people.

Even still, Snider says, Keith knew people would fault him for his participation in the project, but he refused to compromise, refused to abandon the film.

“He wouldn’t be pressured by what the population thought,” Snider says of Keith. “I think that maybe he resisted because of the pressure — that if people didn’t get on his case about it, he wouldn’t have cared so much.”

The Many Faces of Keith Alexander

Once they became acquainted, Snider told Keith he was planning on putting a band together to do some touring and to play some old Twisted Sister songs. Keith, being a fan of Snider’s and a well known musician in his own right (he was a founding member of Carnivore and Primal Scream NYC), seemed like a natural fit, and the resulting band — Dee Snider’s Sick Motherfuckers — ended up being built around Keith. On their first tour, when the tour bus hit Brooklyn to pick up Keith, he was dressed entirely in bright yellow. Says Snider,

“This was the ‘yellow tour.’ We showed up, and he was wearing this yellow rain slicker, yellow hat, yellow everything. He looked like a yellow version of the Michelin Man. And he was as into technology as he was into yellow, apparently, so he had matching yellow walkie-talkies for us all, yellow CD players, everything. It was weird, but we went with it, because that was Keith.”

When they came to pick up Keith for the next tour, he had “dropped 50 pounds, cut off all his hair and got a military cut. He looked like a fucking marine! But he was so passionate about these things, nobody would ever question it.”

On the last tour Keith did with the band, he decided on another gimmick — one ostensibly more practical than the last.

“That was the ‘poncho tour,’” Snider says, laughing. “Keith had somehow decided that the poncho was the single greatest accessory a man could wear. It was the most utilitarian item possible. It was warmth, it was comfort, it was a port in a storm, it was everything.

“So we showed up in Brooklyn to pick him up for the tour, and there he was, wearing shorts, sandals, a cowboy hat and a poncho. He looked absolutely ridiculous.”

* * *

Liz Polay-Wettengel:

If you ever went into a body modification-related online chat room prior to July 2005, you would have undoubtedly witnessed what seemed like an attack on someone with a question. The attacker would have been Keith. The secret to all of that vitriol? He was trying to make you think for yourself. He wasn’t just trying to be rude or mean — he was trying to help you learn. People thought he was just being vicious, but the truth of the matter is that he was the ultimate mentor.

Keith was — and, in some sense, still is — my greatest teacher.

The last three years have been hard. Not a single day goes by that I don’t think about him. I have had many accomplishments and joy since he has been gone. I changed my career, I had a beautiful baby boy whom we named Alexander, and I continue to have a happy marriage with my amazing husband. I have wonderful friends that I hold close and love.

All of those things? Keith has been there every step of the way. Whispering in my ear: “You can do it,” Look it up and learn it, you will be teaching them in six months,” “Don’t let anyone else tell you what you can and cannot do,” “Live happy and surround yourself with great things.” All of his years of encouragement and teaching, and being my cheerleader (OK — that’s an amusing visual) are still with me.

You see, Keith’s physical presence may be gone, and trust me, it is a huge, huge void in my life, but he is still with me every day. Cheering me on, encouraging me to learn and grow and challenge.

I hope I can teach my son to be the kind of man Keith was. I hope I can teach him the things that Keith taught me. If I can do that — and I will do that; Keith would accept no less — then I can pass on the strength and the confidence that will allow him to become the great man I know he will be.

I still miss Keith so much every day.

* * *

Shawn Porter:

Weeks back, I committed to the task of transferring an aging VHS tape to a more secure digital file. I knew it wouldn’t be the easiest thing in the world to do, but the thought of anything happening to this footage was worth the emotional ramifications. As I slid back in my chair and pushed play, my screen filled with the image of a grinning Keith Alexander. Hair farmer-era Keith. Rock star Keith. Freeze-framed as I fumbled with my questionably obtained editing program, I found myself making eye contact with him.

My first thought wasn’t how much I missed Keith. It was that were he here, he’d be making fun of me for still owning a VCR. He’d likely also be making fun of me for the music I was listening to. And quite possibly my haircut. Or for any number of reasons known only to him. Then he’d tell me he loved me.

As the years pass without Keith around, I don’t know which I miss more: Him breaking my balls (and trust me, my balls were never so expertly broken by anyone else), or him telling me he loved me.

Both have been done, in varying degrees, by scores of others in the three years since he was taken from us, but no one else seems to be able to do them both at the same time with the same effect. No one makes me so succinctly aware of both my wins and my losses in life. No one calls up ex-girlfriends of mine while drunk on Akvavit and tells them he hates them, hanging up as suddenly as he called in a torrent of insane giggling.

I tried to compress my thoughts on Keith into a few tidy paragraphs. Stories culled from memories shared by those of us lucky enough to have known him closely are plentiful. But try as I might, I couldn’t summarize a light so bright in my admittedly limited prose. I can only say that I’m a better man for having known him.

I take comfort in those stories, in the video I transferred, in the remnants of the scar he was kind enough to give me. I take comfort in the fact that he documented every idea that popped in his head via his nootrope.net site and that it’s still online for us to read. Most of all, I take comfort in knowing that through him, people were able to find something in themselves, something primal and beautiful, and share it with the rest of the world.

“Maybe I’ll inspire you to be exactly who you want to be.
Maybe you’ll call me a fool.”

– Keith Alexander

November 23, 1963 – July 11, 2005

For Jordan’s memorial for Keith, click here.

Each year, the IAM community comes together to award $1000 USD college scholarship to a deserving member of our community. Available to all IAM members worldwide, this year marks the third year we’ve been able to help a promising student cover the costs of college.

The last decade has seen huge changes in the world of body modification. Ten years ago, tongue splitting was virtually unheard of. Now, it’s almost commonplace. Ten years ago, branding was done almost exclusively, now it’s often done using electrocautery, laser, or even focused solar rays. Ten years ago, implants were only done using small beads of steel or, occasionally, teflon. Now, custom-carved, three-dimensional forms, in steel, titanium, teflon, or silicone are much more popular. Ten years ago, surface piercings rarely lasted long enough to heal, and staples, surface bars, transdermals, and microdermals were yet to be invented.

The last ten years have seen a lot of changes. For this year’s scholarship essay, we asked applicants to look not to the past, but to the future. This year’s scholarship essay question,

“What do you believe is the future of body modification? Feel free to discuss any aspect of this question, including types of modifications, procedures, technology, licensing, society’s acceptance of modifications, or any other aspect.”

… brought some unexpected responses. With so many changes in the last decade being focused on new types of body modification and new procedures, and increasing scrutiny likely to ramp up regulation and licensing of the body modification industry, it’s interesting that all of the essays we received looked so heavily at the societal acceptance of body modification.

Although unexpected, perhaps this focus by today’s college students can teach those of us who have left college a decade (or longer) ago something about where things are going. While we’re looking at new, improved procedures, many in their teens and early twenties are seeing a future of increasing acceptance of our community. While we’re leading the way on new types of modifications, they’re leading the way in getting those same modifications accepted by society.

The IAM College Scholarship is scored each year based on a variety of factors, ranging from school grades, community involvement, and the individual’s role in our community, in addition to the final essay, of course. This year’s competition was the closest yet. In the end, though, a winner emerged. This year’s winner, majoring in psychology and gender studies at Connecticut College, has already done her first body modification-related psychology research project, and I’m sure we can all look forward to her representing our community favorably in her future professional publications.

Before announcing the winner, a brief commercial break…

The IAM College Scholarship is funded entirely by donations from members of our community. Donations of any amount can be sent via PayPal using the link below:

United Under Change: A Sociocultural Analysis of the Future of the Body Modification Industry

I. Setting the Stage: Normality As A Mediator Between Body Modification and Social Change

German philosopher Arthur Shopenhauer once wrote that “Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal.” Be it fast or slow, large or small, everything around us is constantly in motion and never the same. We change as a reaction to the change in our environment, which then changes in return. As we age, we allow our experiences to shape all aspects of our lives, including the way we think, the way we speak, and our physical bodies. Indeed, body modification in some form or other has manifested itself in almost every human society imaginable. I will pause here to clarify that body modification as I define it for the purpose of this analysis is any intentional, semi-permanent or permanent physical change made to one’s body.

Though people will cite a variety of reasons for modifying their bodies, ultimately it can be seen as a tool which enables us to live the lifestyle we choose, to fill the space we wish to fill. No matter which form of body modification one practices, it affects both the way one perceives oneself and the way in which one is perceived. It is real, visible and tangible not only to the individual who modifies himself, but to the other members of that individual’s community. At this conceptual level of analysis, body modification would seem to anyone a sensible and logical way of adapting to the ever-changing environment. It is only once society and culture is factored in that we begin to fully understand the current role the body modification industry occupies – an essential part of predicting the community’s future.

Normality is a concept with which most modified people are painfully familiar. Unfortunately, it is one of society’s most powerful and convincing creations, and it is used primarily to classify, stratify, and separate human beings. What constitutes normal versus strange is dictated by a series of esteemed institutions, currently holding the power to influence the direction of society to astounding degrees. Because it must self-perpetuate, and keep its power amidst the ever-changing social dynamic in which we live, these institutions depend on people believing as though they are necessary. Through a long and tumultuous relationship, these institutions have trained the average member of a substantial number of nations to adopt an essentialist and egocentric way of thinking. The result is such that to the modern human being, experience is so powerful that we cannot help but credit every one we have, thus allowing our surroundings to shape the way we change over time. By then inserting the concept of normality into the relationship between the individual and the environment, the media has given us a goal – something to move towards and strive for. On an intrapersonal level, this not only keeps an individual wanting the changes they make to result in a finite and definitive product, but it forces that individual to believe that they need the media in order to keep a grip on what is supposedly mainstream and popular, and thus normal, desirable, and correct.

When one considers that this dynamic is present in most every member a vast number of modern societies, a similar theme can be seen. Not only does the general public believe strongly in an unrealistic ideal, it has embraced the concept of “progress” and defined it as moving specifically towards that ideal. Here I speak of the classic American Dream, or whatever relative is present in other nations or cultures. Astounding numbers of Americans seek out the well known heteronormative, patriarchal, and domestic lifestyle, as well as partner to live it with. They do this seemingly without introspection, without any consideration for the fact that “normal” isn’t actually synonymous with “good,” and this lifestyle is absolutely not the most comfortable one for millions of people. Ironically, this much-desired social position is conceptualized as a stagnant state of being, as a potential repose from the fast-paced world in which we live. This is not so, and yet still they push on, striving even just to attain the appearance of having attained this ideal. Furthermore, in the interest of keeping up the guise of normality, people will reject what they consider not to fit into the cookie-cutter lifestyle they are trying to prove they live.

II. Where We Are: How the Dominant Way of Thinking Affects the Position of the Body Modification Industry in Modern Society

In the 1970′s, a shift in the way people were perceived was observed in which the popular discourse at the time ceased to regard people as human beings who simply did things which were “good” or “bad,” and began to allow the deviant practices someone engaged in to define their character. This change in perception of social deviance had marked effect in a variety of areas. At this point, the modern concept of a homosexual was born – previously, society had perceived only people who happened to engage in homosexual activity. The same is true for other forms of social deviance, and thus we see the roots of the modern concept of a modified person, one whose modifications play a pivotal role in their self-definition and the way in which they are defined by their peers. Though owning one’s social deviance was in some ways empowering, the present-day general public’s inability to see a fellow human being through the veil of body modification is responsible for the majority of the problems modified people face today.

Any modified person has had the uncomfortable experience of walking into some public place and having a non-modified person react in a noticeably negative manner. Our appearances taint even the simplest activities – grocery shopping, visits to the doctor, or impressing potential employers at a job interview. On a personal level, these interactions hurt and shock us. Unfortunately, all too many modified individuals will readily admit that they’ve grown desensitized to the sometimes constant barrage of ignorance and prejudice they experience on a daily basis. Though nothing can excuse disrespect, it is interesting to consider the function of this interaction on a sociocultural level. By expressing visible displeasure and disgust at a person’s modifications, a non-modified person is effectively distancing themselves from the modified individual, who has openly dared to defy society’s definition of normality and what is acceptable. Through this simple interaction, the non-modified individual is purchasing their own normality and effectively gaining a fleeting feeling of comfort and validation, while simultaneously juxtaposing themselves against the modified person, thus showing other members of society just how “normal” they are.

These types of interactions unfortunately form the bulk of the current relationship between the body modification industry and a variety of other entities. Though the size and scope of the interactions in question may change, they are still colored with too much misunderstanding, ignorance, and a unilateral drive on the part of the non-modified party to perpetuate normality. This, the present state and position of the body modification industry, is something which must be understood in order to properly discuss the future of the industry at all. Only once one has given credit to the dynamics which caused us to arrive at the status quo can one’s hopes for the future become reality – more importantly than vocalizing our goals for the community and industry is understanding how to attain them.

III. Where Do We Go From Here? Predicting the Future of the Body Modification Industry

The list of changes on the horizon of the body modification industry is lengthy. Most every member of the community has high hopes for the future. In this section of my analysis, I will briefly discuss just a few of the many specific changes the future can bring. I begin with a discussion on the potential changes within the community itself.

Within the industry, we have recently seen an increase in the popularity of types of modifications, such as tongue splits and 3-D subdermal implants. This phenomenon is especially meaningful considering the dissonance between the opinions of the various types of people who practice body modification. Having modifications doesn’t mean having an entirely open mind, and many modified people draw a seemingly arbitrary line between what they consider to be normal and what they see as strange. I see this as an issue just as significant as the misunderstanding and disgust that mainstream society harbors for our culture. Though we are fortunate enough to have witnessed a rise in the popularity of some modifications, the negativity and ignorance towards the wide spectrum of body modification procedures must be dealt with immediately in order to ensure a united and empowered community.

Yet another potential area of significant future change within the community lies in the development of new procedures and techniques. Specifically, I think here of the developments in the design of microdermal jewelry, which has undergone a variety of modifications and changes in the recent past. The techniques and jewelry design will undoubtedly continue to develop in the future, as will a variety of other modification procedures. The effect that continued change in this area will have on the members of the body modification community is a crucial one. The options available to an individual looking to modify his body are more numerous than ever, and as our knowledge of the human body and proper procedure technique continues to build on itself, we will be witness to an unprecedented influx of possibilities, thus further enabling us to utilize body modification as an effective and fulfilling way of changing in response to our changing environment.

What I consider to be the area most in need of change is that of our relationship with the non-modified world. In the future, we must address a variety of more comprehensive issues, all of which involve outside entities with which we currently have either strained or nonexistent relations. Having examined the social dynamics which have shaped the current position of the body modification industry, we are now better prepared to understand the role of the industry in society, and thus the potential directions in which we are able to move.

The first issue in need of attention is that of the dissonance between the modern body modification and medical communities. The scope of the procedures body modification artists agree to take on has been increasing, and will only continue to do so. Currently, the majority of the feedback we receive from the medical community is disdainful and negative, and there is little overlap between the two industries. The truth of the matter is that both establishments would benefit immensely from an understanding and positive relationship with the other. The result of the medical establishment crediting educated artists with a legitimate knowledge of anatomy, as well as the body modification industry allowing the medical community to offer objective scientific input as to techniques and procedures, would be an astounding shift in the interactions between the two. Patient-doctor relationships would most definitely improve, and more and more people would feel comfortable discussing safe and sterile techniques with their doctor, rather than feeling abandoned by the medical community and forced to attempt dangerous procedures on their own.

Another area which demands attention is that of organization and order. At present, the industry lacks definitive standards and a universal system for educating those who will become players in the body modification industry of tomorrow. There currently exist a number of well-respected and well-organized institutions which are capable of providing curious individuals with the knowledge and skill necessary to stay afloat in the industry. Here, I think of the Association of Professional Piercers and the Fakir Intensive programs. These are excellent resources for any aspiring artist. The problem, though, is that the completion of any sort of universal, standardized training is not required. Licensing and certification as a body modification artist is done, if at all, on a state-by-state basis. Of course, it would be extremely difficult to regulate the practice of body modification from inside the body modification community. The best we can hope for if we are only to work from the inside of the industry is to establish a system which earns the respect and esteem of the majority of the people in the community. I argue that we have already done so, with the creation of the Association of Professional Piercers. Nonetheless, there is still an uncomfortable abundance of scratchers, hacks, and generally uneducated individuals in today’s society who consider themselves “artists.” This lack of structure does more than affect the quality of the work clients expect from their artist; it also colors the way in which the entire industry is perceived by the rest of society. It is not enough to ignore the lack of organization or to simply wait for the general public to make the initiative to see us for who we really are. We must act in unprecedented ways and make an appeal to enlist the help of esteemed establishments while simultaneously pushing for reform from within the walls of our culture. The only remaining issue, and the one issue which must be dealt with before any of the aforementioned changes are made, is how to do so. More specifically, how do we use our position in society and the resources we currently have to gather enough momentum to change the status quo in ways we have clearly defined?

IV. Tools for Social Change

Any individual who has attempted to elicit change on a widespread social level as understands that it is not enough to simply identify one’s goals, or to pick out the problems which need fixing. I am suggesting that the future of body modification relies entirely on reshaping the industry’s role in and relationship with society, and that is no small task. In order to accomplish anything at all in the future, we must use our understanding of the theoretical framework and the social dynamics which have caused us to arrive at the status quo in order to devise a plan to create the momentum which alone has the power to take us where we wish to go.

As I mentioned in the first section of my analysis, we as a community are repressed by the concept of normality, as defined and enforced by certain societal institutions, including medical and academic establishments. Famed philosopher and sociologist Michel Foucault wrote that power is ever-changing and self-perpetuating, and that the entities currently in power will try to resist change so that they may keep it. These institutions are quite comfortable with the status quo and do not feel, as the members of the body modification community do, the need to change. We must keep this fact in mind when discussing the way in which we are to continue to evolve as an industry. We must find a way to appeal to the institution rather than fight it, as we lack the brute force to create the magnitude of change we as a community are hoping for.

I propose that the catalyst for such monumental change lies in academia. The layout of mainstream society is such that by appealing to empowered establishments through empirical scientific study, we can harness the power they possess and use it to alter the role of the body modification industry in society. If done correctly, the institution which currently condemns us will validate our practices and give us the credit we deserve. This would not have any effect on the way the general public views body modification if it weren’t for the dynamic between mainstream society and various esteemed institutions. Despite the fact that most people don’t have the capacity to understand how and why an institution might consider a particular academic endeavor scientifically sound, its implications most certainly make their way through the grapevine and shape the way the general public lives their lives. Most members of society don’t understand the complicated processes behind why a particular exercise regiment works, or why a specific drug will cure a specific condition, but the conclusion of the studies which proved it to be so shape the way people interact to a very tangible degree. Thus, by appealing to the modern day institutions through academia, the members of the body modification community can hope to gain the support of the very entity that perpetuates the concept of normality, and eventually reap the benefits of the changed attitudes of the general public.

Consider this approach on a small level. As a psychology student at Connecticut College, I have dedicated my time and education to exploring as much of the practices, personality characteristics, and dynamics behind the body modification community as I can. I have chosen to do this through a series of psychological research studies which have a firm grounding in already existing research and which build off of the findings of previous academic exploration in quantifiable ways. When I first proposed the topic of body modification as the theme which would characterize the entirety of my studies here, I was met with disdain and hesitancy from my professors and advisers. It was only after the conclusion and subsequent presentation of the findings of my first research study, entitled “Body Modification and Personality Correlates” that the institution, in this case made up of the collective psychology department, credited my work as worthwhile and meaningful. By doing so, I gained permission to continue exploring and validating other areas of the body modification community on an academic level. Though the specifics of my work don’t appeal to all of my peers, their perceptions of the body modification industry have certainly improved as a result of the approval I have earned from the faculty on campus. I feel privileged to have been extended an opportunity to test the capacity of academia to create social change in an arena much smaller than the entirety of mainstream society, and I am confident that the same approach as I have used to alter perceptions of body modification at Connecticut College will prove just as effective on a larger scale.

V. Conclusion: A call to arms

The practice of body modification is age-old and as more diverse than one can comfortably imagine. As members of the modern body modification community, we cannot deny the profound impact that the industry has had on our lives. Personally, I feel as though the discovery of BME and like-minded people united as a result of its existence was single-handedly responsible for teaching me how to open my mind and own my body. As I spend more time as a member of the community and continue down my own personal path of body modification and spiritual fulfillment, I am certain that I am permanently changed in a unique and significant way. Any community member who feels even remotely similar owes a substantial debt to the community and the body modification industry as a whole.

The future of the body modification industry is not limited to procedural changes or sterilization techniques. The future of the industry hinges on our capacity to implement a radical and multilateral plan of action. Now is the time for unprecedented social change. Now is the time to redefine and reshape the role we play in society, to utilize the social dynamics and power structures which have brought us here to create the momentum to take us further. We have the strength and resilience to face whatever hardships await us, and the intelligence to use every tool we have been given. We have the will to change and the passion to unite us as we pursue our cause.

If there’s a body modification practitioner who deserves to be the subject of a documentary, it’s probably Steve Haworth. A nearly 20-year veteran of the industry, Haworth started piercing in 1990, opened his first HTC Body Adornments (now HTC Body Piercing) shop in Phoenix shortly after, and has since been a legitimate pioneer in the field, particularly with regards to 3D and transdermal implants. Haworth recognizes his importance to the field and is light on humility, heavy on charm: He considers himself nothing less than an artist whose medium is flesh, and inflects his speech with predictable gravitas to uphold the identity. Tall, often dressed in black, shaved bald and lantern-jawed with sharp triangles of facial hair forming about one-third of a goatee, Haworth’s look seems carefully cultivated, somewhere between mad scientist and Master. (Neither is far from the truth.) Much of Flesh and Blood, a new documentary from filmmaker Larry Silverman, is dedicated to capturing this element of Haworth: The reverent remarks from those close to him, his own elder-statesman philosophizing, and the apparent adoration from the woman in his life (at the time), Beki Buelow.

Silverman’s film dives right into material that may rightly strike fear into the hearts of heavy modification practitioners, showing Haworth performing implants (both transdermal and subdermal) while launching into an opening salvo in which he deflects as-yet unheard charges that he is illegally practicing medicine. On the contrary, he claims, everything he does, he does legally, and lays out his points — he does not make diagnoses, cut into diseased flesh or try to heal people — with the skill and practice one would expect from a person frequently on the defensive. But Haworth is charming, and his points are compelling: One wants to believe that he’s on the right side of the law, and that a documentary offering such explicit exposure of this world will be treated as an artifact and not an indictment. After years of (potentially unfounded) rumors that Haworth and others like him were being hounded by the FBI, it’s hard to know how the general public will receive Flesh and Blood.

But for those who appreciate the subject matter, Silverman’s film is a well produced affair, five years in the making. Procedure-wise, he captures some of Haworth’s most well-known projects (Joe Aylward’s “metal mohawk” of transdermal scalp implants, Stalking Cat’s septum repositioning and whisker implants), and manages candid interviews with enough of the peripheral forces in Haworth’s life to solidify the man as a legendary figure, albeit one whose mystique stands in stead of a true depth of character. Indeed, throughout the majority of the film, one of Haworth’s only true displays of emotion occurs when discussing the circumference of his penis (which he whips out to prove it is, in fact, as thick as his wrist) and a self-done meatotomy; mention of the latter leads to a vigorous reenactment, complete with an exaggerated pantomime and screams about excessive bleeding.

It’s also during this scene that Haworth and Buelow discuss the boundaries of their relationship, which Buelow says began in earnest when “[Haworth] sat me down on his lap outside his house and said, ‘You’re not going to see anyone else and neither am I, OK? OK. But we’re going to have multiple sexual partners.’” This was the first such relationship of which Buelow had been a part, she mentions, and that an adjustment period would be in order. In Haworth’s eyes, however, he had done due diligence, laying out “the way I am, what my needs were, and [letting Buelow] make the choice to be with me.”

This seems like a throwaway line, another facet of the mysterious Steve Haworth, until the film’s powerhouse final act comes out of nowhere, and the till-then advertorial tone that had been established gives way to real drama and pathos as the 45 minutes of film prior are revealed as something of a smokescreen. It’s revealed that many of Haworth’s personal motivations are, indeed, sexual, and that Buelow is finding herself in service more than as half of a proper relationship. She starts taking up activities like rock climbing to get out from under the umbrella of this little desert family, but by then it seems too late; one excellent scene has Silverman in the car with Buelow while she argues with Haworth over the phone about him being at home with a new girlfriend while she drives around, with Buelow’s side of the conversation indicating that Haworth is putting the blame on her for the current situation. This, in spite of the earlier declaration that neither party would date anyone else, multiple sexual partners notwithstanding, a rule that Silverman’s film only shows one party breaking.

After Buelow and Haworth’s relationship falls apart, Haworth’s teenage children come to live with him. His son and daughter arrive very much in his image, fascinated by body modification to the point that both children say they would go to cut-rate piercing and tattoo shops to flout their father’s rules about obeying age limits for such work, and even Haworth can’t bring himself to look displeased. It’s an idyllic moment — the interview takes place while the trio rollerblades along Haworth’s street — but the pastoral memory is interrupted by the realization that just over a year later, Haworth’s 18-year-old son will be killed in a car accident.

For a film that starts off as a well-made commercial and pulpit for the philosophy of a body modification pioneer, that it ends with such an honest and candid look at the subject which it spent so much time building up as the ur-practitioner is a testament to Silverman’s filmmaking abilities. (And his commitment to the project, which, again, took over five years to complete.) In an era where body modification artists are becoming, more and more, the subjects of sycophantic hero worship, it’s refreshing to see the arguable progenitor of the field so deliberately constructed as an ideal before being brought back down to earth — a character deeply flawed, victimized by fate and hubris, and undeniably human.

To purchase a copy of Flesh and Blood, please visit FleshAndBloodMovie.com.