Wow.  Long time no see.  My apologies about the lack of news posts so far this year, but as of today they’re back and are sticking around.

Well, since it’s been so long there may be a couple of stories that are a few weeks old, so I’ll be covering them as well as catching up on this past week in modification news the world over.

To get things started I’d like you to meet Lisa Khoury.  Lisa is an assistant news editor for the University of Buffalo’s newspaper, The Spectrum.

Earlier this month Lisa caused a bit of a fuss with her article entitled “Why put a bumper sticker on a Ferrari?”  Here’s a couple of choice samples from her piece.

I get it. It’s the 21st century. You’re cool, you’re rebellious, you’re cutting edge, you have a point to prove, and you’re a woman. Awesome.  Ladies, I know you’re at least at the legal age of making your own decisions, but before you decide to get a tattoo, allow me to let you in on a little secret. A secret you may have not fully realized yet thus far in your life. What you must understand is, as women, we are – naturally – beautiful creatures.  Seriously, though. Your body literally has the ability to turn heads. Guys drool over us. We hold some serious power in our hands, because – as corny as this sounds – we hold the world’s beauty.

But something girls seem to forget nowadays, or maybe have not been taught, is that women hold the world’s class and elegance in their hands, as well. So what’s more attractive than a girl with a nice body? I’ll tell you what: a girl with class. Looks may not last, but class does. And so do tattoos.  An elegant woman does not vandalize the temple she has been blessed with as her body. She appreciates it. She flaunts it. She’s not happy with it? She goes to the gym. She dresses it up in lavish, fun, trendy clothes, enjoying trips to the mall with her girlfriends. She accentuates her legs with high heels. She gets her nails done. She enjoys the finer things in life, all with the body she was blessed with.  But marking it up with ink? That’s just not necessary.

But at the end of the day, are you really a happier person? Has this tattoo, for instance, caused you to learn something new about yourself? Has it challenged you? Has it led you to self-growth? Nothing comes out of getting a tattoo. You get a tattoo, and that’s it. You do something productive, though, and you see results. That’s a genuine, satisfying change in life. Not ink.  Invest your time, money, and effort into a gym membership, or yoga classes, or new clothes, or experimenting with different hairstyles if you’re craving something new with your body, not a tattoo.  I promise, it will be a much more rewarding experience, and you won’t find yourself in a rut when your future grandkids ask you what’s up with the angel wings on your upper back as you’re in the middle of giving them a life lesson on the importance of values and morals.

God knows the last thing this world needs is another generation of kids questioning their basic values and morals.

Oh Lisa.  Poor innocent Lisa.  It seems that Lisa didn’t realize that not only do modified people read the paper, but they’re also capable of sharing it with their friends online.  Needless to say the article went viral shortly after it was published.  Now, to be fair this is an opinion piece, however instead of just giving her opinions based off any kinds of facts, she played the moral highroad and claimed that women who get tattoos are, essentially, immoral trash.  The feedback she received online was staggering and forced her to write this “apology“.

I’m a 19-year-old college sophomore, I help run my family’s restaurant, I’m a writer and editor at my school’s newspaper, and a woman from Australia says I’m “sexist.” A professor from the University of Illinois wonders about my mental stability. A man double my age is calling me “ugly.” In the past 48 hours, authors, war veterans, mothers of small children have told me I’m ignorant, worthless, brainwashed, classless, disgusting, hypocritical, and judgmental.  A man from New Zealand called me bigoted, self-righteous, conservative rubbish.

Alright, so the reaction was pretty harsh, however stating your her means she’s implying that because she’s young she shouldn’t be criticized for her opinion.  But I digress, let’s see how she handled the rest of the apology. (Emphasis mine)

I wrote an opinion piece about tattoos for Monday’s Spectrum. As a female, I took the woman’s stance and said I’m beautiful without a tattoo.

I never meant to be vindictive toward an entire subculture. That’s why its response was so unexpected to me. Its words were different; it wanted to eviscerate me.  I am sorry to anyone who took my words as a personal attack. I am sorry to anyone who felt disrespected in any way. This column was meant to express my opinion and explain how I live, not to tell you that my way of life is in any way superior to yours.  I was misinterpreted. These strangers have slowly and in the most painful way possible ripped me to shreds within the past 48 hours.  Their hate will be tattooed in me for a long time, but only as a learning lesson.

Many points, especially about feminism, were taken out of context and turned into something demeaning. My point about my body having “the ability to turn heads” stemmed from the fact that I wasn’t the healthiest teenager, so when I learned more about health and fitness after high school, I found meaning in that. Not because I was becoming skinnier (for the record, I in no way find myself slim), but I found that I was setting goals for myself, and, for once, achieving them. I felt happier because I felt healthier. Each day I felt like I would live a longer life, and my future kids wouldn’t have to worry about their mom dying from smoking cigarettes or not exercising regularly, the way I worry about my parents.  The whole clothes thing? Well, when I lost weight, yeah, I was actually interested in dressing myself for once. Do I wear tight fitted clothes every day to school for the aesthetic, sexual pleasure of the men around me? Eww. I wore the same jeans for about 17 years and recently discovered there are other styles out there for me to try out, I guess what I was getting at was perceived as something much more shallow to my readers.

But no one was conversing about my points. Instead, they were taking certain lines out of context, and it was no longer a conversation, but an appalling backlash.

Dear Lisa.  This half-hearted apology only tells us one thing.  It tells us that you really don’t feel bad about what you said, and that the people who were understandably offended should apologize to you for being so mean.  You say you were misinterpreted, and that you never meant to be vindictive, yet you state in your apology that you “took the woman’s stance”.  So your opinion should be taken as you speaking up for all women?  Or does it mean that all men have the opposite stance and believe women are only beautiful with a tattoo?  You then go on the explain why you feel you’re beautiful without a tattoo, without actually giving any reasons that having a tattoo would make you feel otherwise.  But if we go back to the original article, at no time do you mention that your opinions are just about yourself.  In fact, you state multiple times that elegant women, women with class, etc. all have no need of a tattoo to make themselves feel beautiful.  No mention of your own experiences at all.  I hate to break it to you but you ARE being vindictive to a subculture, and there was no misinterpretation of your words.

I want to bring something up that ModBlog readers will know, and Lisa probably doesn’t.  Tattoos aren’t always about aesthetic value or beauty.  There are many different reasons for women and men to get tattooed.  Lisa’s belief that tattoos are only for beauty reveal her willful ignorance, as well as her inability to see why she offended as many people as she did.  To her a classy woman is one who works out, gets her hair and nails done, wears outfits that may be slightly uncomfortable, and put on make-up.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news to Lisa, but all of those “classy” things are actually forms of body modification.  Dying your hair, altering your appearance, changing your body through working out, wearing high heels, etc. all change how you look from your “normal” appearance.  They’re the ones hiding who they are by putting their bodies through sometimes torturous rituals just to make themselves more appealing to others.  At the end of the day, with all your make-up gone, heels off, and clothing on the floor, you’re only as beautiful as you see yourself.  That beauty comes from confidence, and the feeling that when you look in the mirror you’re seeing the person who you want to see.  Just because you see yourself without any tattoos doesn’t mean you’re better than those who do.  We modify our bodies not because it’s cool or trendy, we modify ourselves to show the world, and that person in the mirror, that we can be exactly the way we want to be.  The bottom line is that we respect ourselves and others not by how they look, but by how they act, and people like Lisa Khoury should do the same.

Alright, so with that mess behind us, we’ve got lots more news to catch up on.  So keep on reading.

To lighten the mood a little, here’s a commercial that IAM:Bubble_Toes sent me.  They also added a translation for us non-francophone types.

Mom sees the tattoo at the bottom of her daughter’s back, and says : “What is this tattoo?! it’s bullsh*t!” Mom raises her top, shows off her tattoo to her daughter and says “Now HERE’s a work of artist”.
Ad motto : “times change. So does twingo”

Now that’s an ad I can approve.

Moving on to the “stupid crime” section of the news we’ve got a couple of people who really don’t understand the impact of tattooing another person is.  First up is Chuntera Napier who thought it would be a good idea to let her son get a tattoo.

Chuntera Napier said her son, Gaquan Napier, wanted to honor his older brother who died after being hit by a car, and she had no idea it was illegal for him to get a tattoo.“  It made me feel good to know that he wanted his brother on him,” Napier said.

Napier said. “It’s not like he was asking me, ‘Can I get Sponge Bob? Like people getting all kinds of things on them. He asked me something that’s in remembrance of his brother. How can I say no?”  When asked why he wanted to get the tattoo, Gaquan said, “Because it represents my brother.”  Napier took her son to a tattoo artist in Smyrna where he got a tattoo featuring his brother’s old jersey number.  Someone at Gaquan’s school noticed the tattoo and contacted authorities.

I see where the problem is, she didn’t know how to say “no”.  So moms out there, when your 10 year old child comes to you and asks for a tattoo, it’s OK to say “no”.  This concludes today’s public service announcement.

Now, allowing your son to get a tattoo is pretty bad and can easily lead to your arrest.  An even easier way to get arrested?  Become a drug dealer that will only sell to people that have your name tattooed on them.

Mario Sergio Freudenthal from Itapetinga, Brazil, has been arrested after police found his name inked on a number of clients’ bodies, which is thought to include more than 70 people.  As a result of the officials finding his surname on robbery suspects and deceased people, police tracked him down.  The task was made easier because he was the only man in Itapetinga with that surname.

He probably could have gotten away with it if he’d only have changed his name to “Smith”.

Now, while it isn’t a crime to modify your body (at least in most places), it’s not a good idea to allow someone claiming to be a doctor to inject tire sealant into your ass.

The number of victims of a fake Miami doctor who allegedly pumped dangerous chemicals into their bodies and sealed their wounds with Super Glue has jumped to as many as 30, reports say.  Oneal Ron Morris, 31, who is transgendered and known as “The Duchess,” preyed largely on other transgendered women who hoped to enhance their curves and gain more feminine features, authorities said. But after Morris allegedly injected them with harmful chemicals, including Fix-a-Flat tire sealant, many ended up in the emergency room.

Police suspect the duo may be part of a network of scam doctors who have been offering black market surgical enhancements at home “pumping parties” for years.  Morris’ case first came to national attention when an unidentified patient was rushed to the hospital after a mixture of tire sealant, cement, glue and mineral oil was injected into her buttocks, authorities said. Another Florida transgendered woman, Rajee Narinesingh, was traumatized after The Duchess’s alleged injections to her face left her disfigured. Nearly a year after receiving the shots, Narinesingh’s face began to swell and develop large lumps that burst. A doctor had to fix the botched job by literally pulling cement out of her face, reports said.

Cement.  She injected cement into their bodies.  Being a transgendered individual is tough enough, but to have someone target the transgendered community with this type of scam is unforgivable.

Speaking of cosmetic surgery, actors in China are now being forced to undergo screenings for tattoos and facelifts in order to gain admittance to the Beijing Film Academy.

The country’s future movie stars hoping to enter the renowned Beijing Film Academy will be disqualified if they have had a facelift or tattoo, Beijing News reports.  “We will conduct a physical exam to eliminate candidates with tattoos or facelifts,” said Vice-President Wang Jinsong.  Candidates wearing heavy make-up will also be required to wash it off for the interview.  Some 6,185 candidates have applied for the 85 places at the performing school of the college from, the report said.

In legal news Bettendorf County in Iowa is looking to place a ban on tattoos and piercings in public places.

The Bettendorf Park Board is considering a policy that would address the tattoos, piercings and attire that a guest is allowed to display at their city facilities.  Last summer at Splash Landing water park, a patron complained about another patron’s tattoo – stating it was inappropriate.  The staff member asked the guest to cover their tattoo but the guest decided to leave instead.  Bettendorf Parks and Recreation Director, Steve Grimes says he understands every situation may not end like this.  The new policy would help the staff members know how to handle the situation in the future.  Grimes says the policy would address issues of “decency” of tattoos that are allowed to be displayed.

With the 9th circuit court ruling last year, I can’t see this policy ever seeing the light of day.  It’s probably just some posturing to appease local voters in an election year.

In much sillier news a British man has found a way to always make sure he has his passport on him.  By putting his passport on him.

Richard, 27, who had the tat of his old passport done while backpacking in Australia in March 2006, said: “I wanted something to remember my holiday by, but also wanted something patriotic. “My girlfriend at the time thought I was a bit daft, but eventually she found it hilarious. That seems to be the general reaction.”  Richard, a personal trainer from Wandsworth, South West London, ran out of cash on his Oz trip. So he whipped his top off in a bank branch and used the tattoo as ID.  He said: “The cashier gave me a strange look. She typed in my name and details after reading my tattoo and allowed me $50.”  But in London, Richard — who was born in Sydney and has dual British—Oz nationality — keeps his tattoo covered up. He said: “I don’t walk around with my top off.”

Passport officials said he couldn’t use his tattoo to go abroad or enter the UK.

We’re just about done, but before I go I wanted to leave you with some reading for the weekend.  This week I’ve got three articles that are worth sitting down to peruse.

Publisher’s Weekly has put together a collection of literary tattoos, focusing on which books have inspired the most tattoos.

The Queen’s Chronicle has an interview with Dr. Norman Goldstein about his medical studies into tattoos and tattoo inks.

And finally, Energy Publisher has a great write-up on a Vatican conference that was entitled “Into the Skin: Identity, Symbols, and History of Permanent Body Marks”.  Essentially religious scholars got together at the Vatican to discuss the church’s views on tattooing.

So that’s it for this week.  We’ll be back again next week with more news from around the world.  Remember, if you see an article that you think should be included in the round-up, just send me an e-mail with the link.

Have a great weekend everyone.

As I mentioned back at the end of December, I was putting together a compilation of the top news stories from 2011.  I based the top 10 off of both the e-mails I received and the size of the discussion the story created.  So without further ado, here are the top 10 newsfeed stories of 2011.

10: Raid in Indonesia results in 75 Indonesian punk music fans being detained, having their piercings removed and heads shaved.

This story happened in the 2nd week of December, which you would think wouldn’t be enough time to break into the top ten, but the religious debate that the topic spawned pushed it on to the list.  Religion is always a touchy subject, but to hear it being used as the reason to remove modifications from people hit close to home for a number of you.

9: Moms should remove jewelry when breastfeeding their children.

This interview on a blog for mothers got a lot of attention from the Modified Mom brigade.  The common belief was that the woman being interviewed had probably never breastfed with pierced nipples, and was just spouting off common urban myths.

8: Doctors are referring patients to plastic surgeons for “Designer Vaginas”.  Some as young as 11.

This story from August wasn’t even the lead story of the week, but it did garner the most attention, prompting discussion on consensual female circumcision (in this case labia reduction, not hood/clitoral removal) and the role of England’s public health services.  There were questions raised as to why male circumcision is covered by NHS, but labia reduction isn’t, as well as how old a person can be before they’re allowed to go through the procedure, especially considering an 11-year-old was referred to a plastic surgeon.

7: A beloved teacher came under fire from a local politician for the horrible crime of “teaching while tattooed”.

This story hit home for me personally as I am I former modified teacher.  What stood out the most for everyone wasn’t the fact that the local politician went after the teacher, but rather the school, the kids, and the parents who all stood up to defend the teacher, saying his tattoos and piercings had no bearing on his ability to teach.  Once the politician was shut down by the school board, there were no more complaints filed.

6: Circumcision party!

Yep, back to circumcision again.  This time it was a Guinness record attempt by a city in the Philippines that resulted in hundreds of boys being circumcised over the course of a few hours.  The Guinness record people declined to recognize the event as they don’t endorse any kind of mass medical procedure records.

5: Zombie Boy becomes the new face of fashion.

It was a big year for Montreal’s Rick Genest as he went from virtual unknown to being on television sets around the world.  When Rick was chosen by stylist Nicola Formichetti to be the face of Thierry Mulger’s newest clothing line nobody expected him to suddenly appear in Lady Gaga’s newest music video.  Well nobody except for Formichetti who is also Gaga’s stylist and appointed Rick as her new muse.  Since the music video Rick has gone on to become the spokesperson for tattoo concealing make-up.

4: Tattooed Pigs.

It wasn’t really a surprise that this story is on the list, as debates about animals tend to get heated.  To some this was flat out animal cruelty, while others pointed out that all of the pigs had been saved from slaughterhouses and were now living a life of luxury (at least as much luxury as a pig can have).  Of course there was the 3rd opinion that couldn’t understand why the pigs weren’t on their plates.

3: TLC’s Tattoo School.

Yep.  TLC tried to put on a TV series about a “tattoo school” that could teach you everything you need to know how to tattoo in 2 weeks.  And by “everything” I mean “just enough to do some serious damage to a person and possibly infect them with some kind of disease”.  Thankfully TLC pulled the show from its line-up quickly.  Unfortunately the school itself is still in operation, and teaching more and more people how to be a scratcher.

2: ABC News publicly mocking heavy modification on air.

The subject of the story was supposed to be ear pointing, however with selective editing and commentary, it ended up just being a story ridiculing the entire body modification community.  Starting with calling it a “fad” and using the line “can’t people be happy with what they have?”, it was obvious that there was going to be nothing objective about it.

1: Mom shoots botox into her child’s face.

And your number one story for the year is this one.  In addition to injecting her child with botox, the mom regularly has her daughter’s body completely waxed to prevent hair growth later in life, and has promised to allow her to get breast augmentation and a nose job as soon as possible.  Response to this was overwhelming, not only on ModBlog, but all over the world.  Within a few days of the story going public child services swooped in and removed the child from her mother and placed her with other family members.  It’s safe to say her pageant career ended that day as well.

So that’s it for 2011.  Starting next week we’ll be back to news as usual.  So remember, if you find a story you think should be included in the news of the week, just send me an e-mail with the link.  Have a great weekend everyone, and I’ll see you back here Monday.

Sale Extended!!! 40% off Diablo Ogranics Jewelry!! Coupon Code: 40offdiablo

Alright, so the year is almost at an end and I was thinking to myself, I didn’t really do a year-end news post last year.  So this year I’m going to rectify that.  However, in order to do so, I’m going to need your help.  Take a look through the newsfeed archive for the past year, and then send me an e-mail with what you think are the top stories of the year.  It could be one, it could be more, that’s up to you.  Then, for the last news post of the year, I’ll do a re-cap of the stories that you thought were the most important ones.  Was it TLC’s failed attempt at a “Tattoo School” show?  Mike Tyson’s tattoo artist nearly preventing Hangover 2 from being released?  Rick Genest (Zombie Boy) becoming the muse to Lady Gaga’s stylist?  You tell me.  Of course, don’t forget to keep sending me those links to other stories that you think should be included in the weekly news.

Alright, let’s get things started with a bang this week.  The big story is out of Indonesia where police raided a punk concert in an effort to crack down on tattooed and pierced teenagers.

Police in Indonesia’s most conservative province raided a punk-rock concert and detained 65 fans, buzzing off their spiky mohawks and stripping away body piercings because of the perceived threat to Islamic values.  Dog-collar necklaces and chains also were taken from the youths before they were thrown in pools of water for “spiritual” cleansing, local police chief Iskandar Hasan said.  After replacing their “disgusting” clothes, he handed each a toothbrush and barked “use it.”  The crackdown marked the latest effort by authorities to promote strict moral values in Aceh, the only province in this secular but predominantly Muslim nation of 240 million to have imposed Islamic laws.

Though pierced and tattooed teens have complained for months about harassment, Saturday’s roundup at a concert attended by more than 100 people was by far the biggest and most dramatic bust yet.  Baton-wielding police scattered fans, many of whom had travelled from other parts of the sprawling archipelagic nation to attend the show.  Hasan said 59 young men and five women were loaded into vans and brought to a police detention centre 60 kilometres from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.  They would spend 10 days getting rehabilitation, training in military-style discipline and religious classes, including Koran recitation, he said. Afterward, they’ll be sent home.

Hasan insisted he’d done nothing wrong.  “We’re not torturing anyone,” the police chief said. “We’re not violating human rights. We’re just trying to put them back on the right moral path.”  However, Nur Kholis, a national human commissioner, deplored the detentions, saying police have to explain what kinds of criminal laws have been broken.  “Otherwise, they violated people’s right of gathering and expression,” Kholis said, promising to investigate.

It should be noted that the province where this occurred is unique in Indonesia for being strict adherents to Sharia law.  The rest of the country, while predominantly Muslim, practice a moderate form of their faith.  I’m personally a little concerned as to what they may do to those kids who are tattooed.  It’s easy to shave someone’s head and rip out piercings, it’s something else entirely to remove a tattoo.  The linked article above has a few more photos of what happened.  Now I try not to be political when it comes to the news, however this is a prime example of why the church and state need to be completely separate. And it doesn’t matter what religion it is either.  The moment one group’s religious beliefs are imposed upon another, and backed by the government, is the the same moment that things like this become acceptable. The reason I’m mentioning this is because in North America there is a strong anti-Sharia law movement taking place, which is backed by people who want their own religion put in place as the state-sponsored religion, without realizing that they’re protesting against the very thing they want.  Leave the government to the crooks and liars, and let people determine their own religious (or non-religious) beliefs.

Ok, that’s enough moralizing from me.  There’s more news to come, so keep on reading.

So while we’re still on the subject of people imposing their beliefs on others, a woman in Vietnam has gone to the police after her employer tattooed centipedes on her face and chest.

A worker at a Vietnamese cafe said the owner forced her to get centipede tattoos on her face and bosom for a suspected affair with the owner’s husband.  Police in Vung Tau City were investigating Nguyen Thuy Ngoc’s claim that Nguyen Thi Anh, who owns the Mo Neo cafe, shaved Ngoc’s head and forced her to get a centipede tattooed on her face and two others on her chest because of a suspected affair between Ngoc and Ahn’s husband, Pham The Phong, Tuoi Tre News reported.

Ngoc, 20, said Anh, 33, had asked her why she had an affair with her husband and beat her Nov. 26 and Nov. 27 at the cafe.  Ngoc said she came to Vung Tau in April 2008 to work for Anh at her cellphone shop but Anh later opened a cafe and forced her to work there.  Ngoc returned to her home in Nghe An province’s Nghi Loc district Nov. 28 and told her mother, Tran Thi Hoa, of her treatment. The mother reported it to police in Nghe An and Vung Tau.  Vung Tau police questioned Anh and Phong and the couple told police they had hired Ngoc at the cafe but she quit over conflicts between her and Anh.

Here’s what I don’t get.  It says she was beat at work on the 26th and 27th.  You’d think she wouldn’t want to go into work the next day after that happened.  This is the reason Jen and I live in different cities, I know that if we lived closer together she’d try to beat me up as often as she could.

Now it’s one thing to have your boss tattoo you, it’s another to have your boss tell you what kind of tattoos you can and can’t get.  Now if your boss is the Major League Baseball Association, that’s exactly what they just did.

The Associated Press reports the new labor deal will result in a four-day All-Star break by 2013, with the game being played on a Wednesday instead of a Tuesday, and it will allow teams in the same division to meet in the playoffs before the league championship series.

Among other new stipulations:

• Teams must provide individual rooms during spring training for all players on the 40-man roster, instead of having some of them room together.
• Players who want to change uniform number while on the same team will be required to give eight-months’ notification.
• Players will not be allowed to display tattoos with corporate logos.

According to the new CBA, a copy of which was obtained by AP, “no player may have any visible markings or logos tattooed on his body” as part of the uniform regulations.  “Just trying to head something off at the pass,” said Rob Manfred, baseball’s executive vice president for labor relations.

I guess this means we won’t be seeing any Golden Palace tattoos on anyone’s forehead next summer.

It’s time now for this week’s common sense awards.  First up is a young woman who was rushed to hospital after swallowing some magnets.  The catch, the magnets are being marketed as “fake piercings“.

One of Cameron Miller’s friends recently gave her magnetic jewelry. The super magnets are often marketed to teens because they’re meant to look like piercings.  “Everybody has them at school. Everybody brings them every day and they wear them until the teacher says take them out,” Miller said.  But the 13-year-old accidently swallowed the seemingly harmless tiny pieces of metal.  “I had one on my lip and I took a drink. I forgot I had them in. I swallowed them,” she said.

Miller, a softball player, went on to play in a game later that day and didn’t give the magnets much more thought until she started to feel sick a couple days later.  Perry Miller said blood work showed her daughter developed a blood infection. Then an x-ray revealed four magnets in a row stuck together inside the teen’s intestines.  She was rushed to Cook Children’s Medical Center for surgery after two of the magnets tore a hole in her colon.

Now I remember an article a while back about kids using bucky balls to achieve the same look, and the same thing happened.  Of course instead of realizing this was pretty horrible, someone had the bright idea to start selling them as jewelry.

Our other winner this week is a man who was able to write his own headline after tattooing “No Regrets” on a 14-year-old girl.

A COURT heard yesterday a man regretted tattooing “No regrets” on a 14-year-old girl’s shoulder.  Allan Fenton had no licence to give tattoos but ran a word-of-mouth business from his home in Dundee.  The 24-year-old’s Bebo page features dozens of tattoos he has done.  Fenton, who charged the girl £25, was caught when police and council licensing bosses swooped on his home.  They found surgical tape and gloves, rolls of cling film, five tattooing machines, a tattooing table and arm rests in his bedroom.

Alan Lyle, defending, said: “The tattoo was only two inches long, but he regrets this.”

So congratulations to both the tattoo artist and the company making these magnets for piercings.  Thanks to their lack of common sense, I had two stories to include this week.

So there’s been a lot of doom and gloom this week, and I’ve got one more, but after that things take a brighter turn.

The Canadian government is searching for ways to keep up with the body modification community.  While inspectors are trying to get to every shop, they have no idea on how to handle surgical modifications, which is resulting in a lot of conflicting information.  The result is the government is contemplating following in Winnipeg’s steps and outlawing anything that isn’t piercing or tattoos.

Public health authorities across Canada are struggling to address the growing popularity of body modifications such as splitting one’s tongue like a snake’s and surgically altering ears to make them elf-like and pointy, fearing the spread of infection in an unregulated industry.  Last Wednesday, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health’s board of health received a report warning that one can suffer a “serious or possibly life-threatening consequence” while undergoing one of these surgical-like procedures in a “non-clinical” environment where there’s a higher threat of contracting HIV or hepatitis B and C. Scarification, which is effectively carving or branding an image into your skin, and suspension, which involves being hung from the ceiling on hooks lodged into your back, are among the more common forms of extreme body modification happening in tattoo and piercing shops across the country who often yield to squeamish health inspectors who judge before they do their work, body modifiers say.

Since the new budget came down, they’ve been able to inspect 175 of the 230 personal service settings, which include anything from body modification to acupuncture, she said — a 136% increase in inspections, which were far rarer with a smaller staff.  But even so, it’s tough to find those performing body modifications because these artists freelance or do their branding and tongue splitting after hours or at home, Ms. Kearns said. Personal service settings don’t require a license and so many inspectors depend on new establishments to tell them about any body modification they’d be doing. But that’s not required by law.  “We’d inspected a premise we’re aware of that’s low risk and then suddenly they bring in an artist who is doing more procedures and elevating the risk,” she said. “It’s very difficult, from our perspective.”

Winnipeg is one of the only places in Canada to outright ban body modification beyond tattoos and piercings. As of June 2008, the city outlawed scarification and implants after people from the industry voiced concerns about body modifiers that were alleged to have spread disease through their practices, said Pat Masterton, public health inspection coordinator for Winnipeg.  “I think the people who wanted to be reputable operators and run proper businesses carrying on sanitary processes wanted to make sure the whole industry was not going to be labelled because someone out there was doing something that was going to be causing infection,” she said.

This is an important story to read for all Canadians, not just those who get implants, scars, etc.  As you can see in the opening paragraph, they include suspension as one of the activities they’re investigating.  Without significant input from the community Canada may be facing legislation that could outlaw extreme modifications, as well as suspension.

Moving on, a study in Australia has revealed some interesting information when it comes to the tattooed population.

According to a study by La Trobe University’s Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) a greater proportion of women aged 20 to 29 are the most tattooed Australians, with almost one in three sporting a tattoo, whereas in the older age groups tattoos were more common among men.  Tattooing appears to have moved into mainstream society, with roughly one in seven Australian adults reporting having been tattooed. Despite the recent gentrification of tattooing, tattoos still appear to be associated with risk-taking behaviour in adults.

‘Having been tattooed also correlated with certain risk-taking behaviours, most notably smoking, cannabis use, and greater numbers of lifetime sexual partners. Associations between tattooing and risk-taking behaviour have also been reported in studies among adults and adolescents,’ says Professor Marian Pitts, Director of ARCSHS.  ‘Although the direction of the relationship between tattooing and risk-taking behaviour in adults is not currently known, it may be that in some groups tattooing still represents and is associated with resistance and rebellion towards more conservative parts of society.’

More recently however, in a 2007 review authors found the most common reasons mentioned in the literature related to embellishments of the body, art, fashion, and individuality.  Tattooing was popular among men who had not finished secondary school, tradesmen, and women who did not live with their partners, whereas men and women who had completed postsecondary education were less likely to have a tattoo. Similar findings relating to education attainment were also reported in the U.S. national study.  ‘Furthermore, tattooing does not appear to be confined to certain subpopulations, with men and women in every demographic reporting having tattoos,’ says Professor Pitts.

So basically it’s telling us what we already knew.  Tattoos aren’t just for sailors, bikers, and prostitutes any more.  Unless of course 1 in 3 Australian women between 20-29 are actually prostitutes.

In a nice and heart warming story, a Quebec couple has gotten matching tattoos.  That on its own wouldn’t be so special, however the tattoo is of an insulin pump, identical to the one their son has implanted in him.

Some parents get tattoos of their child’s name, but Philippe Aumond and Camille Boivin went one better.  In a show of solidarity, they each have an image of an insulin pump tattooed on their abdomens, declaring that they are “forever linked” to their son Jacob.  “It is a great thing for him, and we were thrilled just to see his smile when he saw those pumps. It made our day, that’s for sure,” said Boivin, 36, from the family’s home in La Sarre, Que.

A while back, Jacob, diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 3 ½, was excited by the idea of getting an insulin pump that would replace four to five injections a day, and he figured it would be like having his own little robot working for him.  When it was delivered, he was “just like a kid on Christmas Eve with his gift,” and even slept with it before it was plugged into him, said Boivin.  Jacob is now five and in kindergarten, and he wears it 24-7.  “He adapted pretty quick, but one time he told me that he felt different and he was wondering if he was alone in the world, you know, wearing a pump,” Boivin said.

She explained to him that every child is different — some wear glasses, others are in wheelchairs, some have blue eyes, others have brown eyes.  “So he got that, but still, you know, he is a kid. He was four at the time, so he wants to be like everybody else,” Boivin explained.  “Before we had the pump, I think the way he felt is that having shots was just a little part of his day and nobody had to know. But then now, he was wearing a pump, and people could see it and people were asking questions and I think that’s what bothered him a little bit. So he felt really alone.”  She and Aumond decided to get tattoos of the pump, “because no parents want to have their child feel left out or alone.”

See.  Heart-warming.  Now, is it dusty in here, because I have something in my eye.

Alright, today’s last story is either going to be cool or horrific.  It all depends on how you react to the following photo.

As a symbol of wealth and harmony, the goldfish is a popular tattoo. But in a craze sweeping China, goldfish are themselves being inked with patterns and characters intended to being their owners good fortune. The tattoos are said to be the result of an injection which takes half a year to form. Other methods use lasers. Tattooed fish first appeared on the market in 2005 and have become very popular in the past year or two. The technique is not without its critics, however, who claim it is not only cruel, but against the laws of nature.

Like I said.  To some people, having a goldfish with a specially designed symbol on them would be pretty cool.  To others, it’s animal cruelty.  It all depends on how you feel about tattooing fish.

Well, that’s it for this week’s news.  We’ll see you back here next week for a special holiday edition, and then it’ll only be one week to go before the BME NYE Party!  Hopefully I’ll see a lot of you there.  You can find out more about the event right here.  As well as the event page on IAM.

Oh, and don’t forget to e-mail me the stories you think were the best this year.

Hey there ModBloggers! It’s the last post of the week, so that means it’s time for the news. This week was pretty light in terms of articles. I did get some great submissions, however they were all older links. But that’s OK! I love hearing from you guys and gals, especially when you’ve got links to news stories. So keep sending those e-mails my way.

Now as I said before, this week is going to be pretty short in terms of actual news.  So let’s get right to it.

We’re starting off with a birthday announcement.  As of yesterday, the electric tattoo machine is 120 years old!  Now, that’s just going by the day the first patent was issued, but it’s still a pretty big milestone, especially with how much of an impact that little machine has had on the vast majority of ModBlog readers.

No longer confined to the bodies of sailors or sideshow freaks, tattoos have entered America’s cultural mainstream, offering consenting adults the chance to adorn themselves with a permanent mark of rebellion, remembrance, or just plain bad taste. And the electric tattoo machine, originally patented on this day in 1891 by the legendary New York City tattooist and inventor Samuel F. O’Reilly, made it all possible.

Based on the design for Thomas Edison’s autographic printer, which was essentially a motorized engraving tool, O’Reilly’s invention sped up the process of tattooing while vastly improving the quality of the final product. Prior to his innovation, tattoos were done by hand, usually with a set of needles affixed to a wooden handle. It was slow-going work for even the most skilled practitioner. During the Spanish-American War of 1898, by contrast, O’Reilly reportedly inked upwards of 130 naval reservists in a single day from his small shop at 11 Chatham Square, located at the southern end of New York’s famous Bowery.

What’s really amazing is how little things have changed since the first machine.  Granted that’s a rotary design with what looks like a permanent needle, but you can see how we got the machines of today from this one here.

Now this story makes me really happy.  Although when I first read the headline I thought it was a joke.  The Tri-City chapter of the Red Cross has lifted it’s 1 year waiting period for donating blood after getting tattooed.  So to celebrate, they’re having a tattoo fundraising drive.

The Tri-City chapter of the American Red Cross is raising a few eyebrows by offering a selected tattoo or body piercing from Monarch Tattoos as part of its “12 Days of Giving” blood donation campaign.  Lisa Gallegos, territory representative in Richland, said she thought the gift was a creative way to let people know about a change to state law this year that eliminates the one-year waiting period before people who get tattoos are allowed to give blood, as long as they get inked at a state-licensed shop.  “I know it sounds strange that we’re doing it, but with the law changing, we thought it would be a good way to get the message out to the public that they can donate,” she said.  The “12 Days of Giving” campaign is designed to entice Tri-Citians to donate blood during the holidays by offering incentives worth at least $25.  The goal is to collect 750 units of blood. Last year’s campaign resulted in more than 500 units being donated, Gallegos said.  And convincing people to donate is critical. Blood and platelet supplies have been low all year, possibly because the uncertain economy has led to fewer businesses having blood drives, she said.

Eligible donors must be over 17, weigh at least 110 pounds and be healthy. For people with chronic conditions such as diabetes, that means being treated for the disease and having blood glucose levels under control.  Everyone who makes an appointment and shows up to donate will get the gift, but an appointment is required and space is limited, Gallegos said.  For example, everyone who makes an appointment for Friday and comes to donate will get a Z Place Salon and Spa package, sponsored by Kadlec Regional Medical Center.  The tattoo or piercing is being offered to people who make appointments to donate Saturday.

As someone who has been turned down to donate blood because of similar rules, it’s great to finally see archaic rules being updated to reflect today’s society.

And finally, for your weekend reading, a book review of Carl Zimmer’s book, “Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science-Obsessed”.

Zimmer groups the images by discipline: physics, chemistry, natural history, neuroscience, and so on. The tattoos range from dainty anklets to dramatic full backpieces and sleeves. Zimmer is at his best when he walks us through a large, complicated tattoo with many elements. He describes an “ecological allegory” adorning the hip, side, and back of Maureen Drinkard, who wrote her PhD thesis on the bogs of Ohio. He tells us about the bog ecosystem, then describes the cardinal flower on her ribcage, the skunk cabbage that blooms beneath on her hip, the dragonfly she chose as a reminder to be strong and ferocious, and rat-tailed maggot she considers her future. The “ick” reaction some might have to the unromantic rat-tailed maggot is tempered by the “rainbow sheen” it gives off when plucked from the slimy bog and held in the sunlight. Science tattoos are almost always ultimately about beauty.

The review goes nicely with the article from last week that had a number of photos of science-related tattoos.

And that’s it for the week.  I told you it was going to be a short week.  Have a great weekend and make sure you all stay safe when plowing through the malls to finish up (or start) your christmas shopping.

I don’t want it to be December already.  I swear only last week was Halloween.  Alright I know last week wasn’t Halloween, it was the week I put up a story about a man tattooing a pile of poop on his girlfriend’s back.  Thanks to a great many of you who were smarter than I, I now know the story was a fake.  Of course e-mails with that link weren’t the only ones I got this week, so the news must go on.  Remember, if you ever come across a story you think should be included in the weekly news round-up, just send me an e-mail.  Unless I’m mistaken almost every story this week was sent in by e-mail.

Starting things off this week is a story involving a train wreck, a dolphin, and a man from Norway.

Heine Braeck, 33, hated his stump, caused by a childhood accident on a train track.  The Norwegian realised the shape of his stump was identical to a dolphin’s head.  So he asked Bulgarian artist Valio Ska to turn the stump into a 3D tattoo, with amazing results.  Valio spent over three hours on the meticulous ink job.

Heine said: “When I was 13 I tried to take a shortcut across the top of a stationary train which started moving.  “I lost my balance and grabbed hold of the wire that powers the train and got fried.  “The first thing I saw after surgery was how much my arm was shaped like a dolphin’s head.  “I finally decided to do something about it and got in touch with Valio and arranged to have the tattoo done. “My friends think it is awesome and I love it because I don’t have to look at a tired old stump anymore.”

Of all the amputation related tattoos I’ve seen, this one may just be the best.

More news to come, so keep on reading.

Alright, so the poo story was fake, but not all of the “back tattoo revenge” stories are.  It was a while ago I that linked the story of an Australia man who thought he was getting a yin/yang symbol, and ended up with a giant cock.  Well the case went to trial and a verdict has resulted in the artist being sentenced to 12 months in jail.

Victim Chester Ives had asked for a Chinese Yin and Yang symbol alongside a dragon and a tiger.  But he was outraged when he later discovered Matthew Brady had ignored his wishes and drawn a phallus instead.  The pair had rowed in Ipswich, Australia, and the tattoo was supposed to be a peace offering.  Ives, 25, then had to get another tattoo to cover up the one Brady had done, which included a slogan implying he was gay.  Brady, 22, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm while armed, assault occasioning bodily harm and performing a high-risk service without holding an infection control qualification.  He was handed a 12-month prison sentence which will be suspended once he has served three months.

To our non-Commonwealth readers the phrase “The pair had rowed” means they got into an argument/fight.  Now personally, if I ever get into a right with someone, I probably won’t ask them to tattoo my back the next day.

In this week’s edition of “Don’t commit a crime if you have a recognizable face tattoo“, a NYC burglar has come to the realization that maybe wearing a mask would be a good idea the next time he wants to break the law.

Police arrested a 22-year-old man suspected of robbing the East 13th Street restaurant Souen after recognizing a tattoo of a bird on the man’s face, NYPD sources said. Suspect Jorge Molina was allegedly running from police in Greenwich Village the afternoon of Sun., Nov. 20, when officers recalled having seen his face in surveillance video of a recent burglary, Sixth Precinct Lt. Keith Maresca said at a precinct community council meeting Wednesday night.  “[Molina] was wearing similar clothes to what he had on in his wanted picture, and the tattoo on the face was obviously very distinguishable,” Maresca said.

Molina was charged with felony burglary in the incident and is being held on Rikers Island on $15,000 bail.  An investigation of the second man who robbed the restaurant is ongoing, Maresca added.  This is not the first time the man with the bird tattoo has been in trouble with the law. Molina did jail time earlier this year for possession of stolen property.  According to court records, he was arrested Jan. 6 on First Avenue near St. Marks Place for allegedly stealing “multiple pairs of gold earrings, necklaces and a topaz ring” — all valued at more than $3,000 — from the home of someone he knew.

I’m amazed at just how many times I’ve posted an almost identical story.  You’d think at some point someone would figure this out.

Now this article doesn’t really fall into the body modification category, however the article does bring up some things that a couple readers pointed out to me.

Occupy protesters “branded” with UV ink.   Occupy protesters in Montreal were dismayed to find they had been marked by police with a special ink that is only visible in UV light after being arrested during a raid of Victoria Square Friday.  Police told CTV Montreal they borrowed the technique from bouncers at clubs and bars and it is meant to mark protesters who might return to the square.  “They wrote on my hand with a permanent marker and then after I felt something pointy and metallic scraping across my skin,” wrote protester Nina Haigh on Facebook, continuing:  I immediately asked “What are you doing” and they simply said we wrote on you with a pen and showed me a bunch of various pens in her hand.    “It felt very similar to some one drawing on you with a nail,” Haigh tells me. “It really wasn’t a pleasant feeling and I passed a good 24 hours wondering what they had done to me before my friends and I figured it out. I did get a rash from the ink for a few days and my hand was rather sensitive.”  She adds the marking faded after four days, “but I still feel my body was violated.”

Now obviously there wasn’t any actual branding taking place, but the fact that she mentioned being scratched after being written on could indicate that the police are trying to get the ink deeper into the skin so it lasts longer.  I guess it brings up the question, can the police do something that is essentially a really lightly done DIY tattoo to mark a person of interest?

A few months back I brought up an article that revealed something that a number of people had already known.  The province of Nova Scotia has no safety regulations with regards to tattooing and body piercing.  While thanks to the tattooing community in Nova Scotia, all of that is about to change.

Services such tattooing, piercing or scarification will fall under the Body Art Act, which Health Minister Maureen MacDonald introduced in the legislature Wednesday afternoon.  There’s an increased risk for infectious diseases and blood-borne pathogens to be transmitted when the skin is intentionally broken for various types of body art, MacDonald told reporters Wednesday afternoon.  She said seven other jurisdictions regulate the industry. Nova Scotia will be the first to require permits, although officials haven’t decided whether the business or the individual providing the services will need one.  Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief medical officer, said body art businesses will have to meet standards for hygiene, sterilization, knowledge of basic infection control and other areas.  MacDonald said the body art industry has grown as the popularity of piercings, tattoos and other services have increased, especially among young people.  There are about 50 parlours just in the Halifax-Dartmouth area, said Danny Bartlett, a tattoo artist with Kara’s Urban Day Spa in Halifax, in an interview Wednesday. He said it is surprising there have been no guidelines, let alone regulations, in Nova Scotia, considering the navy city’s long history of tattoo work.

“There’s too many people out there who don’t know, they don’t have the proper training,” said Bartlett, who began tattooing 18 years ago after an apprenticeship with a Newfoundland studio.”As it is right now, anybody can buy a kit online and do tattoos. There’s no proof of knowledge required, it’s kind of buyer beware. So it will be nice to be able to have a certificate that says, look, I’m sanctioned and licensed.”  Tattoo shops should have property trained staff who sterilize all equipment with an autoclave, use single-use needles and make sure all work surfaces are clean, Bartlett said.

This is fantastic news for anyone in Nova Scotia.  Well, except for those who are purposely running dirty shops.  They’ll probably not be fans of this.

As always, I like to leave you with a couple of pieces to read over the weekend.  This week we have this article which discusses the burgeoning trend amongst scientists to get tattooed with images related to their fields, much like chefs all over the world are.

I happen to be friends with Professor Sandeep Robert Datta, a neurobiologist at Harvard Medical School. I call him Bob. In the summer of 2007, Bob and his wife Eliza and their two boys, Jasper and Theo, came to a pool party for the birthday of my nephew Blake, and the esteemed neurobiologist splashed around in the water for hours. It was then that I noticed something on Bob’s arm. He had a tattoo.  When I complimented Bob on his ink, he let me know that the DNA in the picture was not just any DNA. It had a message.

DNA stores information for making proteins in units called nucleotide bases. There are four different bases: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and thymine (T). It takes three consecutive bases to encode a single amino acid, the building block of protein. There are 20 different kinds of amino acids in humans, each abbreviated with a letter. Bob took advantage of the fact that E is the abbreviation for the amino acid glutamate. He explained to me that his tattoo spelled out the initials of his wife, Eliza Emond Edelsberg.  Once he had a sequence picked out, Bob decided that he did not want to use letters to mark each base in his tattoo, so he came up with his own colour scheme. Green would stand for G, amber for A. And since the bases on one strand of DNA bind to corresponding bases on its partner (A to T, and G to C), Bob needed colours for C and T as well. He chose blue for C (cyan), and – in something of a stretch – red for T (tomato). “Pretty cool,” he said to me.

Sure he may be an eminent neurobiologist, but even I know that it would have been better to go with crimson and teal for the letters C & T.

And finally here’s a gallery showing off the steampunk inspired tools and decor that are currently on display at Wooster St. Social Club in NYC.

Alright, that’s it for this week’s news.  Have yourselves a great weekend, and we’ll see you back here Monday.

I hope everyone is having a safe Black Friday.  Nobody got injured at Wal-Mart over a $2 waffle-iron I hope.  It’s time again for the news of the week, but first I just want to remind you that if you find a story you think should be included in the news of the week, just send me an e-mail with the link.

Starting off today is a quick follow-up from a couple of weeks ago.  If you recall I mentioned a scam that is targeting tattoo studios.  Well since posting that warning, more people have spoken up and it’s not limited to the east coast.  In addition, the scammers are using the relay service designed for deaf people to communicate over the phone.  Obviously if you get a client calling you and demanding your credit card to pay a driver, you know it’s a scam.  However there are a number of deaf people who do use the service legitimately, so don’t dismiss every relay call as a scam.

Now then, on to the news.

A couple of Dayton, Ohio residents are going to be spending some time in court after a tattoo related incident led to a lawsuit.

Tattoo artist, Ryan L. Fitzjerald was hit with a $100,000 lawsuit last week by his ex-girlfriend Rossie Brovent.  She claims that her boyfriend was supposed to tattoo a scene from Narnia on her back but instead tattooed an image of a pile of excrement with flies buzzing around it.

Apparently Ryan found out that she had cheated with a long-time friend of his and this was his way of getting even.  Originally Rossie tried to have Ryan charged with assault but it turns out this crafty tattoo artist got her to sign a consent form prior to the tattoo and it said that the design was ‘at the artists discretion’, she claims; “he tricked her by drinking a bottle of cheap wine with me and doing tequila shots before I signed it and got the tattoo”.  “Actually I was passed out for most of the time, and woke up to this horrible image on my back.”

Man, that’s a crappy tattoo.

More news and bad jokes to come, so keep on reading.

This is directed mostly at the modified parents out there, but even if you don’t have children, feel free to chime in.  What would you think if you showed up at your child’s daycare to find that their ears had been pierced without your knowledge or consent? A woman in Texas just had that happen to her this week.

Eloise Cardenas, 45, said she went to pick up her daughter, Mia, and her son Wednesday evening at the Marquita KinderCare, 3700 Marquita Drive, when one of Mia’s teachers told her that the girl had been complaining that her ears hurt.  “She’s been having allergies so I thought maybe she was coming down with an ear infection,” Cardenas said. “I turned around and looked at Mia, and she had loop earrings on, like for an adult. I was like, ‘Who pierced your ears?’ I was so mad I was seeing red.”

Cardenas said Mia told her that a teacher in a different class had done the piercings, which left the girl’s earlobes sore and red. When confronted by Cardenas, that teacher reasoned that Mia had said “it was OK,” according to Cardenas.  “I said, ‘She’s a kid. You’re the adult. You should have known better,’” Cardenas said. “I don’t care how you look at it, it’s wrong.”  Colleen Moran, a spokeswoman with KinderCare’s corporate office in Portland, Ore., said the company takes such situations seriously and has disciplined the teacher.  “We wrote her up, which is part of our disciplinary protocol,” Moran said. “We talked to her about the situation and choices she made, and how safety and security of the children in our care is our top priority. Parents trust us every day, so we value that trust.”

Cardenas and her husband filed a report with Fort Worth police Wednesday night.

Now here’s where things get interesting.  The couple filed a lawsuit, however when it comes to piercing children’s earlobes, the law is a little murky.

While the Texas Health and Safety Code prohibits body piercings on children younger than 18 without the consent of a parent or guardian, the law does not apply to earlobe piercings.  The Police Department’s crimes against children unit reviewed the case, but the incident was found not to meet the criteria of a crime because the girl’s “ears had previously been pierced and earrings reinserted,” the unit’s supervisor, Sgt. Jim Thomson, said Thursday.  Thomson said, however, that police are referring the case to the state Department of Family and Protective Services’ child-care licensing division.

Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the state agency, said licensing employees had never heard of such an allegation before.  She said such an incident would probably be investigated under the standard of whether the caregiver demonstrated competency, good judgment and self-control in the presence of children.  Moran said KinderCare has also alerted the state’s licensing division about the incident. She said that while the teacher has not been fired, as the Cardenases have requested, “if licensing comes back with something then we would, of course, follow their direction on that.”

Cardenas telephoned the day-care center Thursday morning and said Mia and her brother will not return. She said that while she and her children had loved the day-care center, she will not allow them to go back as long as the teacher is still employed.  “I don’t blame the day care,” Cardenas said. “I blame her.”  Adding to her anger, Cardenas said, was that the teacher had accused Mia of lying when the crying girl told her mother that the piercings hurt. The teacher insisted that Mia had told her that it did not hurt, Cardenas said.

“She didn’t act like there was anything wrong with it. That’s what got me,” Cardenas said. “I was just shocked about the whole thing.”  Cardenas said she was also troubled when the teacher told her that she had also put earrings on other children.  “What are you doing putting earrings on kids? Even if their ears were already pierced, that’s unsanitary,” Cardenas said. “I don’t know where those earrings have been. … It’s just gross.”

So somewhere out there is a daycare worker who thinks that it’s alright to pierce a child without consent, and will continue to do it as long as the kids ask for it.  Is a 5-year old child old enough to make the decision to modify their bodies?

I was going to save this article for later, but seeing as how the previous one touched on consent and ethics, here’s an article that examines one of the most controversial modification related subjects: circumcision.

A couple of Christmases ago, my family was discussing the impending birth of my cousin’s son. As a rule, we don’t breed that much and with an average of one new addition every 17 years the entire table was quickly caught up in the excitement. Discussion ranged from possible names and parenting styles to whether or not he was going to make a good front-row forward.  It was all a bit of fun until the question of circumcision was raised. That’s when the convivial mood suddenly changed. Battle lines were quickly drawn with the men especially keen to jump in. Each side made impassioned protests that it is cleaner, safer or, conversely, barbaric and reduces sexual pleasure.

“It is the combination of public health benefits, minor surgery, sex and vitriolic minorities opposed to it,” explained Brian Morris, Professor of Molecular Medical Sciences at the University of Sydney and founder of website Circ Info.  Seeking expert medical opinion on the matter in order to gain a more impartial perspective, I was surprised to discover how divisive the issue is among doctors. I was warned by Morris that his opponents “use emotive fallacious propaganda to distort the truth and further their cause” and to be “extremely sceptical about everything they have to say.”  Meanwhile, Dr Robert Darby, author of A Surgical Temptation: The Demonization of the Foreskin and the Rise of Circumcision in Britain, said, in response to claims that anti-circumcision practitioners are propagandists, “It is the circumcision advocates who are both ill-informed and tunnel-visioned.”  “At least one in two uncircumcised males will experience a urinary tract infection, which in infancy leads to permanent kidney damage in half of cases,” reported Morris. “Phimosis [tight foreskin], balanitis [inflammation] and high-risk HPV mean one in 1000 uncircumcised men will get penile cancer over their lifetime. The risk of prostate cancer has been found to be up to twice as common in uncircumcised men. In the female partners of uncircumcised men, risk of cervical cancer is up to five times higher, genital herpes two times higher and chlamydia up to five times higher.”

With the possibility of potentially fatal complications like excessive blood loss and meningitis, and the far more common danger of excessive skin removal and accidental partial glans amputation, caregivers need to weigh up the proposed benefits against the risks of what is essentially cosmetic surgery. A growing trend towards foreskin restoration, of which a couple of my friends are a part, also indicates long-term psychological implications.  “For a surgical intervention to be ethical and indeed legal, the person must give informed consent,” said Dr Darby. “This means that the doctors must provide an accurate account of all the possible complications and adverse outcomes of the operation. This rarely happens in the case of circumcision, where the warnings are often less comprehensive than those on a packet of aspirin … The basic principles of bioethics have been set out by Beauchamp and Childress; circumcision of minors violates every one of them.”

Then there’s the factor that most adult men are concerned with: sexual pleasure. While professor Morris claims sexual pleasure “is either the same or better when circumcised”, Darby acknowledges that while it’s notoriously subjective, there’s plenty of evidence that it reduces functionality of the penis. A recent Danish study discovered that circumcised men have a threefold risk of experiencing delayed orgasm and their female partners are twice as likely to be sexually frustrated.  “Not only does the foreskin contain the vast bulk of the pleasure-sensing nerves of the penis, but it provides a gliding action that facilitates and enhances sexual activity of all types,” he said. “Before the 20th century it was well understood that the foreskin was the sexually dynamic and responsive component of the penis, which is why Victorian purity and anti-masturbation campaigners were so keen to cut it off.”

So there you have it.  One side shows studies that prove circumcision is the healthy option, and the other side can show that complications can arise, and there may be a lack of sexual function.

Moving away from the hot button topics, we have Movember, which is coming to an end.  A town in the UK has taken up the Movember cause, and a number of the women are showing their solidarity by getting finger tattoos.

Females from Barry, South Wales, have been flocking to their local ink parlour to get the designs on their digits.  Going under the needle costs £10 a time – with all the proceeds going to the campaign which seeks to raise awareness of male cancers.  Traditionally men seek sponsorship to sport facial fuzz during the month of November. But the town’s Chameleon Tattoos offers women a choice of nine different taches or the option to design one of their own.  The styles include The Wisp, The Trucker, The After Eight, The Rock Star, The Connoisseur, The Undercover Brother, Abrakadabra, The Box Car and The Regent. And the girls also have a number of different colours ranging from traditional black to more subtle flesh coloured tones.

Harriet Tutton, 22, yesterday showed off her body art and explained she liked it because it wasn’t too obtrusive.  She said: “I really love my moustache tattoo. “It looks really good and it’s for a great cause, but the best thing is it’s not too visible so I can hide it if I really want to.”  Explaining her choice of style, she added: “I’ve gone for the connoisseur because it’s the classiest.

I can’t wait for Decembeard.  ModBlog needs more bearded men submitting photos, so make with the submissions.

In yet another story of government creating unnecessary legislation, a Kentucky state representative is seeking to create a law that would require all tattoo studios to put up a sign that says “any tattoo on the neck, forearm or lower leg shall automatically disqualify the wearer from military service in the United States Armed Forces”.

State Rep. Ron Crimm, R-Louisville, pre-filed a bill that would require tattoo parlors to post a sign reminding patrons of military restrictions on body art.  Crimm told The Kentucky Enquirer that the warnings would serve as a reminder and the bill isn’t aimed at hurting tattoo parlors.”I thought this would serve as a word to the wise,” Crimm said.Military regulations regarding tattoos don’t necessarily prohibit tattoos on arms and legs and vary according to the branch. Generally, the military prohibits neck tattoos and tattoos with racist or other material deemed obscene by military command.

Tattoo artist Tommy Partin, who works at Designs by Dana in Covington, said most of his customers are aware of the military restrictions.  “I know people that get stuff covered up to get in the military,” Partin said. “If they have a pinup girl on the arm, they are asked to put a top on her.”A picture of any tattoo on anyone who enlists in the Army National Guard in Kentucky gets reviewed by Maj. Fred W. Bates V, recruiting and retention battalion commander for the Kentucky National Guard. He can sign a waiver or send it to leadership for a recommendation.Sometimes the Army tells the enlistee to cover a tattoo or get it removed if the person wants to enlist, he said.”The military is inclusive, and you don’t want a tattoo that racially offends someone else or that’s degrading to women,” Bates said. “In the military, you have to serve together and fight in combat together. You don’t want these issues causing problems. And there are standards in the uniform. There are standards in the Army about haircuts and piercings that people can and can’t have.”

Lind said tells customers who want tattoos on the neck or other highly visible areas the potential consequences and what types of tattoos they should consider, such as the names of children instead of names of their partners, which could change.  “Saw a girl last week who got a tattoo of her significant other, his name on her neck,” Lind said. “She wants it covered up now, a week later. You try to explain to people, but they want what they want. They’ll look at the sign in the same way.”

I can’t think of a single artist that will tattoo above the neck without first mentioning the “jobstopper” speech.

To wrap up this week is a pair of articles examining two different cultures.  The first is from the BBC and they discuss the historical significance of this new trend in “ear gauging“.

Ear stretching goes back a long way.  But you don’t have to visit a museum or travel to a remote-ish part of the world to see it because the practice has been adopted in many Western countries.  However, it is not so common that it goes unnoticed. Stretched piercings do tend to stick out like the proverbial sore thumb, particularly if the hole is substantial enough to hold a small object. For many people, there is an “ouch” or an “eugh” factor when they see someone with a substantial ear lobe stretch but for those that have it done, it is a thing of beauty.

Statistics are not easy to come by but, as with tattoos, there is extensive anecdotal evidence that ear stretching is on the rise. More people are wearing them, DIY kits are more widely available and there is a much greater choice of jewellery.

Ear stretching has became more mainstream in the last decade and different people have become attracted to it because they see it on the catwalks and celebrities.  Hard-core modifiers have to up the ante to defy the commercialisation of the practice, Prof Pitts-Taylor suggests.  “It is a slightly more committed body art than temporary practices or ear piercing. The more you stretch the skin, the more commitment you are expressing to a counter cultural look.”  People who are obsessed with getting the largest stretch possible are known in the business as a “gauge queen” or “gauge king”, according to Fox.

I’m sorry.  I can’t bear to copy any more.  I’ve never, ever, heard the terms “gauge king and queen” before.  To be fair the article does go on the mention the cultures that stretching comes from, as well as discussing techniques.  Plus they get bonus points for stressing people to take their time and not rush things.

Today’s last story is somewhat of a sad one.  In South West China there are only 41 remaining Derung women with traditional facial tattooing.

It’s a rare sight to see a facial tattoo. But you may be surprised that in China’s southwest, there are 41 old women who have retained their facial tattoos once seen as a symbol of beauty.  Facial tattooing is an unique tradition of the Derung ethnic minority. They live in the mountains of the Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province. Girls used to have their faces tattooed before marriage. But as time goes by, only 41 old women are left to testify about the now extinct practice.  Most of the tattoo women live on the Gaoligong Mountain, more than 2,000 meters above sea level. In order to make this cultural heritage live on longer, border police started to give a medical checkup to the old women with facial tattoos in 2006 and established archives for them.

Yan Xiulian, is one of four facial-tattoo women who are over 90. However, with the passing away of the last tattoo master, the facial tattoo has become a riddle that nobody can decipher.

It’s a great article and includes an English-language video from a Chinese news outlet.  I think the saddest part of the story is that within a few years this tradition will become completely extinct.  With no master to pass on the secrets of the techniques and meanings, there isn’t much hope for it to be preserved.

That’s it for this week folks.  Have a fun weekend and I’ll see you back here Monday.

Happy Nigel Tufnel day!  In honor of Mr. Tufnel, I encourage all of you to turn something up to 11.

Now in addition to it being Nigel Tufnel day, it is also Remembrance day here in Canada (Veteran’s day in the US), so I thought it would be appropriate to start today’s news off with a piece about tattooed Marines serving in Afghanistan.

One Marine has the image of a woman with flowing hair, gripping a skull close to her chest, inked on his bicep.  “Me and my wife were talking one night and we were just asking each other stupid questions,” Cpl Erik Johnson said.  He asked her, “If I ever died, would you let you go?” She answered, “No.”  A week later, Johnson was medevacked from a grade III concussion he suffered during an IED blast. Soon, he returned to duty with three more months of the deployment to complete.

In another clip, a Marine shows his “meat tags,” which is Marine jargon for tattoos of dog tags, which identify the dead and wounded by using their names, Social Security numbers, blood type and religion for last rites.  “It’s used to identify your body when nothing else is left,” said Hospital Corpsman Jason Houches, pulling up his shirt to reveal his dog tags inked on his side.

It’s late in the day, but please remember to take some time to remember those brave souls who have given their lives to protect yours.

Lots more news to some, including some announcements regarding upcoming events, as well as a warning about a scam targeting tattoo artists.

I’ve gotten several e-mails about this over the past couple of weeks so I wanted to get into this right away.  Evidently there is someone (or a group of people) that is trying to scam money from tattoo studios all along the east coast.  The scam starts with an e-mail to the studio inquiring about pricing for ~10 people to get the same tattoo.  Here’s an example of one of the e-mails.

Hello this is thomas i want you to draw a smallest size cat and the location i want you draw for them on there Back Shoulder and also going to use 1 hour in each person and i want you to get back to me with the total estimate for 10 peoples and the party is coming up this month august next week Friday i also want you to know that the peoples who will come to have the tattoo will come with my private transportation driver…so that i can get back to you with my credit card information to charge for all expenses i want you to get back to me with the type of credit card accepted and i also want you to know that i have attach you the pix of the tattoo and i want you to know that i want just approximately one hour towards the tattoo.and i also want you to get back to me with your cell phone number and shop address so that i can have your shop information complete with me so that i can forward to the driver who will drop the peoples to infront of your shop…that i want you to draw for me okay bye for now stay blessed,

The name changes from e-mail to e-mail, but the general idea is that they book a time for the group to get tattooed, then they ask you to pay the limo driver in cash so that he can then go and get the group.  As you can guess, there is no group, and they’re trying to make a quick buck by promising the studio a lot of clients.  I’ve heard stories from New Jersey, Virginia, and West Virginia, so I’d imagine the states in between are also being targeted.  So keep an eye out for e-mails from Tommy Luck and Lanza Juliet, or any that are similar to the one above.

In New Zealand an annual business challenge called “Grow Wellington Bright Ideas Challenge” awarded top prize to Gillian Parkinson for her tattoo healing oils.

As an aromatologist she uses essential oils to treat a range of conditions including stress and depression and – as of a year ago – to help tattoos heal.  Her Tinkture Tattoo After Care product won the consumer product category of this year’s Grow Wellington Bright Ideas Challenge, which recognises the capital’s best new business ideas.  The product is a secret combination of therapeutic-grade essential and carrier oils which helps prevent infection and reduces the pain, bruising and swelling that can accompany new tattoos, Parkinson says, helping them to heal faster.

“I had a tattoo done on my arm and used an aftercare product. A week later my arm was still swollen and bruised right down to my wrist.”After her next tattoo she tried her own concoction.  “The initial swelling was gone overnight and there was no bruising. It completely healed within 10 days. The tattoo artist was amazed at how quickly it healed.” Working with Cuba St tattoo parlour ALC Headquarters, she tested Tinkture on a range of people before deciding it was ready for the marketplace.  “We were getting rave reviews,” she said.  Parkinson estimates she has sold 600 bottles. She plans to increase stockists overseas and in New Zealand where she says tattoos are especially popular, in part because of the traditions of Maori and Pacific Islanders.

It’s also completely vegan friendly, which is helping it gain in popularity.  Hopefully I’ll be able to snag a bottle when she starts shipping overseas to try it out.

Over in Australia a few young men were treated by paramedics after things got a little out of hand at their barbecue.

The men were at a barbecue in Toowoomba on the weekend when they decided to brand themselves.  “We thought it would be a good idea to grab the stoker and give ourselves a brand,” Luke Moroney told Nine News. The men were treated by paramedics for second- and third-degree burns.  The friends have since had trouble sitting down and some of the burns are infected.  “It’s definitely going to be there for the rest of my life,” said Mr Moroney.

In North America, we call that a normal BME BBQ.

A program starting up in Bolton in the UK is reminiscent of one that was started in Australia earlier this year.  The idea is for health workers to visit schools and to educate students on the risks involved with piercings, and why going to a clean shop is safer than getting your friends to do it at home.

Now chiefs at NHS Bolton and Bolton council have joined forces to launch a new campaign to try to reduce the risk of infection. They have set up a website, telling teenagers what to expect from piercing studios, how to look after a piercing and what to do if it becomes infected. Posters are being displayed in schools and youth centres, as well as in piercing studios and local cinemas.

The literature uses quick response codes – which can be scanned using smartphones – giving young people fast access to the information.  It’s not illegal for under 16s to get a piercing but a reputable studio will contact a parent or guardian for their consent.  Bosses said they hope the campaign will reduce the number of unnecessary infections – which are caused by bacteria getting into the wound – and make young people think more about the responsibilities of having a piercing.  Jan Hutchinson, director of public health for Bolton, said: “As with any surgical procedure, there’s always the risk of infection. This can be vastly reduced if a piercing is properly looked after.”  Students Harper Green School and Arts College in Farnworth were first to test the site, www.theholetruth.co.uk.

Personally I think this is a much better approach than outright banning piercings.  Kids need to be told how to do things safely, because if you tell them not to do something, you can be damn sure they’ll find a way to do it.

Of course, not every part of the world is as progressive.  Over in Nigeria people are becoming very upset at the idea of tattoos becoming popular.

Some parents in Benin have decried the rising spate of young men and women wearing tattoo on their body in the name of fashion.  Mrs Taiwo Egwakhide, a school teacher in Benin on Wednesday said that she disliked tattoos and would not allow her children to wear them no matter how beautiful.  Egwakhide said that tattoo was a Western habit, adding that Nigerians were in the habit of imitating the Western world in everything they did whether right or wrong.  “Anything the whiteman does, most Nigerians will begin to do, whether good or bad. How can somebody just sit down and you begin to draw tattoo on your body?  “It means that you do not like the way God created you and you want to add to it by designing tattoo on your body. I see it as an immoral act.

Prof. Ewan Alufkhai, a Surgeon, and former Vice-Chancellor of the Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma, said that there was no prove to show the medical side effect of tattoo on the human body.  Alufkha explained that tattoo wearing started with the lesbians and the gays, stressing that “it has now became a fashion trend for those who wear it”.  “I think it is a thing of interest for those who wear tattoo. It is fashion according to them,” he said.  A Cleric, Mr James Achala, a Pastor of the Deliverance Prayer Ministry, described the act as satanic. adding that tattoo freaks no matter the reasons had lost faith in God.

I suppose none of the people they spoke to were Fulani or Hausa, as both Nigerian tribes are known for their facial tattoos.

Finally, in what shouldn’t come as a surprise to a number of ModBlog readers, it turns out that people have been playing the “Guess What?” game for over 12,000 years.

Men in prehistoric Europe scarred, pierced and tattooed their penises, likely for ritualistic and social group reasons, according to a new study.  Analysis of phallic decorations in Paleolithic art, described in the December issue of The Journal of Urology, may also show evidence of the world’s first known surgery performed on a male genital organ. The alteration, or surgery, might have just been for ornamental purposes, or a piercing, the researchers suggest.

“Making scars, holes to pick bones, and also writing on the skin — tattooing — may add meaning to an otherwise ‘silly body,’” he added. “If one or several marks became popular or fashionable, they may be culturally elected as ‘fancy’ and ‘desirable.’ The face and areas around natural orifices are parts of the body with a higher tendency to be decorated and shown.”

So remember, the next time you see a Guess What? post and think it’s genitals, you’re probably right, as men have been doing fun stuff to themselves for thousands of years.

One quick announcement, this weekend First Blood is hosting their annual Hooks and Hearts suspension event.  So if you’re interested in attending, get in touch with the crew at First Blood.

Speaking of events.  If you haven’t heard, BME is hosting a New Year’s Eve party at BME HQ just outside of Richmond, Virginia.  Everyone is welcome, so book your hotel room early (near King’s Dominion outside of Richmond), and we’ll see you there.

As always, send me an e-mail if you find a story you think should be included in next week’s news post.

Have a great weekend everyone.

So the day is almost done, which means it’s time for the first news post of November.  First off, a big thanks to everyone who sent in articles this week.  Quite a few of the stories below were sent to me through e-mail, so if you happen to come across one in your travels around the web, please send me the links so I can include it in next week’s news.

We all know sports fans can get a little overzealous when it comes to supporting their favorite team.  Well this week in Texas a few fans got a little preemptive in their celebrations.

Says our tipster:

My friend had this done before Game 7.  Maybe you can show the world how big of an idiot he is, or just a die hard fan.

Oh, so many thoughts here. Did he have a deposit down on the session before Game 7 and just decided to go ahead with the tattoo in an attempt to reverse the bad juju from Game 6? Did he originally get that NBA Finals tattoo after the Dallas Mavericks took a 2-0 lead in 2006? Does he know that one angry Yahoo! commenter would have quibbled with the “world champs” line even if the Rangers had won because they did not beat a team from Japan? Is he now hoping he can one day change that last “1″ to a “4″?

But it wasn’t just Texas baseball fans…

There’s NFL fandom and then there’s getting a huge tattoo on your left forearm to honor your favorite team. There’s NFL optimism and then there’s getting a huge tattoo on your left forearm to honor the Super Bowl championship that your favorite team has yet to (and almost certainly won’t) win.

Meet the left forearm of Chris Brown. The Midland, Texas, resident tattooed it recently to commemorate the Super Bowl title he hopes his favorite team, the Houston Texans, will soon win. For his sake it better be soon. Brown’s tattoo also includes the specific Super Bowl he expects the Texans to win: Super Bowl XLVI, to be played this February in Indianapolis.

So confident is Brown in the Texans that he had the tattoo artist include shading behind the roman numerals so that he couldn’t go back and change it. Forget that Houston has never made it to the NFL playoffs, let alone won a postseason game. Brown is a man with confidence … and hopefully a lot of long-sleeved shirts in his dresser.

Well, at least with the football one he’s got a few months before he knows if it was a bad idea or not.

There’s more news to come, so keep on reading..

Alright, so as many of you know, Hermosa Beach was ground zero for a court battle that eventually proclaimed tattoo parlours protected under the first amendment.  That means cities can no longer outlaw studios (well, in the US anyway).  However that didn’t stop a group of citizens from trying to get the city to kick them out.  Well this week a judge has issued what will probably the the final ruling in this case, and the tattoo studios have won.

The legal fight over tattoo regulations in Hermosa Beach has virtually come to an end.  This week, Hermosa Beach claimed victory in its battle against Citizens United, which was suing the city over zoning changes made to accommodate tattoo businesses in town. Citizens United was hoping to get the city’s tattoo regulations overturned. But on Nov. 1, Superior Court Judge James Chalfant ruled in favor of Hermosa Beach stating that it is not liable for claims made by Citizens United because the case was filed outside the statue of limitations.  City Attorney Michael Jenkins said he is very pleased with the judge’s ruling.  “We are pleased with the court’s decision because now the city enjoys certainty,” Jenkins said. “Tattoo studios are limited to those that comply with the standards adopted by the City Council.”

Citizens United was trying to force the city to create a more restrictive tattoo studio ordinance. Last fall, in the wake of a Ninth Circuit Court ruling that tattoo businesses are protected by the First Amendment, the City Council adopted a new law dictating that tattoo parlors can be located only along Hermosa Avenue, Pacific Coast Highway, Aviation Boulevard and at Pier Plaza.

However, when Hermosa Ink opened at 802 Hermosa Ave., adjacent to a residential zone, nearby homeowners formed Citizens United and launched a lawsuit in hopes of overturning the current ordinance. The group was hoping to restrict tattoo shops even more by insisting they be 100 feet from residences, 200 feet from schools and parks and close by 9 p.m. instead of 10 p.m. and not offer body piercing. Citizens United argued that the city did not properly publish notification about public hearings on tattoo zoning and regulations before making them official. Fangary also said the council should have first gone through its Planning Commission for suggestions instead of solely dealing with new regulations and zoning changes.  But Chalfant stood behind Hermosa Beach’s argument that the claims should be dismissed because they were filed past the 90-day statue of limitations window.

So hopefully this will be the last we hear about this story.  However there are still cities out there that continually push against tattoo studios opening up, and each time the Hermosa Beach ruling steps up to protect the artists.

Tattoo parlors are entitled to the same First Amendment protections as the artwork they produce, meaning government is limited in restricting where they can go, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.  In a precedent-setting decision, the three-judge panel rejected arguments by the city of Mesa that it was entitled to reject an application to open a tattoo shop because nearby residents considered it “incompatible’’ with the neighborhood.  Judge Ann Scott Timmer, writing for the unanimous court, said cities can consider citizen viewpoints in deciding whether a particular business is appropriate to a neighborhood. But she said a city cannot deny a permit to a tattoo parlor “based solely on neighborhood hostility born from perceptions about tattoo parlors that may or may not be accurate.’’

A Mesa ordinance requires certain kinds of businesses, including tattoo parlors, to obtain special use permits before operating in commercial areas. Among the requirements is being at least 1,200 feet from an existing tattoo shop or school and be “compatible with surrounding uses.’’

While recommendations are made by a planning officer or board, the Council has the final say.  In this case, the planning board recommended approval, with conditions, including taking steps to limit loitering, restricting the days and hours of operation, cooperating with police to identify known gang tattoos and refusing to apply racist or gang tattoos. Ryan and Laetitia Coleman, the owners of Angel Tattoo, agreed to those restrictions.  But the Council voted 6-1 to deny the permit after hearing concerns from neighbors about the shop possibly drawing crime and reducing property values. Only Mayor Scott Smith was in support.

A trial judge rejected their claim of First Amendment violations, concluding the Council’s decision “was a reasonable and rational decision based on community concerns.’’  Timmer said some courts have concluded that administering a tattoo is not communication entitled to constitutional protections. But she said that defies logic.  “The sole purpose of a tattoo is to communicate thoughts, emotions or ideas as rendered by the tattoo artist,’’ the judge wrote. She said providing less protection to tattoos would require courts to differentiate between Salvador Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory’’ and a tattoo of melting clocks “merely because the former is painted on canvas while the latter is inked on a bicep.’’  What all that means, Timmer wrote, is that any restrictions by a city on tattoo parlors must be examined closely to see if they improperly infringe on First Amendment rights.

It seems that all around the world people are beginning to recognize that modified people aren’t just sailors or bikers.  Over in China the People’s Liberation Army is now allowing recruits that are tattooed on the face and neck to enlist.

Seeking to broaden its appeal to China’s better-educated and perhaps more hip youth, the People’s Liberation Army has dropped a longtime bar to enlisting in the service: now, recruits can sport tattoos on their faces and necks.  Recruits with facial or neck tattoos will now qualify for service if the decorations are no larger than two centimeters wide, or about 0.8 inches. The new weight rules permit a recruit to weigh as much as 25 percent more or 15 percent less than the army’s standard, as opposed to 20 and 10 percent in the past.

The ministry also began an effort to lure more university students to the military, offering them a 6,000 renminbi discount on annual tuition — around $944 — if they take a break from their studies to enlist.  Although military service is technically compulsory, the draft is seldom needed because there are more than enough volunteers to fill the ranks of the 2.3-million member force. The newly relaxed rules seek to attract better-educated recruits for a military that increasingly relies on technically sophisticated weaponry.  Tattoos, in particular, were once scorned, but they have become faddish among the savvier urban youth that the People’s Liberation Army hopes to attract.

There is a precedent: China’s most famous tattoo belonged to a Southern Song dynasty general, Yue Fei, who served in the 12th century. Folklore states that he once quit the army and returned home after his field marshal deserted, only to be berated by his mother for turning his back on his country.  On that back, she then tattooed the words, “loyalty to the nation.” Yue Fei returned to battle and became one of the nation’s most celebrated warriors before being framed by a rival and executed.

With Halloween happening last week, its understandable that some emergency room nurses may get confused when a person walks in covered in blood and missing an arm.  However in Washington when a man walked in on the 28th, he really was missing an arm.

Washington man loses his arm from a homemade guillotine.  The guillotine unexpectedly dropped on his shoulder Thursday morning at a camp he was living at, severing his arm.  He left the arm behind after the accident and rushed to Bellingham Urology Specialists.  Evelyn Leuther, who works at the clinic, told CBS Seattle a woman passing by said, “I hope that’s a Halloween costume,” referring to the man missing his arm at the shoulder.  But the gore was real. Seconds later, another woman ran by screaming for someone to call 9-1-1.

Doctors and nurses from the office rushed to help.  “It was a sight,” she said. The scene lasted for 10 minutes before an ambulance took him to the hospital two blocks away.  Officers checked a wooded area near the clinic and discovered a camp believed to be the temporary home of the individual. At the camp, officers located the severed arm and a homemade guillotine, which the police then dismantled.

The condition of the victim is not known at this time, but Bellingham police said in a release he was being transferred to Harborview in Seattle for further treatment.

Now it could just be the fact that I work for BME, but something about this story just feels like it was a DIY amputation.  Now I could be wrong, so I’ll leave it up to you.  Do you think this was intentional?

We all know that tattooing the sclera, while extremely dangerous, can be done.  However changing the color of the eye itself has been pretty much impossible to do without contact lenses, or blinding the person.  Well that is all going to change soon with a new procedure that a doctor claims can turn brown eyes blue.

If you’ve always wanted blue eyes, but have brown instead, there might be something you can do to change that. A doctor in Laguna Beach called Stroma Medical says it can use laser technology to change brown eyes to blue — permanently — without damaging vision. Dr. Gregg Homer has been working on the technology for 10 years. Homer says it is possible because even brown-eyed people have blue eyes underneath the brown layer of pigment.

“We use a laser, and it’s tuned to a specific frequency to remove the pigment from the surface of the iris,” Homer tells KTLA. The procedure takes about 20 seconds.  When laser energy is absorbed by the eye’s brown pigment, Homer says the pigment tissue changes and then the body sheds the altered tissue, changing brown eyes to blue within two to three weeks.  The brown tissue never regenerates.

Homer says tests have shown no signs of tissue damage.  He still has another year of research to complete on the procedure.  Researchers believe the procedure will be available outside the United States in 18 months, and in the U.S. in three years.  It will cost about $5,000.

Someone should write a song about this.

Today’s last story is a story of redemption and recovery.  It’s been floating around for a week or so now, so some of you may have seen small snippets, but it was SeattlePI that first brought this story to light.  It’s the tale of Bryon Widner, a former bonehead skinhead who turned his back on the white supremacist movement, and in the process removed all of his former neo-nazi markings.  I’m not going to copy it all out, but I will provide some snippets.  I encourage you to read both parts of this story which you can find at these links:  Part one.  Part two.

People grabbed their children when Bryon Widner swaggered into a store, lowered their voices when he entered a restaurant, sidled away when he strode up to a bar.  He reveled in it — the fear he inspired, the power. It made him feel like Superman.  He had symbols of racist violence carved into his face and the letters HATE stamped across the knuckles of his right hand — the hand that knocked out countless victims, sometimes leaving their teeth embedded in his skin. “Blood & Honour” was tattooed across his neck, “Thug Reich” across his belly, swastikas adorned his shaved scalp. On his forehead, a thick, black, upward-pointing arrow symbolized his willingness to die for his race.

By the time he was 30, Widner had spent a total of four years in jail, accused of murder and other charges, though he was never convicted of a major crime. Victim intimidation, he says, took care of that.  And then he met Julie Larsen.  Like Widner, Larsen’s arms and legs were covered with neo-Nazi symbols — iron crosses, a Totenkopf skull, axes crossed into a swastika, the Nazi salute “sieg heil.” She posted regularly on the Internet forum, Stormfront. Its motto: “White Pride, World Wide.”

And she was active in The National Alliance, a once-powerful white supremacist organization founded by William Pierce, whose writings called for the extermination of Jews and the violent overthrow of the Federal government — and had inspired the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building that left 168 people dead.  But by her 30s, the single mother of four was questioning her racist beliefs. She grew tired of telling her children they couldn’t watch certain Walt Disney movies because Hollywood was controlled by Jews, or listen to rap music, or eat Chinese or Mexican food. After struggling to put an abusive marriage to a skinhead behind her, she yearned for something simpler.  “I just wanted a normal family life,” she said.  And to his great surprise, Widner discovered that was what he wanted, too.

But leaving a life of hate would not be easy when it was all that he had known. And when his past was tattooed all over his face.

Like I said, it’s something that you need to read from start to finish to truly get an understanding of what he went though both physically and emotionally.

And that’s it for this week.  Have a great weekend everyone and I’ll see you back here Monday.

Well another week has gone by which means it’s time for another edition of the ModBlog News of the Week.  After missing last week’s news there’s quite a bit to get caught up on, so lets get going.

Now a few weeks back I linked to a story about parents complaining that there is a Barbie doll being sold with temporary tattoos that is offending some parents.  Well those offended parents must not have been keeping up on the latest Barbie news as they’re only now starting to complain about the Tokidoki branded Barbie.

The Internet is abuzz with the news that a recently released Barbie designed by the L.A.-based Tokidoki brand comes complete with a pale pink bob, stacked bracelets, an annoyed-looking pet named Bastardino (seriously) and, oh yeah, a ton of tattoos on her neck and shoulders.  Media outlets such as U.S. News & World Report and The Telegraph have suggested (with meager evidence) parents are outraged that Barbie has been tattooed. And on television, concerns about the doll’s new ink and its impact on children have been raised on the “Today” show, “Good Morning America” and CNN.

But here in L.A., the folks at the Tokidoki offices are shaking their heads in wonderment at the media frenzy and fielding phone calls in amusement.  It’s a lot of fuss over a $50 doll that has been marked “For adult collectors only,” they say.  “The doll was meant for adult collectors. Only 7,400 were made; it’s only available online,” a spokesperson for Tokidoki told The Times. “It’s not like your kid is going to pick this up at Target.”

The Tokidoki Barbie, which became available for sale Oct. 6, is just one of a series of collaborations that Mattel has done with designers over the years.  On Mattel’s Barbie Collector website, buyers can purchase a Barbie clad in a full leather cat suit designed by Christian Louboutin ($150), and a Countess Dracula Barbie with a deep-V dress that descends to below where her belly button would be, designed by Bob Mackie ($150).

For any Barbie related questions, please direct them to BME’s resident doll collector, and current owner of the Tokidoki Barbie, Jen.

Alright, there’s much more news to come, including a video that has been sent to me over 20 times in the past week.

I’m not sure who came up with the idea, but you would think that even if you tattoo people out of your kitchen or living room, you would recognize that tattooing a nine year old is a bad idea.  Well, someone in Scotland disagreed and now the police have to issue warnings like this one regarding “tattoo parties”.

A warning has been issued over illegal “tattoo parties” after a nine-year-old child was given a permanent tattoo.  In another incident in the Falkirk area an adult gave tattoos to adults under the age of 18 at a party involving alcohol and drugs.  Central Scotland Police has issued a warning over the practice of tattooing children after they had received reports of both recent incidents.

Sergeant Allyson Blair, of the interventions, intelligence and information bureau, said that current laws only allow for under-18s to receive a tattoo to indicate a medical condition such as a chronic illness or allergy.  She added: “The legislation states that it is an offence to tattoo a person under the age of eighteen except when the tattoo is performed for medical reasons by a duly qualified medical practitioner or by a person under his direction.  “Further research is being carried out into the information we have received but we would strongly advise anyone who is carrying out such acts to think of the potential consequences both in legal and criminal terms as well as health implications.”

Speaking of bad ideas, a Wisconsin man was arrested last week after breaking into a tattoo studio in the middle of the night.

Over the weekend, police arrested an intoxicated man for breaking into a North Frances Street apartment and a tattoo parlor allegedly to “get a tattoo on his buttocks” at 1:24 a.m. Sunday morning.  When officers arrived, they found the suspect inside Big Guns Tattoo acting “agitated and confused,” according to the report from Madison Police spokesperson Joel DeSpain.  The report said the man “reeked of alcohol,” slurred his speech and claimed he was at the parlor “getting a tattoo.”

A concerned citizen alerted police early Sunday morning after witnessing the suspect “smash through two glass doors” in the 400 block of North Frances Street, according to a police report.  The citizen who reported the incident said the suspect was outside the tattoo parlor earlier in the evening “yelling something about needing to get a tattoo on his buttocks.”

Police arrested the suspect, 22-year-old Ryan Brennan, on two counts of criminal damage to property, two counts of entry into a locked building and underage possession and consumption alcohol off licensed premises.

For some reason I don’t think he used the word “buttocks” in his late night drunken ramblings.  There was no report on what design he was looking to get.

Police in Adelaide, Australia have turned to local tattoo artists to help find a suspect in a sexual assault case.

The victim, who was attacked on October 19 after the suspect broke in to her Croydon home, has worked with police and a tattoo artist to recreate the tattoo.  The victim saw a tattoo of a woman on her attacker’s inner left forearm.  Police have canvassed up to 30 tattoo parlours and studios across Adelaide in an attempt to identify any men with a similar tattoo.  Sexual Crime Investigation Branch Detective Sergeant Simon Bell said the tattoo was the police’s strongest lead to identify the suspect.  “The tattooist community that we have spoken to has been extremely helpful,” he said.  “We have had a great amount of assistance from the tattooist community where the artists have spoken with our victim, with our assistance, and they have created a likeness to the tattoo that the victim saw on the suspect’s arm.”

If you live in or around Adelaide and recognize this design, the article has a list of contact information you can use to get in touch with the police.

In legislative news, the Welsh government is looking to put in place age restrictions on piercings.  As it stands currently, Wales has no minimum age limits for any type of piercing.

Under-16s would be stopped from having cosmetic piercings without their parents’ permission under a proposal from the Welsh government.  It will consult on whether there should be a legal age of consent for piercings, including to ears.  Ministers fear young people being exposed to problems after being pierced, such as infections.  Health Minister Lesley Griffiths said there had been tragic cases when people had died after being pierced.  There is no minimum age of consent in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for piercing. Under-16s in Scotland need parental consent.  The Welsh consultation will ask whether new restrictions are needed and, if so, how they should be implemented.  In a statement to AMs on Tuesday, Ms Griffiths said: “If a minimum age of consent for cosmetic piercing were introduced in Wales, I would favour setting the age at 16 years.”

If you read the article all the way through, the comments section has some comedy gold:

“Tongue piercings are basically a sex aid, like nipple and genital piercings, and should be illegal for under-16s for this reason.”

The US Military is also looking to change some of their rules regarding modifications, in particular tattoos and manicures.

We don’t often think of strict military standards being decided over Facebook. But several weeks ago Sergeant Major Raymond F. Chandler III posted a proposal on his Facebook wall: do the army standards for personal appearance need to be stricter?

Over the next few months, we will be revising AR 670-1. We are especially looking at Chapter 1, which deals with grooming standards. What parts of that chapter do you want to see changed? Give me your thoughts on earrings for females in ACUs, or if French-tipped fingernails should be allowed. What about tattoos? Do visible tattoos in ACUs (neck, hands, etc.) keep us from being professional Soldiers? Thanks again for all who voice their opinions but remember to keep it professional.

Chandler and his fellow military leaders are looking to tighten up the rules, he told the Army Times. “I believe that we can better visualize to the American people and the Army what it means to be an American soldier than we’re doing now,” he said.

I’m not 100% of the legitimacy of this story simply because it came from The Huffington Post’s style section, and they spent more time worrying about the impact not having french tips would have on women in the military.

More news this week from Springfield, Mo.  As many of you know, the local AGRO chapter has come under fire by some city councilors and are facing the possibility of having suspensions forced indoors.  This week things have finally taken a turn in a positive direction as the local media published a story defending their right to suspend in their own backyards.

It must be our age showing, but we don’t get the Anti Gravity Relaxation Organization’s use of hooks threaded under the skin for suspension in the air. Heck, we don’t even like splinters.  But in any case, we don’t really believe this is such a popular and growing pastime in Springfield that a new city ordinance is needed at this time.  A proposed ordinance would follow the state’s lead and not allow the practice if the state prohibits it. The draft would also prohibit the use of public parks or property.  But the city’s action may have more to do with it being uncomfortable — not just for the practitioners, but observers.  A suspension session held in a nearby private backyard recently prompted concerns by neighbors Aaron and Cathy King. We can understand that it was a problem for these parents. But a bit of rope and some sheets by one party or the other after a brief conversation might have been the immediate solution.

No one is arguing that suspension practitioners don’t have the right to push pointy steel into their skin.  In fact, a quick Internet check finds that this practice of suspension appears to have followers not only in a number of states but around the world. Practitioners reference the spiritual as well as the social aspects to the activity. Addressing the health issues is evidently a real concern of the people involved — though you are still wounding your body.  The issue for us is whether this has reached the level of city involvement. We believe the staff and City Council time should be spent on more pressing issues. If there comes a time when suspension clubs proliferate in the Ozarks or fishing enthusiasts report a shortage of hooks, then it can become a matter of public concern.  Shane Shields, co-founder of the local group, has said AGRO will make some concessions. So for now, we urge AGRO members to be good neighbors. A less conspicuous site would be best.

I’ll continue to keep an eye on this and report back on any new developments.

To those of us that are tattooed, how long was your longest tattoo session?  6 hours?  8?  10?  Well if your name is James Llewellyn that number may soon be 50.

A charity fundraiser is attempting to break a world record – by going under a tattooist’s needle for 50 hours.  James Llewellyn, a 27-year-old call centre manager, will have a large and intricate design drawn onto his leg in a bid to set a new Guinness World Record for the longest tattoo session.  The extensive piece of body art, featuring scenes from the Bible and Milton’s classic Paradise Lost, will be completed by Blackwood tattooist Dave Fleet.  James, who lives in Cardiff, will put himself through the ordeal at the city’s Grosvenor Casino to raise money for Cancer Research Wales – a charity close to his heart.

James, who already has a number of tattoos, but has been on a healthy diet and has gone through hypnotherapy to help deal with the pain of the 50-hour-long tattoo session.  Tattooist Dave, who owns the Abracadabra parlour in Blackwood, has 33 years of experience with a needle, but has never worked on a tattoo for more than 10 hours.  He said: “I’m not nervous yet, but I may be when I’m there. I’ll do it though, no problem and long as James will sit through it.”  Most of James’ tattoo will be hand drawn by Dave, who will have to adapt the designs to fit onto the leg.

Honestly, I can’t even begin to imagine what that would be like.

Alright, for today’s last story, it’s the video that so many of you have sent to me.  Montreal’s Rick Genest, also known as Zombie Boy to many of you, has had a busy year.  After being selected by stylist Nicolas Formichetti to showcase Mulger’s spring collection, he was then featured in Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” video.  Now Rick has become the spokesmodel for Dermablend make-up, which has garnered him even more attention thanks to this brilliant piece of advertising.

And that’s all for this week.  Remember to keep sending me those news articles, and make sure to take lots of pictures this weekend.  Halloween is on Monday and I’m hoping to see some great costume and pumpkin photos!  Have a great weekend folks, and remember to be safe.

Alright, we’re at the end of another week of ModBlog posts, which means its time for the news roundup.  To start I’ve got a bit of BME news for you.  The BME Shop is having a sale on EVERYTHING!  Just use the code 30offbme when you check out and it will be automatically applied.  The sale won’t last forever, so take advantage of it while you can!

Now for the lead story today I’m going to be turning to Misty from Hooklife as she’s already summed up a lot of this issue already.  Basically the Springfield, Missouri chapter of AGRO have suddenly found themselves in the middle of a media circus after holding a small suspension event in a member’s back yard.

AGRO Springfield had selected what they saw as a private location to hold their monthly meetings; the back yard of co-director Kristen Atkinson. Their team chose to hang tarps along the fence to help block the view of neighbors as they suspended, but those in bordering yards were still able to see into the area if they tried. One neighbor, whose wife and daughter were able to see the suspensions taking place, chose to contact local councilman Nick Ibarra, state representative Melissa Leach, and other state agencies with his complaint about what he viewed as an inappropriate act for his family to be exposed to.

From that original interview and news clip, the situation seems to have escalated very quickly; in the last two days almost every news outlet in Springfield has contacted the directors of AGRO Springfield for information, photos, and interviews. It doesn’t seem to have stopped with local news either, ABC News took them time to contact them as well about what is taking place. Luckily for all of us, the directors of AGRO Springfield, with guidance from Rick Pierceall, are attempting to remain level headed and calm throughout this ordeal. They are currently trying to learn more about what the city council members might plan to include in the draft of possible regulations to be written, as well as looking more into what they can do to have a positive impact on this situation. I would like to note that their team did nothing wrong to cause this situation. They had a regularly scheduled meet, in a member’s back yard, where people nearby witnessed body suspension; this very easily could have been any of our teams in that situation.

Here’s the news story that Misty referred to:

Shane Shields can’t tell you exactly why, but he gets a rush out of being pierced through the skin with thick hooks and hanging by ropes in the air – a fringe art known as body suspension. The 29-year-old body modification artist runs a licensed tattoo facility as a day job, but on weekends, he joins other body suspension enthusiasts in a Springfield, Mo., backyard.  But one neighbor insists that Shields and his fellow body artists are traumatizing his children and has pledged to ban the practice so young onlookers don’t have to hear the screams and see bodies drenched in blood.  Aaron King, whose North Main Avenue backyard overlooks the meetings, says that his children should not have to be unwittingly exposed to the practice.  He isn’t opposed to others doing it — he just thinks his two children should not have to witness it, especially his 9-year-old daughter.  “She saw blood dripping from a shoulder blade area and what she said looked like holes,” King told ABC affiliate KSPR. “I don’t know why their right to do this should extend to public open space and force me to keep my children inside.”

“Why people do it differs,” said Shields, who co-founded the Springfield club. “For some it’s the spiritual sense and a kind of enlightenment and others just think it’s fun.”  But King thinks otherwise and has contacted his city counselors and several state agencies with his complaint.  City council member, Nick Ibarra said he agrees with King and told the Springfield News-Leader that he has asked the city’s legal department to draft an ordinance that addresses body suspension.  One child development expert said she stands firmly behind King.  “It’s the equivalent of taking a kid to an R-rated movie because of the violence,” said Dr. Ari Brown, an Austin, Texas, pediatrician and author of several books on child behavior. “But you don’t have a choice when it’s happening in your backyard.”  Young children might experience nightmares or anxiety after witnessing body suspension, according to Brown. “Kids have a little bit of trouble understanding this type of thing — it’s violent and painful and someone is going through something uncomfortable,” she said. “The visual leaves a lasting image in their memory and I don’t blame the parent for being disturbed.”

Now the scary thing about this situation is that it could happen anywhere.  All it takes is one overzealous parent and a politician to force suspension underground.  Keep an eye here on ModBlog as well as Hooklife for any further developments.

Alright, there’s more news to come after the break, including a couple of stories out of Houston, so Texas ModBlog readers, keep an eye out for them.

So next up is an editorial piece that I found in the SFWeekly.  It was published by a staff writer who credits the author as an anonymous tattoo artist in the San Francisco area.  The title is “Ten things your tattoo artist wants to set you straight on”.

Pregnant women will remain un-inked.
I know there are lot of hormones racing around around the body of your typical pregnant woman, but there are serious health concerns inherent in placing a tattoo on that glowing, expectant-mother skin. It’s bad for the baby. Yes, these women would sign a waiver, but we don’t have a waiver for that because we are caring human beings, not horrible, horrible animals.

We don’t sell tattoo equipment to amateurs.
You like tattoos, and you want to try out some Chinese numerals and smiley faces? Well, this isn’t Los Angeles, and we don’t sell to those not professionally trained. I’m not a jerk; I’m just a caring human being looking out for the future of you and your addle-minded friend’s epidermis.

No name-on-name action.
The first time you got “Richie” tattooed on your lower back was a bad idea. Getting “Pete”
tattooed over “Richie” is an absolutely terrible idea. That’s just two names on top of each other. What are you going to do when “Pete” bows out of the picture, and “Stan” steps in to take his place? I don’t even want to think about it.

No matter how many times you ask, your kid isn’t getting tattooed.
Your child is still prepubescent and wants a full back-tattoo of Mickey Mouse fighting Miley Cyrus. Too bad. It is punishable by prison sentence in the state of California to tattoo a minor, and as much as I’d like to lose my license, so your kid can have the Grateful Dead bear on his forearm, it ain’t going to happen. Even if you’re his dad. Even if I speak to your wife on your phone. I. Will. Not. Do. It.

You’ll have to read the article to see the remaining 6.

Although the list is only 10 points, there is an 11th one that should go without saying, but it seems some people need to be reminded.  If you don’t like the work the tattoo artist did on your girlfriend, don’t stab him!

A man stabbed a tattoo artist several times in the area of Columbus Avenue and Cedar Street Wednesday afternoon, then fled on a city bus, police said.

The victim said he did not know the man personally, but had done tattoo work for the man’s girlfriend. The man decided to stab the victim because the tattoo was no good, police said. The victim sought treatment for his injuries at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Houstonites listen up, especially tattoo artists in and around Houston.  There’s been a rash of robberies taking place and the criminals are targeting tattoo shops specifically.

It’s not the cash resigters or even the electronics that are being targeted. It’s the pricey tattoo equipment. We’ve learned of several high-dollar bugarlies at Houston-area tattoo shops.  With a half a dozen artists now working for him, Rene Garcia, is living the American dream.  “I love the art,” Garcia said. “Open up your own business and try to survive.”  In January, he expanded Big City Tattoos to this space on the Gulf Freeway, and this past weekend, his dream was the source of disappointment.  “Having somebody take what you worked hard for, it bugs you, you know? It bugs you a lot,” Garcia said.  The burglar broke in early Sunday morning. Once inside, surveillance cameras caught his every move. When he can’t find the light switch, he grabs what’s close and carries it out. This time, he grabbed a tool box full of $3,000 worth of tattoo machines and supplies.

The break-in sounds very familiar to Cynthia Courtney. The shop she owned on the East Freeway with her mother and sister was hit in July. The loss was so great that their beloved business now has a for rent sign outside.  “If I had to add it up, $18,000 maybe, total,” Courtney said.  They were forced to close.  “We had no other choice, we had nothing left,” she said.  At least one other shop on Westheimer was burglarized this past weekend. A surveillance camera captured a car that looks a lot like the one seen during the Big City Tattoos burglary.  In all three burglaries, specialized tattoo equipment was stolen, leading Garcia to a conclusion.  “It has to be a tattoo artist,” he said.  With the video, he hopes he’s stopped.  “The tattoo game is really small in Houston and everybody know everyone in the tattoo game,” Garcia said. “People are going to recognize his face.”

Another story out of Houston this week involves a new program for juvenile offenders.  In the past we’ve seen programs offering free tattoo removal for gang members, mostly in California, however this program is targeting young offenders specifically.

As Preston walked away with bandages on his arms and leg, a contagious smile was visible. The bandages covered the 11 tattoos he started the process of removing Thursday afternoon, making him the first student from the Montgomery County Juvenile Probation Department to take advantage of free tattoo and scar removal services offered by Body Restore in The Woodlands.  Preston’s last name is not being used in this story because he is part of the Montgomery County Juvenile Probation Department.  “I’m sort of glad I got on probation so I got the opportunity to do this,” the 16-year-old said. “Otherwise, I’d be stuck with these my whole life.”  At age 13, Preston got his first tattoo “because my brother got one and I thought it was cool.”

“This is a tremendous opportunity for these young folks,” said County Court-at-Law 5 Judge Keith Stewart, who oversees Montgomery County’s Juvenile Court. “I’ve seen in the last couple of years many kids come through who have made a decision that impacts them the rest of their lives. Unfortunately they made these decisions at ages 13, 14 or 15, with gang-related tattoos on their bodies. Without a program like this, most would not have the opportunity to get rid of them. Some kids have wanted to have them removed and couldn’t afford it. The fact that Tracie is willing to do this is a huge favor to our society.”  “It’s a way of me giving back,” Mann said. “These are young kids. They make decisions based on a picture they have at that time and that picture changes over time. We’re trying to help them make better lives for themselves.”  Mann, who’s been on her own since age 14, also offers free burn and scar removal to soldiers returning from war, abused children and human trafficking victims.  “I had a real hard life growing up,” she said. “I don’t want any other child to feel that. … People look at you differently depending on the type of tattoo you have.”

To finish off this week’s news we’ve got a couple of stories of people being offended by tattoos.  In the first story it actually led to an arrest of the tattooed individual.

According to reports, Colombian winger Juan Pablo Pino was arrested by the Saudi moral police when fellow shoppers in a Riyadh mall complained about the exposed tattoos on his arms, which include the face of Jesus and other religious symbols. Pino joined Saudi club Al Nassr on loan from Galatasaray at the end of August and apparently was not aware that showing his tattoos by wearing a sleeveless shirt in public would cause him any problems.

Gulf News reports that a Saudi Football Federation official “sent a circular to all clubs asking them to advise their professionals and players to respect Saudi traditions and not show their religious symbols in a way disregarding Saudi customs and traditions” after a cross tattoo on the arm of a Romanian player for Al Hilal caused controversy last year.  It’s unclear whether Al Nassr informed Pino of this in his short time with the club, but he’ll probably be investing in some long-sleeve shirts now.

The article goes on to state that Pino was released from police custody after a team delegate discussed the matter with the police.

The other story about offending tattoos is from the U.S. where parents are upset over the newest Barbie doll.

Parents in the US are furious over fashion doll Barbie’s latest reinvention, which sees her covered in tattoos.  The new “Totally Stylin’ Tattoos Barbie” comes with a set of body art stickers to be placed anywhere on her body.  The set also comes with a tattoo gun so kids can stamp designs on themselves.  Manufacturer Mattel says the tattoos for children are temporary and wash off.  But some parents believe the toy is not appropriate for young children and would not buy the doll.

Jenn Alcayaga, a parent from Sacramento, California, is against the message the new Barbie could send to young girls.   “It’s attracting kids too young to want to expose parts of their body to show off tattoos,” she said.

Mattel isn’t planning on removing the doll, despite the complaints.  Now I may be showing my age, but I could have sworn I saw a commercial for a tattooed barbie back when I was a kid, with the same hearts and flowers tattoos.  Anyway, it just goes to show that no matter what you do, someone, somewhere, will be offended.

That’s it for this week’s news post.  Keep sending in those articles, they’re a huge part of what gets included in the weekly updates.