Well, not quite. Isn't there enough bitching about young people and mods? It's about time for something written by a teenager, directed at older people and other teenagers, just for the sake of arguing that not all teenagers are so irresponsible, and hopefully to educate some teenagers on choosing a good studio and getting a piercing that will heal properly with no problems.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact [email protected] When N/A It seems that a lot of adults like to lecture. Sure, a lecture every once in a while is what kids need, it's one of the ways we learn, and there's no problem with that. But constantly seeing the same things over and over gets annoying for anybody, and people should already know that teenagers have a two-minute attention span. If you're going to lecture, at least make it good, and by "good" I don't mean something that you think is good, I mean something that you know we probably haven't heard before and might actually be interested in.
I think it's also something to be called to attention that not all teenagers have badly done mods. I can't tell you how many times I've heard "You're going to regret that" or "You shouldn't do these things to yourself" from older people that have the same things that they don't regret, or have done things themselves that turned out perfectly fine. I have 7/8" lobes, a 7/16" outer conch, four navel piercings, a 0ga. septum, and a 0ga. vertical hood (some of you probably know who I am by now, but that doesn't matter). Do I regret any of these? Not at all. Will I in the future? Never. Were any of them self-done? My lobes were gunned when I was too young to remember and I've stretched them from that, my outer conch was done at 16ga. and I've stretched it from there, my septum was self-done at 14ga. and my vertical hood self-done at 10ga. and I've stretched them both. Do I have blowouts on any of these? No. Have I torn them in the process of stretching? Nope. Hypertr ophic scarring or keloids? None. Have I ever had any problems or even slight infections in any of my piercings, self-done or not? Never. Are they all well done, happily healed and still well taken care of? Yes. The point? Teenagers *are* capable of doing their own piercings and being responsible and safe about it, or having piercings done and taking good care of them. While I'll agree that most teenagers don't know what they're doing and are stupid to do their own mods, and most teenagers have no idea what they actually want, there are those of us that do, and we shouldn't be looked down upon just because we're younger.
I've seen enough rants on here about how much people hate seeing surface piercings done because it makes the artist look good because he or she is capable of doing them, and will do them even though they know the person's anatomy doesn't suit said piercing, or will do them with improper jewelry just to make money. I've seen enough about how bad piercing guns are, or about how annoying it is to see badly done tattoos or scarification, and a lot of it is aimed at teenagers because they're the ones that get these things done (or do them to themselves) most often. But, I have to agree that it's annoying, because immediately, adults assume that all teenagers with mods have had them done at a cheap studio, or did them themselves at home with a safety pin. Personally, I think the teenagers that do these things, while they make people think that all teenagers are that irresponsible, need to do this to figure out what they should and shouldn't do, and if they want to be irresponsi ble, that's their problem, but don't think we're all like that, because we most certainly aren't.
I also have to partially blame it on studios. Too many studios will look at a 13-16 year old kid, ask for a picture ID, birth certificate, or something of that nature, then ask their parent for their ID, then go and photocopy them, have them fill out a few forms, and pierce the kid. If they do this with *anybody* whether they're of legal age and just have to ask for ID, or they're underage and need parental consent, they shouldn't be in business. When I walk into a studio, I ask to see spore test results for the autoclave, I expect the procedure to be explained to me, as well as aftercare, a piercer that will stress that you can call them any time the studio is open and ask questions, or come into the studio and ask questions, if you ever have problems, and I expect to see things opened from sterile packaging...every piercer that I have been to was sure to point out that they were opening everything from sterile packaging and that everything had been pre-autoclaved. If I walk into a studio and give them my ID, sign a few papers, and they drag me to a back room, point to a chair and go "sit down" I know I'm getting the hell out of that studio.
I can't completely blame it on studios, because people should know what to look for before walking into a studio. I'll also say, though, that it is partially our faults. Not "our" meaning teenagers, but meaning people that do know what to look for before walking into a studio, or at least know basic aftercare and such. We see people with badly done mods, and we don't even say anything to them, we just ignore them and look down on them as somebody that is stupid and doesn't know what they're doing. We don't talk to them, we don't try to educate them, we do nothing to at least try to help them make better decisions in the future. We just walk right past them.
I suppose I'll end this before it gets too long (assuming it hasn't already). I suppose this could all be translated into "know what you're doing, stop lecturing young people because you assume we're all stupid, and help each-other out."