If you ever read the "Book of the SubGenius" by the Church of the SubGenius, they have a concept in there called affectionately "Shordurpersavs" or "Short-Duration Personal Saviors". Basically, to fully accent the kind of ludicrously self-destructive and self-deprecating "cult" they claim to be, the concept dictates that people should really only hold on to a personal belief system or deity as long as they are making you feel good and getting you what you want, and after that screw 'em and go get another. Now, I have always kind of seen my piercings and tattoos, my mods, in a very similar light. Up until recently I have seen each of my "mods" individually as a separate space/time nugget in my life, a "shordurpersav" of the moment to anchor me or center me to the particular time and lesson therein. However, the permanence of the mod in the context of my body opens this up to a whole lot more... and that's where BME has just recently come in.
At A Glance Author Anoki Contact [email protected] IAM Anoki When N/A Trust me, all of this is getting somewhere... and that somewhere will start right now:
I have been aware of BME for a few years, and have only become a member recently, but in the short time that I have taken on the full extent of the thing, it has totally helped to modify my way of life. I have been infused with a new type of activism that I thought the personal hells of my only-recently-being-shed adolescent angsts made impossible for me to have. I have also met some really great and interesting people with viewpoints and experiences that have opened new areas of thought and consideration for me, and have helped motivate me to make certain important life decisions, such as going vegan, etc., by way of collecting perspectives and information via forums and IM's. I have found in this online resource not only a wealth of knowledge, but friendship, camraderie, a group to be part of - which can seem so important in this separatist society -, and a "genuine" ilk of people... it's the age-old truthful baring of personal proclivities that separate you from "society" as a whole that breaks down a certain level of fear of non-acceptance and/or ridicule among your peers... I'm also sure the fact that being buffered by an online avatar at 56 thru a million kilobits per minute helps shave off some anxiety too.
But, whatever the case may be, what it really has done for me is it has given definition to and collected into a whole all the bits and pieces of my body that I have decorated and stuck metal thru and cut and shaved and "modified". A singular, accepted terminological moniker has been introduced. (I, by the way, like using the term "customized"... it just makes it seem even more personal, even though I still consider it under the rubric of "modified"). It has changed my body perspective from what I cannot control to what I have been controlling unconsciously for so long. And it gives power to the voice when explaining "Why?"... cuz although your answer is totally your own, you aren't speaking totally for yourself.
It's interesting to say that it seems the concept of Bod-Mod has been in my history long before the term was. My mother -a kooky, crazy, recently deceased hippie by the name of Rainbow- was one of those 60's dykes with the names of her lesbian lovers/commune-mates slashed and ink-rubbed into her arms. After a fairly unsuccessful derm-abrasion in the early '80s, she got them covered with some big flash tattoos, and there began a short obsession with getting tattoos all over her body... she probably only had 7 or 8 tattoos, some large, some small... but for a Mom at that time, that was a lot... one of them was even on her face! Other than that, the only other symbols of the life she lead that were carved into her body were very large lumps on her wrists: dermatographic cries for help that signified a person who just couldn't get down with the life this society had to offer.
I, too, learned from my mother's examples early on and experimented with cutting and dyeing my own hair, and in high school I also stated (if only to myself) my disenchantment with society by slashing into my legs and allowing that rejuvenating spring of neuro-transmitters wash away my unhappiness for that very moment. I still have those scars to this day. And then, in the early nineties, the piercings started. First my ears, then my labret... all done with a safety pin. (P.R., baby, P.R.!) From that point on all my piercings and my tattoos have been completely self-referential. I had my septum pierced at a time in my life when I found myself in a variety of "caretaking" situations with other people, and got it to remind me to take care of myself (specifically the healing process) and the pain in the middle of my face served to center me in the cacophony of the time. My nips, my stretched ears, my tongue... each one their own personal reminder or mode of escape or esthetic a dventure... all my own. All of my tattoos are self designed and deal with virtues I am trying to learn or have learned so far in my travels. Some of these tatts I even did myself with a needle and india ink... as I said: P.R., BABY!
Since then my collection of piercings and tattoos has steadily grown, and with the advent of BME I have had a whole variety of possibilities opened to me that I thought were unattainable. Along with this, I have been realizing that even though each of my modifications so far have been their own "shordurpersavs", and were necessary at each particular time, they all form a particular "me"... they recontextualize me both internally and externally when I see them as a whole... as an illustrated map to myself... not just in a self-identifying way, but in a sociologically positioning type of way as well... I am, as is the beloved term in BMese, "Modified", and I too am learning to love it and understand it by the words and examples of others more and more.
Before all I had was tattoo conventions and tattoo mags to make me feel part of a community, but now I am finding new outlets of communication... even if it is just using my mod-proclivities as a jump-off for connections with others on other levels. Cuz, let's face it... we still live in a society where you can't always comfortably just walk up to someone and tell them you like their tatt or their piercings... but in this little inter-space, all of a sudden you can. Good stuff.
Thanks guys!
Don't just modify your bodies, people, modify your whole life.