At A Glance
Author	Shamus Greenman
Contact	Shamus [email protected]
IAM	Shamus Greenman
When	N/A

There is no easy or in fact nice way to say this other than to say it...we, those of us into and believing in body modification need to get our shit together, as a community, as a practice, as an art form, as a society.

Body Modification, the art of tattoo and piercing have grown and advanced in ways I am sure only a few might have ever foreseen. While both practices are ancient, dating back eons, where they are today, and the reasons people do what they do have changed so much they might not even be recognizable to the cultures that fostered our current community.

>From a simple pierced ear to the most complex brand or cutting or implant, body modification comes under scrutiny almost daily in our society, and the fact that many of the more extreme mods exist and are done in a gray area within but outside the law only compounds the issue.

Add to that untrained, unskilled, and unscrupulous artists, and artists with questionable motives and at times even criminal intent and we as a community are in fact going to become more and more the target and focus of the public microscope, and of law enforcement...and that is a place we don't want to be.

Think of the current situation of Todd Bertrang, being held without bail for practicing medicine without a license based on his agreement to perform genital modifications on two fictious girls aged 8 and 12 in an FBI sting.

Now, remove him, and this situation of minors from the picture, and put in place someone else, a skilled artist, someone who has done genital modifications on females and males before, someone who has done cutting, branding and implants, replace the minor with an adult...and lets do the same sting, or have the same charges...

While I truly believe Todd is the author of his own demise in this case, and his agreement to perform on minors is reprehensible and criminal in nature, I think the laws need to be looked at, and we need to be the force behind these laws being changed, not only that we need to be the force behind companies with no visible piercing rules changing that policy, we need to take action and responsibility for our community and in the end how other perceive and see us.

I understand the allure of body modification in some aspects is the fact that it sets us apart, it makes us less like the norm, less like the other people out there going about their lives day to day...and I know that, in many regards most would think it blasphemous to speak of any type of regulation, training or certification system...but I think we are fast approaching the need for just that.

Stop and think about.

Would you let someone call them selves a surgeon and perform an operation on you, even a "simple" if their education, training and credentials were in question?

I really hope the answer would be no.

So, why let someone perform any type of body modification on you whose training, education and motives can come into question?

To be a successful piercing or extreme body modification artist, it takes time, it takes training, it takes education, maybe not in the traditional sense of the word, but it take time to apprentice and learn the art, in many cases it can take as long as an university education can take. From start to finish, the training from piercing to branding and eventually cutting and implant is akin to medical training...after all you are cutting open a living being and placing objects into them.

If we are allowing someone to do this, does it not, in some small way make sense that we ask for them to be certified, trained and have proof of this training?

Now to the sticky part, a great deal of this type of body modification has taken place within that gray area of the law between legal and illegal depending on where you are, in some cases falling within the boundaries of practicing medicine without a license...

Maybe this is the allure, it is outside the boundaries of society and what is considered safe, acceptable "normal" behavior...but this is also what, in time might come to bring the type of attention none of us really want, or that this community deserves.

Again, looking at Todd Bertrang, remove for a moment his current situation and the reasons behind it, and think about the fact that as far as the FBI, the U.S. Federal courts and governments, and in some aspect the world look at him as an example of body modification, the community and the people as a whole...think that is too extreme? Well, how many times have you heard the story of the dirty cop, and draw the conclusion or belief that all cops are dirty, or are racist? It's a two way street.

I've read experiences on peoples pages of implants gone wrong, and of their fear of seeking medical help because of the reaction of the medical staff...they rather risk infection, or even worse because of the fact that this gray area collides to harshly with societies norms and senses.

Now, what if, we worked together to build better understandings of these procedures, of our desires, what if we stepped out of the gray for just a moment and let the world see that unlike the spin placed on us by some shows, we are not the stuff of side shows, and there is nothing wrong if we are, but show the world that we are cops, and artist and lawyers and a hundred other "respectable" careers, and that we are the side shows, and the students and the future...

I know that, in asking and saying this, I am presenting a big picture, and a big issue that will not be solved over night, it will take time, but, the question is, are we, as a community willing to put in that time, are we willing to remove ourselves from the gray for a moment and force changes on ourselves? Or, are we going to fight this, refusing change and advancement, and wait to have change, and change we might not like agree with or have had any input or say in thrust upon us by a world, a country or a government that does not understand our need to make our bodies our own?

I wish I could say that I have an answer to this question, that I have a plan or an idea or even a clue, but I don't. I honestly don't know what steps to take to get the ball rolling other than to point out the fact that, well, we do need to get our shit together.

Regardless of his crimes, real or false, Todd Bertrang has been persuade by the government and the law for well over a year...now, does this mean only he has pooped up on their radar? Or, more than likely the whole concept of body modification as a whole has pooped up?

Yes, in small ways piercing have become more acceptable thanks to Britney Spears and a myriad of other teeny bopping pop stars...tongue splitting has made it into the spot light, and in time the more extreme rituals of modification will be seen in a more open environment...

But what if, what if we refuse to educate and inform people, what if refuse to push within our own community for rules and certifications, and demand a code of ethics and conduct?

Are we going to continue to just blindly support someone who claims to be a member of our community even if his or her actions are questionable...just because they are "one of us".

It is time we look in the mirror and say hey, enough is enough, time to take steps on our own, time to change how we are seen, and how our lifestyle and choice of expressing ourselves is seen, time that we stop blindly rallying behind people with a questionable motive, or views of modification.

I wish I had a better idea, or some thoughts on how to do all this, and drive these changes, I wish I could do more than just point and say hey be careful, because it is not a long step towards being on an episode of cops as they do a sting on the bodmod community...

If, for a second I've caused you to think, well, maybe then I have done something.