At A Glance Author redd Contact [email protected] When N/A "I never wanted to be different. I just wanted to be Me." - from a BME T-shirt.
Pride? Yes, I'm modified and proud. I'm proud of who I am, what I've done and what I've overcome. And yes. I'm more than a little proud of my modifications. But only because they are part of what makes me, well... Me.
If you look carefully, there are many more "Modified" in the world than people tend to think. Your average person is blind to what is considered "safe" mods: Gold or silver lobe studs & earrings, gunned at the age of 12 or 13 by a virtually untrained shop assistant. But this isn't a rant about Piercing Guns. It's about living and working as a Modified person, and the rights that we "enjoy".
Visible & public modifications are becoming more and more mainstream, practically by the day. When we see celebrity teenage pop stars, the Beautiful People of Hollywood and generally those outside of the usual pierced and tattooed group of Punk & Rock bands and so called bad boy actors, getting bigger and more visible tattoos, "non standard" piercings and the like, we as the body modification community seem to be having mixed reactions.
One positive side is what was once was, if not a taboo activity, but a frowned upon one is becoming less of an issue with the masses of modern society. It's less of a "freakshow" for them, if you like. Although after saying this, there is always a flip side: more people are seeing piercings and tattoos as disposable fashion items, with often little or no regard for aftercare or respect for their own body let alone the piercer or tattoo artist (let me quickly clarify: I do not mean all mods done on the spur of the moment, or done for purely decorative reasons. Just ones that are un-educated and/or disrespectful).
I understand that to many of us, a piercing or tattoo is something that is just for show, and to look good. That is a large part of what Body Modification is. To make our bodies, faces and selves look in our eyes better than it did. Not everything has a deeper meaning in life: some things are face value. And the modified community is no different.
So, we have established that what once an activity that was not "normal" (in society's eyes), is becoming more commonplace. In previous articles here on BME, I have read that "We are a self made minority". We will always be one but as a minority, our numbers are growing and quickly. It would be interesting to see a survey completed by Modification artists, and practitioners showing the percentage of "virgin" customers compared to Mod veterans. I was going to write that we'd be surprised. But we probably wouldn't, you know. I bet the numbers are higher than ever before.
Which moves things swiftly on. If there are more Modified people than ever, and it is becoming more obvious to the un-modified masses and (some of) the Media that we are not all the degenerate, illiterate, sociopath that traditional stereotypes portray; how is this REALLY affecting the life of Professional people with modifications in the workplace?
A quick look at my co-workers around the office is very enlightening. A few have openly visible tattoos on hands and forearms. Many others have the telltale signs of slightly more hidden tattoos: flashes of colour showing under shirtsleeves, tribal bands round ankles peeking under trouser legs. Kanji just visible through the back of a white shirt. My facial piercings, and old piercing scars. More than a few men and women have pierced ears.
I work for a medium sized software company, with programmers, graphics teams and writers; so it's a pretty creative place. This possibly accounts for a higher percentage of modified people, as in the UK the Design Industry is well known for being creative, pierced and tattooed. But possibly not. Is this an accurate cross-section of the population, Modified and not? I'm not sure...
If the numbers of pierced and tattooed people in the workplace are increasing, we have to think about how this is effecting our employer's decisions and Company Policies. Are the days of "No visible Tattoos" in small print at the bottom of our contracts, on the way out? It's not in my contract. Not even a mention of tattoos or piercings. So as the social climate changes, do companies have to re-think in order to gain the skilled staff they need?
It still seems to be a grey area. We could push for Discrimination in the Workplace, if it came to that. But that won't always wash. Its not like it's a case of Racial or Sexual discrimination. We are a self-made minority, after all. There is very little information on the Internet that is easy to find and readily available to the general public on the rights of the Modified in the workplace. I'm not surprised.
On a more positive note, as our employers average age gets younger, nearer to our own (even sometimes younger), negative & outdated social opinions and prejudices should in theory become less of an issue. They too might even be modified themselves. But we cannot count on such a possibility. Until proper laws, rules and regulations that PROTECT our rights and are widely known, respected and adhered to are commonplace; it might be long shirtsleeves and PTFE Retainers for a few years yet.
The question is whether society is beginning to be more accepting of these modifications and we who get them, or if it is merely becoming de-sensitised to it is yet to be answered.