At A Glance
Author	Vampyremage
Contact	[email protected]
When	N/A

Although the interest has been there for many years, I am still fairly new to the world of body modification, currently having only two dragon tattoos and both of my nipples pierced. Nevertheless, the idea of body modification still holds a special place in my mind and heart.

For years I have been interested in getting tattooed. I would discuss with friends my various ideas for becoming modded, and daydream about the things that I would eventually get done. I admired those people who I saw on television for their beautiful tattoos. For years my dream of getting a tattoo never happened do to the fact that my father forbid it, believing that my body was perfect and beautiful the way it was and although I could understand his point of view, I disagreed with it, and resented him just a little bit for not allowing me to do what I knew would be right for me. Although I never really disliked my body, I just knew that as good as it was now, it could be infanently better if I was only given the opportunity to decorate it with beautiful art. However, since I was still living under his roof, I felt I had no choice but to concede to his wishes, at least for the time being. For the entire time that I lived with him, the desire remained, and shortly after moving out I got my first dragon done.

Although I spent a great deal of time deciding what I wanted done and where I wanted to place it, the dragon meant nothing to me in the sense that I had no personal story to explain why I chose it. It had no deeply personal meaning save that I have always loved dragons and wanted one of my own, nor was it symbolic of some truth that I held close to my heart. I did not equate dragons with honour or strength or much of anything else. I simply liked the look of dragons and wanted to have one of my own. My second dragon was a part of my initial design for my first tattoo and my nipple rings had as little personal meaning as the dragons did. For me, the truly meaningful aspect of my dragon was not the dragon itself, but the getting of the dragon. That is, it was the act of finally becoming tattooed rather than the particular tattoo that I chose which held the true meaning for me.

I have heard people refer to getting tattooed or pierced as a right of passage, and for me, it was. I felt that in getting it done, I was finally becoming my own person. Never again would I be a child with all the restriction that being a child entailed. That part of my life was forever over, something that I would never return to. But my tattoo signified more than simply entering a new stage of my life. It was the concrete knowledge that my body was my own to do with as I pleased. No longer would I have to conform to other people's ideas about how my body should look, and what was beautiful about and upon my body. I now knew that I was able to make decisions about my own body without the approval of others, and although I might still have to conform to the rules of society in all other ways, I now had something that was truly mine.

I knew that after that first monumental step of getting my first tattoo that there would be no turning back. I would never again be able to concede to the beck and call of what friends and family deemed to be appropriate or not appropriate for me. Never again would I allow someone else to force upon me their ideals of what they considered to be beautiful. I could never take away the reality that I was my own person and in control of my body and, by extension, my destiny. The step had been taken, and for good or ill I had entered upon a new path which I had no choice but to see to the end.

I don't know how many more tattoos and piercings I will get done throughout the rest of my life. I can't say which, if any, of them will have more meaning than that I like how they look and want one for myself. I have some kanji planned for the near future that means something to me, but after that, who knows? I do know that each time I get something done I will do it for me and for me alone. If other appreciate it, than I will be happy that they can, but if they can't, then my world will not end and I will be content knowing that what I did I did for myself and myself alone.