The title of this article came from a TV show I was watching with my friend. She told me, after hearing it, that it terrified her, because it suddenly made her feel so normal.
At A Glance Author DaughterOfLillith Contact [email protected] IAM DaughterOfLillith When N/A I understood what she meant.
Everybody can empathise with the want, the need even, to define ourselves from our fellow man. And why not? Every human being is unique, both in terms of nature and nurture. Even identical siblings, who are matched by genetic make up, will not develop identically to one another - it's impossible! Life is too subjective to individual experience to allow, even those in the most similar of situations, to develop identically.
But this knowledge alone is not enough.
It's not enough to know that we are different from the person standing next to us; we want others to perceive us as different from them. We may not want their approval, in fact many of us seek the opposite, but we want to be noticed. This need to rely on the opinions of others to verify our individuality may seem shallow, even weak, but that's what it is – a need. Human beings are naturally social creature - one of the few innate abilities of the human child is the 'social smile' used purely to initiate interaction with others - so again, it seems natural that we feel the need to create an image of individuality, to match that which only our own mind can know, so we can share ourselves on a visual level with the world around us.
A good example of this is in youth subcultures (for example the sixties mods, the eighties new romantics, the ravers of the nineties). Here, this need is pursued by the use of social rules - particular dress codes are adopted, music tastes and interests are classified etc. - in order to define oneself from the older generation. Of course there is an obvious inherent contradiction in such a method, in that by prescribing to a set of social boundaries you are of course acting like everybody else who has chosen to abide to the same social contract. Therefore you are the same, if anything cramping your individuality and allowing yourself to be classified. It is, however, the rarity amongst humankind (though such individuals do exist) who doesn't crave a sense of belonging to share with their sense of individuality.
Body modification is another good example of a method turned to in an attempt to be different. And to some extent it has worked. Certainly the further back in history you trawl, the more you can see that, in Western culture at least, modifying your body can label you as an outcast – the amount of people who write about being different in articles and experiences can surely verify this also.
But there is a problem. Just as there is the inherent contradiction in dressing to a certain style in order to distinguish oneself from the crowd, there is a definite problem when everybody decides that the way to be different is through one particular path (such as piercing). It becomes the done thing. And once something is the done thing it isn't different anymore.
This creates discomfort for a lot of people. Somebody who listens to Bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy will no doubt frown upon a Marilyn Manson fan who dresses the same way they do. They feel insulted that people different to themselves are defining themselves in the same way.
It goes without saying that body modification is rising in popularity. It is the minority of females in Western culture who do not have standard lobe piercings. Particularly in the younger generations, at least one small tattoo is commonplace. Eyebrow, nostril and belly piercings are now trendy, with labrets, centre tongues and monroes following suit.
For some this is a depressing thought. I've met quite a few people who have taken piercings out because the feel they are getting too common. They reminisce over the good old days when people nearly passed out over a piece of metal through your tongue. Even I remember when I first wanted a lip piercing at the age of 11 having people react as if I were an absolute freak for such a suggestion; within 5 years, when I was finally able to get the piercing I desired, I had my piercer discussing with me how popular labrets had become since Christina Aguilera sported one in her new video. And yes, this did take away, just a little bit, from how special the piercing felt to me.
But on the other hand, are the complaints of certain members or the modification community (and I know you're out there – I'm not the only bitchy one...) valid ones? To begin, has body modification ever been a successful method of differentiating oneself?
Piercings and tattoos have always acted as a label in some way (a pirate, a prisoner, a punk etc.). In certain, non-western, cultures, modification is used as a way of identifying yourself with a particular social group. Whether accurate or not, modification leads to stereotyping – even in the good old days!
And certainly there are positives to the rising popularity, not least the acceptability of modification in every day life. For example, whilst a large proportion of jobs will be closed to you if you wear visible mods, a growing number of employers are choosing not to discriminate on this basis alone. Also to be taken into consideration is the increase of studios and artists. The competitiveness ripe in any thriving industry means that a growing number of good piercers and tattooists, who push standards up in both hygiene and skill. That "smaller" mods are becoming standard means it is encouraging professionals to develop the less common techniques and modifications, giving rise to new ways of developing yourself as an individual. A prime example is in the rise of tongue splitting – a technique virtually unknown fifty years ago now has a sophisticated procedure being mastered by a growing number of modification artists.
Looking beyond all this, however, I think there is one resounding positive to the growing notion that modification no longer makes you different. I keep thinking back to that BME shirt with the slogan 'I never wanted to be different, I just wanted to be me'.
I love being modified – I wouldn't take out my labret because the girl in white adidas who looks down at me in college has one too. I don't need to because I know I am different to her. And there is a certain satisfaction in the fact that I know I have chosen my modification, not to because I feel it makes me different, but because it is something I want, regardless of whether people will perceive me as different or similar because of it.
So certain piercings are now a common initiation right for cliques in the younger generation, and having a full sleeve isn't going to get you stared at in the same way it once did. But maybe this means we'll think about our modifications more, that we won't modify ourselves on the basic want to be different – we'll modify ourselves to be us.