This, orginally, was a paper I wrote for my AP pychology class.
At A Glance Author Trisha Contact [email protected] IAM Trisha_ When N/A Every year, there are millions of people who undergo different types of body modification whether it is a tattoo or breast augmentation. By definition, body modification is anything that changes the physical appearance of a body. For the most part, society's general reaction to a nose job or breast augmentation is acceptance. You are not going to have to remove either of these for a job interview. However, that is not the case with body modifications such as tattoos, subdermal implants, and piercings. Therefore, I will focus on modifications in the latter category since that is what the term "body modification" usually is referring to. For the most part, society's views of those modified individuals are negative.
This past summer I spoke to a family friend, Pam, who worked at a McDonald's in Ohio. She was very distraught over the fact that she had been fired. Pam had been working at this particular McDonald's for at least three years when her manager called her in and told her that she either had to take out her piercings or she no longer worked there. On the surface, a person may think that what the manager did was perfectly fine. However, Pam was hired with the piercings she had which were pierced lobes and a tongue piercings, and the most recent was her nose piercing which only had a small stud in it. Sure, he has the right to have rules regarding its employees. However, these rules were not enforced for all employees, just her. Numerous younger employees also had piercings and large gauge ear piercings. The manager's justification for this rule only being made for Pam was because he believed that she needed to be a "good influence" to the younger employees.
By this particular McDonald's manager saying that she had to take them out to be a "good influence" for the younger pierced employees is giving a message that piercings are wrong. This plays into the stereotype that only bad people have piercings or simply that piercings are just a phase and the people with piercings will 'grow up' and take them out. This shows that the manager feels that those pierced are either immature or bad people.
Much of society makes assumptions about modified people before they have even met them. For instance, on the show, "Trading Spouses", one of the women moved into a house where the family was tattooed and their younger son had facial piercings. Before she had even gotten to know the boy she had said, "He's interested in piercings, tattoos and scarification. Obviously, he's on the wrong path in life." This woman came to the conclusion that because this boy had facial piercings, he was doing something wrong with his life (Manganello p. 2).
Along these same lines, many people seem to think that those who have body modifications are low-lives that will do no good in society. Bill O'Reilly is one such man who makes this accusation. He often puts those tattooed and pierced with groups which are violent, antisocial, illiterate, along with numerous other qualities and therefore, will never make a contribution to society (Sprague p. 3). According to a poll done in the late 1990's, a majority of the people associated "body modification" with rebellious, immature, experimental, and freakish. However, only about twenty percent of those polled associated it as artistic, normal, or stylish. This poll helped show how society as a whole stereotypes those with body modifications (Schaller p.5). Erik Sprague, who is well known as, "The Lizard Man" disproves this stereotype. He has been modifying his body for over ten years to resemble a lizard. He travels around the United States doing side show acts such as sword swallowing, however, this man also graduated from high school, has a degree in Philosophy, and has a regular column on BMEzine, which stands for Body Modification E-zine. This man, who is almost completely tattooed, has his tongue split, and has numerous subdermal implants, yet he is very successful and doesn't regret what he's doing. Right there, he disproves the stereotype that those with body modifications won't get anywhere in life and be a burden on society (Sprague p.8).
For the most part, although society may be opposed to body modification and even be outright rude to those with them, most won't be a threat or cause trouble for a modified person. However, when one man was in a terrible motorcycle accident, the hospital's few prejudice employees could have made his situation end up much worse. A man named Henry was in an accident in 1985 and suffered cracked ribs and vertebrae, ruptured spleen, along with numerous other internal damages. He noticed as he was slipping in and out of consciousness that the doctors and nurses tending to him seemed more concerned with him taking out his body jewelry than trying to save his life. A few years later at a party, a nurse started talking to him when she found out he was an editor of a tattoo magazine. She told him about an accident at the hospital dealing with a badly injured man. The staff wanted to leave the man to die on a trolley. He had facial piercings so they had assumed that he was part of the gay sadomasochist culture and therefore probably had AIDS. The only thing that saved him was a surgeon that intervened and made sure the man was helped. The nurse hadn't realized that the man left to die was who she was talking to (Schaller p.2). The staff at the hospital saw the man so they assumed many things about him that may or may not have been true. An occurrence like this shows how another person's prejudice can end up being deadly.
American society has viewed tattoos in a negative way ever since Captain James Cook discovered them in Polynesian and Hawaiian cultures in the late 1700's (DeMello 45). From the 1700's until the 1900's American societies have put tattooed people on display as part of Freak Shows in circuses. These tattooed people were right next to people with physical abnormalities and disfiguring diseases. By the 1920's tattooed woman were the big attractions. People had been seeing tattooed natives, who they considered "savages"; it was strange for American Society to be seeing their own white women with tattoos (DeMello 53-55). Other than sideshow attractions, the only other white people with tattoos were the sailors. Too many, sailors were seen as these tough bad guys that no "non-sailor" wanted to be associated with, and they certainly didn't want to be associated with the tattooed lady! The only people that society had been exposed were people that they saw as lower than them and therefore wouldn't want to be associated with them.
As society began to accept tattoos, more types of body modifications emerged. As more types emerged, more prejudices emerged. Today, some of those modifications are body piercings, scarification --making scars by either branding or cutting the flesh--, transdermal implants --an object placed partially under the skin with another part sticking out--, and subdermal implants --objects, usually metal or plastic material, placed completely under the skin for a raised pattern effect--. Practices such as piercing and scarification derived from African and Asian cultures which use these practices as a mark of status. However, in Western cultures, those same practices are seen as savage and in early times, even mental illness.
Another common occurrence with those opposed to body modification is making claims that are completely false and sometimes even to the point of being completely ridiculous. Some such claims are that half of all body piercings become badly infected and require medical treatment. Millions of piercings are done each year; if this was accurate, piercing related treatment would be the most common hospital visit. This, it definitely is not (Larratt p.6). Another such claim is that tattoos are hazardous to ones health because the ink is made of car paint. It is true that some of the same dyes are used to make both car paint and also tattoo ink; however, those same dyes are also used in foods and medical products (Larratt p.5). Those opposed to body modification want to stop it as soon as possible and will try just about anything to have this happen.
Some of those opposed to body modification aren't making false claims. Some are simply against body modification because of their religious beliefs. For example, with Christianity, in the Old Testament, according to Leviticus 19:28 God said, "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord". This statement doesn't need much of an explanation, because what it means is exactly what it says. However, one must note, even some of the most devoted Christians have tattoos of religious symbols. Up until recently, those believed that having any body adornments besides a small earring would incur the wrath of God upon them (Schaller p. 8).
One thing that people tend to forget is that so many people have different forms of body modification. It isn't just the "low-lives" that are getting tattoos or the "rebellious" teens getting piercings. There are people in every culture and every career with different body modifications. Some of the people that much of society views as heroes such as policemen, firefighters, and doctors all have body modifications. I can even recall watching 20/20 many years ago and seeing an interview about scarification and college professor who had it done on his face. Erik Sprague, who writes many articles on body modification, tells about a doctor who has a tattoo of a large dragon holding a heart --right where his own heart would be-- on his back. Doctors are very successful people and save lives, and some of them have tattoos (Sprague p. 5-7).
A person can't go anywhere without encountering a person who has some form of body modification because it is in part of society and present in every career. Body modification is becoming part of society and the prejudice some have towards it will only hurt society as a whole. The fact is, bad people aren't the only ones getting body modifications like some people would like to believe. If people would set aside their perceptions of who used to get tattooed or what kind of person gets a piercing, they might see the positive in it.
Works Cited:
DeMello, Margo. "Bodies Of Inscription: A cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community" Duke University Press, 2000.
Larratt, Shannon. "Ban it all!". July 17, 2003. Toronto, Ontario. http://www.bmezine.com/news/pubring/20030717.html
Mangenello, Kristin. "Pierced and Fierce? I don't think so". February 3, 2005. http://www.dailytargum.com/media/paper168/news/2005/02/03/opinions/piercing.and.fr...
Shaller, Miah. "Body Modification in Society" September 28, 2002. http://miah_schaller.tripod.com/body_modification_in_society.htm
Sprauge, Erik. "Bill O'Reilly Fears The Lizardman". July 27, 2004. Austin, Texas. http://www.bmezine.com/news/lizardman/20040727.html