While thinking about body modification we tend to focus only on the physical aspect of it (just like the name itself suggests). We can hear or read about how cool it is to pierce this part of the body or that, how awesome to tattoo this design or the other, how provocative or mind-blowing are implants and how brave and liberating are genital mods. All aforementioned adjectives and many many other ways to describe our mods refer, however, not only to the body but also to the mind. Thus body modification is not only about body but also, or maybe even above all, about mind. Trivial and obvious how it is, most of us do not think about it this way.
At A Glance Author Ania Contact [email protected] IAM deadly pale When N/A I dare to argue, and hope that many of you agree with me, that body modification is much more about mind than body. Below I will try to prove it by means of my own reflections, observations, experiences as well as many experiences I helped review for BME. In short, I would like to show here how, in my opinion, people, by means of their mods and experiences related to body modification, undergo not only a physical change but also a mental one and start perceiving their bodies in a new, different way.
As humans we consist of not only bodies but also minds and, on some levels, there is a huge gap between us as minds and us as bodies. Living in many so different cultures shaped us in certain ways and thus some of us perceive certain aspects of our bodies in certain ways. To make my point as clear as possible I decided to focus on a few elements that undergo a change of perception in the process of body modification and describe briefly the way we perceive them before and after we decide to change our bodies: blood, other bodily fluids, nudity, physical contact, self-acceptance (social reactions included).
Blood plays a very important role in all cultures and there is no doubt that, no matter how vital for us it is, it is perceived in a very ambivalent way. We shed blood, we share it with best friends (although it is mostly a part of the past now), we donate it. Blood is a symbol both of life and death. In many cultures divine blood was shed to save people and their world � Christian God gave up his life to save people and redeem their sins and His blood became a symbol of the highest offer; in Norse mythology Mimmir's blood was an important ingredient of the mead giving inspiration and wisdom; Aztecs used to wage "flower wars" to shed their blood to keep their world, as they knew it, in order. All these old meanings somehow lost their symbolism in the course of centuries but somewhere, on a very subconscious level, blood still holds its power on us and we feel it.
While reading experiences on BME we can come across statements of both being afraid of blood and being fascinated with it. We meet such phrases as "bleeder", "I'm scared of blood" or "I love cutting my body to see blood flowing down my arm" etc. No matter what we think about blood before modifying our bodies, we must acknowledge it during a mod procedure and whatever comes afterwards. A skillful piercer pierces well and trades jewelry in so fast that there is no blood loss at all but it usually appears during healing process and we have to come to some terms with it. Blood is inevitable in some mod procedures (tattooing, cutting, to name just two of them) and even though not all of us fall in love with or become fascinated by it we suddenly notice that there is really nothing to be afraid of or grossed out by. Blood is a part of us, after all, and acknowledging it through body modification is rather a peaceful process. Its presence is a warning or a reason to be fascinated with the power and mysteries of our own bodies. It might (and actually should) make us very careful about making a good choice about a shop we want to get our mods done at but it is also a reason to appreciate it more as it teaches us about our life and health's value and necessity to make a good choice as far as a body modificationist and their place of work go.
Blood holds usually quite a noble meaning in most cultures but this cannot be told about other bodily fluids our bodies produce. Even though folk medicine knew ways of putting such bodily fluids as urine to a good use, most of us are rather disgusted by things our bodies produce on daily basis. Piercing certain parts of human bodies, however, makes you get to know and accept this grosser side of yours.
Those of us who have such body piercings as septum, various genital piercings, tongue web piercings or stretched lobes know well how important cleaning them on regular (daily) basis is. If not taken care of properly, such piercings change for worse and become a cause of various problems. At first cleaning them might be hard, especially if you are a very sensitive person that is grossed out easily but the farther down the road of having a given piercing, enjoying it and sticking to your daily cleaning routine, the more used to this very physical aspect of you you get and the harder it is for you to feel disgust.
Many people are aware of this change of perception they undergo and this shows in their experiences. In some experiences about hood piercing their authors write about cleaning their new piercings with urine as, allegedly, it has a beneficial effect on wounds. They usually add some comments about how disgusting such a suggestion it might seem but seeing as it suggested by their piercers or how well it worked for them, they are all for recommending such a use of this fluid produced by our bodies.
These with pierced septums know how crucial is cleaning their piercings and jewelry on daily basis to prevent the build of mucus around jewelry and a very unpleasant smell. Now, mucus is not something most of us perceive as something to have to do with but, in case of our piercings, it is something we must to deal with on daily basis. Something that is so gross at the beginning becomes, however, a part of our daily routine after a while and, even though we certainly do not become fascinated with it, it stops being something we pay much thought to. Again, it is something our body makes, for various reasons, and something we have to deal with to make our piercings clean, healthy and happy (and to make ourselves happy).
The same goes for all other piercings as, no matter how much "funk" they produce, we have to make sure to remove sebum, lymph, "crusties" etc. from our piercings for our own sake. Thus we discover something new, although not very pleasant, about us and learn to "tame" our disgust towards this side of our bodies.
Another factor we have to take in consideration before going for modifying our bodies is nudity as certain procedures require removing clothes and displaying certain parts of our bodies. Not all people feel comfortable with this and it also shows in experiences. Some people do not like their bodies at all for various reasons (they are too overweight, too skinny, have scoliosis etc.) Feeling ashamed of the way our body looks, however, is only the first layer; what we are more concerned about is that being naked means becoming vulnerable. Also, our culture and values imposed on us teach us that being naked in front of others, or even being naked while being alone, is not a proper thing to do hence we feel quite uncomfortable while doing it. What shows in experiences over and over again, however, is that once overcoming this initial embarrassment we tend to feel more at ease and many of us comment on how our piercer or tattoo artist made our experience great. It is not like one such experience can change the way we feel about our bodies or being naked but it certainly shows us that there is nothing to be afraid or ashamed of; that it is okay to enjoy our bodies, no matter what they look like or what our culture tells us.
Physical contact is another element of a mod experience. It is true that our artist is gloved all the time and does their best to not touch anything to keep the working area as clean and sterile as possible but being touched is unavoidable. Some of us don't like to be touched at all; others' personal space is quite narrow and broaching it makes them feel extremely uncomfortable; finally, there are also these who love being touched and feeling the presence of others. During the modification process you must be prepared for personal contact and there is a big chance that you find it quite comforting � a contrast between cold steel and warm body of the person who holds the tool brings some comfort but also gets you to a different level. Suddenly the human touch becomes good, positive (unless you are unfortunate and come across someone who is not a professional and would like to take an advantage of you but that is an entirely different question and, luckily, does not happen too often!).
Being modded means, however, that you should also expect that other people will approach you on the street or in the club and they will touch you without asking, to see if your mods are real. In such a case you need to learn how to control your emotions and deal with the inquisitive for whom you are not a human being but rather a walking curiosity. And this leads us to another aspect of body modification, this social one.
We can believe that we get our modifications done only for ourselves and we do not care what others think about it but we can not cherish any illusions as to the fact that others will not tell us what they think about us. Whatever is the change you undergo, no matter how extreme it is, it is certain that you will hear a few words about it from others. "That's cool, man!", "stupid, really stupid!", "oww, that's soooo beautiful!", "so what it actually means?" � possibilities are countless. Some people will change their mind about you and you will look different at others. Also here body modification will affect your life.
In the past few weeks the author of this article heard two entirely different opinions about her. An elderly woman looked at her and almost exclaimed "what did you do to yourself?" while another woman, slightly older from the author, said "I wish I could look like this." I am convinced that many of you heard or will hear similar comments many times. At such a moment you come to wonder, even if briefly, whether your decisions about modifying your body this certain way were good or wrong. It is probable that over the course of time, while getting more and more work on you done, you will come to accept your body just the way it is, with its anatomical flaws, traits typical only for you, good and bad points. If your self-acceptance grows, you will feel stronger and more beautiful in your own, self-chosen way, with every new day. Unfortunately you can also realize that you are not as strong as you thought and you will begin to see that your mods, or rather reactions caused by them you get, become unbearable and you will start hating them and, as a result, hating yourself. I do not know this feeling (and I do hope I never will!) but I can imagine that it must be terrible.
You say "I love the way it looks and that's way I'm doing that" and I think it is fine! You say you are getting it for spiritual reasons and you make me interested! You say each and every mod of yours symbolizes something and I wish I could learn something about it. You say it hurts � I know and love this fact! The only thing I wish we all could keep in mind at all times is that getting something done (and even successful healing it) is just the beginning of the process. No matter whether it is a navel piercing or a tongue split, a lower back tattoo or a full sleeve, it will change you not only on the outside but also on the inside. The real fun is just about to begin � changing not only the way you look but also the way you feel and perceive yourself and the world around you!