My parents have always muttered and tutted if I get any piercing, they seem to see them as just being for the sake of getting them, and for fashion reasons. But they don't seem to understand that the pain and aftercare makes getting a piercing (for me) more than just a thing to do to look "cool". Each time the needle pierces my body it leaves a reason in the resulting hole. Yes, I do enjoy getting comments on my piercings - don't get me wrong, I'm by no means the Bionic Man, I only have 6 - and usually they're positive comments, but because I can follow up their compliments with a story and a reason it gives me much more satisfaction.
At A Glance Author Scissorsboi Contact [email protected] When Two years ago Studio Eclipse Studio Location Camden Town - London My first piercing I got over 3 years ago now, August 2005. It was around 3 months after I had come out to my family, and they were finding it hard to accept, and it hampered my 'big news' and freedom I had expected from basically telling the world my biggest secret. When I got, what to me now, is a simple cartilage piercing at the top of my ear, that was when my secret was validated. I went with my friend who I'd told throughout my school years and who understood me, and I called my other best friend who I loved at the time straight after to attach him to my newfound freedom. That piercing to me signals when I became the person I am today, when I loosed myself from my shackles and secrets and showed the world who I was.
My second piercing was my Rook, I went up a year later with my first boyfriend, almost as an extension of the whole original piercing showing my coming out, the second represented the next step in that saga. The fact that he was by my side and also got a piercing that day means that now we're bonded until I let it heal. His love meant the world to me, and to this day we have those self inflicted holes to show for our feelings.
Following on from that was a painful break-ups for me, and I kind of went into reclusion for a few months. One day, and unplanned by myself, we went up to London with friends, new friends and a general party mood, and I got my conch pierced. This one doesn't have a story as such, but similar to the first in it's theme it signalled a turning point to my life. The time when I thought, 'I can get myself out of this pit I've let myself fall into'. To this day it's become my little bit of stress relief, if I feel I can't do something I fiddle with it and think it through until I can, without this piercing I don't know where I'd be, or what my mindset would be!
The next two have two meanings to them really. I had both the top and bottom of my belly done at the same time, I was told at the time that it was brave to go for both at once, but if people can have scaffolding done at the same time, I didn't see why I couldn't handle two on my belly button. The reason for two was in memory of friends I'd let drift away, one I had visited the same piercing parlour with to have her belly done, and the other was her best friend, and for some time mine too - verging on a relationship which never happened. I never like to lose people in my life, and for the sake of getting the same as something they have, it's given me a permanent memory of them. I also saw a Scissor Sisters gig that night - the tickets were sold to me by a lady who was giving birth that day, so in a way the piercing also signifies her new birth.
The final piercing I had a few weeks ago now, it's a small gauge cartilage piercing just above my tragus as far down the cartilage as it can go. It's there as I'd recently told my best friend - the one who I loved when I had my first cartilage - that I would always be there to listen to him should he want it, and we then had a huge argument. The piercing is there as a symbol to him mainly that if he does want to talk he can (magpies being attracted to shiny things, I knew he'd come back and he did), and that from my point of view it's a reminder that he has hurt me before, and the needle used was there to put the emotional pain into physical pain. So, in a weird way it signifies the pain he caused initially, and his healing when he came back later.
I've had all my piercing done in the same place, I don't want to stray if possible as it keeps a basis for my stories, almost like the book that binds them all together. I realise this is all very personal, perhaps too for some people, but I honestly believe that there is a reason most piercings are created, and it isn't just for fashion - whether it's a 16 year old being a rebel, or a 25 year old displaying affection for a lover. This is my story, each piercing is a chapter, and I'm sure should I need to start a new one there will always be the piercing to hold it.
I've been brave and provided my email address in public, so that if anyone who reads this wishes to share their stories with me they can. And I'd love to hear other peoples stories too.