Tuesday 24 March 2009

Body modification


Tattooing, piercing, female genital mutilation and foot binding

I must admit that i have never thought of cutting nails as body modification, but then again, I've never thought as body modification as being bad. Its down to personal preference, i have tattoo's and for me they are a personal pleasure, for me to look at and enjoy, not to show off like most of the youngsters of today. My tattoo's are out of sight, and i would never have a tattoo on my face or hands. Years ago no tattooist would tattoo the face or hands, but now that's all changing, they must be a lot more desperate for money.
I had not realised there were so many reasons for modifying ones body. I must admit i found some of them distasteful, especially the nullification (removal of sexual organs), and birofication, where the penis is split in two down the middle. All i could think of when watching the screen when these were on is pain.

Tattooing is something i have loved for many years, and i like reading about the history of tattooing. I have a book called '1000 tattoos' by Schiffmacher & Taschen (1996) and it charts the history of tattooing. Its amazing to look at how tattoos have changed over the years, in just the same way as how tattoos are judged by people. Tattoos have come a long way both in design and status since Samuel Reilly patented the first tattooing machine in 1981. I do not feel personally that tattooing is bad, its just a shame that the negatively socially constructed images of tattoo wearers has continued to this day. I like Maori tattooing, mainly because it serves a purpose rather than just being aesthetic as most tattoos are in the UK. Its especially interesting to see how the different parts of the face tattooed in a particular way can show the persons social status or tribe rank. The Maori use sticks with sharp pins on the end which are usually made of bone to tattoo.

Another type of tattooing which i think is interesting is prison tattooing. There are many ways to make a tattoo gun, which although it is illegal to tattoo in prison, besides extremely unhygienic, prisoners all around the world get tattooed. Unfortunately a lot of it is about gang affiliation, usually with racist or ethnic text, and as with Maori tattoos can show a persons status in the gang. Tattoos are also a way of frightening the enemy, and have been used by lots of different tribes and people to make them look aggressive, which people still do today in prison. I can't think of any other reason someone would choose to have half of their face tattooed when they live in Wolverhampton. Tattooing is about expression, so i suppose its whatever floats your boat. There are some interesting websites showing how prison tattoo guns are made:

Piercing is another type of body modification. I borrowed a book called 'The eye of the needle' by Pauline Clarke (1994) and it was definitely an eye opener. I've tried counting how many pieces of jewellery the guy on the left has threw his penis but there is just too many. He must make a right mess when he goes to the toilet!

When it comes to body modification there are some things which i just do not agree with and definitely feel are bad and immoral. Firstly has to be Chinese foot binding, which has been around since the tenth century. I mean, breaking your little daughters feet so they are smaller and will be more attractive to future husbands. I understand its part of their culture (well it used to be, its illegal now but apparently still goes in the rural areas), but isn't it going a bit too far for beauty? What makes it distasteful for me is the fact that the children (usually aged between 4 and 6) have no say in what happens to them, which in this day and age is just cruel. YouTube has some interesting videos about it.

Another one is disagree with is enforced female circumcision. According to the Mail online, see article, FGM, or female genital mutilation, is rife in the UK. This is also done for cultural reasons, but i find it shocking that in some parts of Asia and Africa this is done to very young girls by 'elders' with no medical training or anaesthetic on kitchen tables 'using filthy, blunt knives, razor blades or scalpels.' How absolutely terrible. To justify this practice by saying only 'cut' girls are virgins and that they are truly faithful to Islam is disgusting and a disgrace in this day and age. I just cannot understand how it can be justified, its like treating women as meat, to be kept fresh for her husband. To me, this is immoral and without a doubt bad behaviour. If anybody says this is justifiable they need a slap! Any one who is doing this in the UK should be kicked out. Everybody living in the UK has a right to freedom from this kind of crap, and besides, they should respect the wishes of their host country, which is the UK where it is illegal. The article says this practice is endemic in Norway so its about time the government did something about it. Read the article i have linked above , its really sickening.

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