I've always had a thing for body mods.
A lot of it has to do with punk rock, of course. As an adolescent, I drooled over pictures of punks with cheeks, lips and earlobes riddled with safety pins. More recently, when I watched “The Decline Of Western Civilization” (an excellent, if hard to find, documentary about the LA punk scene), I was thrilled by the scene where the members of X give each other “stick-and-poke” DIY tattoos. And one of my minor goals in life is to obtain a genuine Germs Burn—a cigarette burn on the wrist that Darby Crash originally gave to members of his fandom, which can only be passed on by somebody whose burn comes in a direct line from Darby himself.
Of course, it also has something to do with S&M. Piercings and tattoos don’t just look pretty, they are a badge of courage and a testament to pain tolerance. But then again, everyone has them these days, proving, perhaps, that even the most lily-livered conformist is willing to suffer for fashion. Your average pervert, too, has a craving for pain that, if satisfied through body mods alone, would quickly leave them entirely covered in ink and surgical steel, hence the prevalence of play piercings and other non-permanent alternatives.
Ultimately, though, I think my fascination with body mods might have even more to do with being trans. Drastic, permanent physical alteration via hormones and surgeries is an important goal for many of us. But transgender surgery is prohibitively priced, transgender people as a population are underemployed, and, well, a piercing is not the same thing at all, but it costs less and, in the meantime, reminds us that we do have some measure of control over our bodies. Everyone has the right and the freedom to ornament themselves and thereby become more beautiful in their own eyes.
My lover, who is also transgender, shares my interest in body modification, although they have a mild horror of permanent piercings, having seen a few too many forcibly ripped out. But for a party this weekend, they eagerly consented to temporary ear piercings. A friend of ours did their make-up and hair, then conducted the piercings with 18-gauge needles, rubber gloves, and a lot of alcohol swabs. The pearl earrings completed the rather conservative look my lover was going for perfectly.
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