Piercings and tattoos seem to be one of the most divisive topics in fashion. Either you like them, and even if you don't have any admire them, or you hate them, and can't understand why anyone would poke holes in their body or in-bed ink into their skin.
My own anecdotal evidence suggests that there is a bit of a generational and gender divide on this. Members of my parents generation, at least the ones I know, seem to be largely anti-piercing in toto and tattoos are for sailors and rebels, therefore not for nice young women. My generation on the whole seems to be more accepting, but I find women are more understanding than men. I'm not sure if this is something deeply meaningful, or if it has something to do with the larger percentage of men who have a fear of needles and blood.
I've been fascinated by piercings and tattoos for a long time. I got my ears pierced (just standard earring piercings) when I was 8 after years of begging. When I was 10 or 11 I got a second set (it was all the rage circa 2000), but a bad reaction to a pair of cheap earrings ended up closing all those piercings. I redid the original 2, and then had them close up after I forgot to put earrings back in after an MRI. Got those re-pierced. At the end of high school I got my second piercings back, and got my cartilage pierced. The latter I eventually let close in college when I started wearing headscarves full time and it just got in the way, even though I loved it. I had promised my mother that I wouldn't get a tattoo until after I graduated, or I probably would have gotten one as a substitute. After I stopped covering my hair, I didn't get the piercing back because I was looking at a wedding in the near future followed by a job search in a bad market. It didn't seem worth getting it back only to have to take it out again.
After I got diagnosed with PCOS last year, I needed to do something for myself. After getting my symptoms under control, I went and reclaimed my cartilage piercing and got my third set of lobe piercings (though they were just barely on my ear lobes anymore). Yesterday, as a reward to myself for passing the qualifying exam I got my fourth set which sit in a little valley in my ear where I have always wanted earrings.
So, why? Why on earth do I like putting metal rods through my ears? Why would I do it other places and in-bed ink in my skin if only I didn't want to upset my husband?
First of all, I like the way it looks. I don't wear make up, and most jewelry gets in my way. Fancy, sparkly tops take too much effort to keep looking nice. Piercings let my ears be silvery and decorated and I don't have to think about it once the piercings are healed. It doesn't matter how frumpy a day I'm having, my ears are shiny.
As an act for beauty, I don't see ear piercing (or tattoos) as being fundamentally different from the hundreds of ways women and men have sought to be beautiful through the ages, whether it's wearing a corset that distorts your rib cage, having overly elaborate hairdos you had to sleep sitting up for, or wearing toxic pigments. Dieting, in all its insane forms, is an attempt to modify the body. There are women in my parents' and grandparents' generations who can't walk flat foot from wearing high heels for so many years. Elective plastic surgery* is the most extreme and gruesome form of body modification, though somehow more socially acceptable.
Secondly, and this is a personal reason, definitely not applicable to other people who do body modification, it gives me a sense of control and power over my own body. I've had a series of long term health issues over the years, each of which made me like my body was in control of me, and not the other way around. Although I believe in psychosomatic unity, there were (and are) times when I feel like a soul trapped in a dysfunctional and rebellious body, that forces things upon me that I don't want. Piercings (along with cutting/growing my hair, etc) are a way for me to reassert that I am in control of my body, to say that *I*, the sentient soul herein, is capable of making choices and directing something about my body because I want to, not because I have to.
Lastly, and kinda branching off my second point, I use my piercings to mark victories. The first time I got my cartilage pierced celebrated the end of high school, most of which I completed from home, because I was unable to go to school, and marked the beginning of college, which I was hoping I would be able to do. It's piercing and my third pair marked the fact that I had come to terms with my new illness, that I had it under control, and could now carry on with my life. This latest set marks a victory of something that had been terrifying me for months, the qualifier. They are like notches in a sword handle, a reminder that I can conquer.
Now, I know that no one who sees me in the street and sees my nine earrings knows any of this. They don't know my deep personal, aesthetic and philosophical reasons for poking holes in my ears. A lot of people tell me they don't really notice, since I don't wear particularly flashy earrings and my hair can cover them. What an observant, random person on the street sees I don't know. I don't dress like a punk or other stereotypical piercer. I also don't know what they think about the fact that I wear full floor length skirts, or that I am only 5 feet tall. Quite frankly, I don't care. I have never dressed to please others (though I do know how to dress appropriately on special occasions), and I don't intend to begin worrying about what people think of my appearance.
~PhysicsGal
*Reconstructive plastic surgery is a wholly different, and wholly admirable beast
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