Body modification

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Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human body for non-medical reasons, such as sexual enhancement, a rite of passage, aesthetic reasons, denoting affiliation, trust and loyalty, religious reasons, shock value, and self-expression.^[1]. It can range from the socially acceptable decoration (e.g., pierced ears in many societies) to the religiously mandated (e.g., circumcision in a number of cultures), and everywhere in between. Body art is the modification of any part of the human body for artistic or aesthetic reasons.

Types of body modification

Explicit ornaments

• Body piercing - permanent placement of jewelry through an artificial fistula; sometimes further modified by stretching
• Ear piercing - the most common type of body modification
• Dermal anchoring similar to transdermal implants, giving the appearance of a small bead on the skin ^[2]
• Pearling - also known as genital beading
• Neck rings
• Scrotal implants ^[3]
• Eyeball tattooing - Injection of a pigment into the cornea.
• Extraocular implant (eyeball jewelry) - The implantation of jewelry in the outer layer of the eye.
• Surface Piercing - A surface piercing is a piercing where the entrance and exit holes are pierced through the same flat area of skin.
• Tattooing - the mechanical placement of ink in the dermis
• Microdermal implants ^[4]
• Transdermal implant - implantation of an object below the dermis, but which exits the skin at one or more points

Surgical augmentation

In contrast to the explicit ornaments, the following procedures are primarily not meant to be exposed per se, but rather function to augment another part of the body, like the skin in a subdermal implant.

• Breast implants - Insertion of silicone bags filled with silicone gel or saline solution into the breasts to increase their size, or to restore a more normal appearance after surgery
• Silicone injection ^[5]
• Subdermal implant - implantation of an object that resides entirely below the dermis, including Horn implants ^[6]

Removal or split

• Male circumcision - the partial or full removal of the foreskin, sometimes also the frenulum--conversely some men choose to take up foreskin restoration.
• Female genital cutting - removal of the labia minora or the clitoral hood
• Frenectomy ^[7]
• Genital bisection - splitting of both the underside and the top of the penis, including Genital inversion ^[8]
• Meatotomy - splitting of the underside of the glans penis
• Headsplitting - splitting of both the underside and the top of the glans penis
• Nipple removal ^[9]
• Nipple splitting ^[10]
• Nullification involves the voluntary removal of body parts. Body parts that are removed by those practicing body nullification are for example Fingers, Penis (penectomy), Testicles (castration), Clitoris, Labia or Nipples. Sometimes people who desire a nullification may be diagnosed with body integrity identity disorder or apotemnophilia. ^[11]
• Subincision - splitting of the underside of the penis, also called urethrotomy
• Lingual frenectomy ^[12]
• Tongue splitting - bisection of the tongue similar to a snake's
• Trepanation, drilling a hole into the skull ^[13][14][15]

Applying long-term force

Body modifications occurring as the end result of long term activities or practices

• Corsetry or tightlacing - binding of the waist and shaping of the torso
• Cranial binding - modification of the shape of infants' heads, now extremely rare
• Breast ironing - Pressing (sometimes with a heated object) the breasts of a pubescent female to prevent their growth.
• Foot binding - compression of the feet of girls to modify them for aesthetic reasons
• Anal stretching ^[16]
• Non-surgical elongation of organs by prolonged stretching using weights or spacing devices. Some cultural traditions prescribe for or encourage members of one sex (or both) to have one organ stretched till permanent re-dimensioning has occurred, such as:
  • The 'giraffe-like' stretched necks (sometimes also other organs) of women among the Burmese Kayan tribe, the result of wearing brass coils around them. This compresses the collarbone and upper ribs but is not medically dangerous. It is a myth that removing the rings will cause the neck to 'flop'; Padaung women remove them regularly for cleaning etc.
  • Stretched lip piercings - achieved by inserting ever larger plates, such as those made of clay used by some Amazonian tribes.

Others

• Branding - controlled burning or cauterizing of tissue to encourage intentional scarring
• Ear shaping ^[17] (which includes Ear cropping ^[18], Ear pointing or "elfing" ^[19])
• Scarification - cutting or removal of dermis with the intent to encourage intentional scarring or keloiding
• Tooth filing ^[20]
• Bodybuilding

Controversy

The head of a man with conspicuous tattoos and other body modifications

Some sources of controversy stem from the notion of attempting to artificially beautify the natural form of the body, often leading to charges of disfigurement and mutilation. Extreme forms of Body Modification are occasionally viewed as symptomatic of body dysmorphic disorder, other mental illnesses, or as an expression of unchecked vanity^[21]. Unlicensed surgery {i.e. the plastic surgery field} performed outside of a medical environment can often be life-threatening, and is illegal in most countries and states.

"Disfigurement" (a subjective term) and "mutilation" (regardless of any appreciation this always applies objectively whenever a bodily function is gravely diminished or lost, as with castration) are terms used by opponents of body modification to describe certain types of modifications, especially non-consensual ones. Those terms are used fairly uncontroversially to describe the victims of torture, who have endured damage to ears, eyes, feet, genitalia, hands, noses, teeth, and/or tongues, including amputation, burning, flagellation, piercing, skinning, and wheeling^{[citation needed]}. "Genital mutilation" is also used somewhat more controversially to describe certain kinds of socially prescribed modifications to the genitals, such as circumcision, female circumcision, castration, and surgeries performed to conform the genitals of individuals with intersex conditions to those of typical males or females^{[citation needed]}.

Individuals known for extensive body modification

• Rick Genest, has had his entire head and torso tattooed so as to appear like a human skeleton
• Pete Burns, had extensive polyacrylamide injections into his lips, along with cheek implants, several nose re-shapings and many tattoos
• Elaine Davidson, the "Most Pierced Woman" according to the Guinness World Records.^[22]
• The Enigma
• Lolo Ferrari
• Julia Gnuse ("The Illustrated Lady")
• Cindy Jackson, had more cosmetic surgery procedures than anyone else in the world
• Katzen ("Cat woman")
• Tom Leppard, formerly considered by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the world's most tattooed man.^[23]
• Erik Sprague ("The Lizardman"), with sharpened teeth, full-body tattoo of green scales, bifurcated tongue, and recently, green-inked lips
• The Scary Guy, his nose, eyebrows and ears are pierced and tattoos cover 85 percent of his body.^[24]
• Lucky Diamond Rich, holds the Guinness world record as "the world's most tattooed person" as of 2006^[25]
• Hao Lulu, extensive cosmetic surgery in 2003 to alter her appearance, tagged "The Artificial Beauty"
• Horace Ridler ("The Great Omi"), tattooed in a pattern of curved black stripes, often described as zebra-like
• Pauly Unstoppable, the first person to get the white of their eye tattooed^[26]
• Stalking Cat ("Cat man")
• Stelarc, got a cell-cultivated ear implanted into his left arm^[27]
• Jocelyn Wildenstein ("Lion Queen/Cat Woman")
• Fakir Musafar, having exposed himself to body piercing, tightlacing, scarification, tattooing and suspension

See also

• Apotemnophilia
• Attraction to disability
• Bioethics
• Blood ritual
• BME, a large website devoted to body modification
• Deformity
• Fakir Musafar, the grandfather of body modification
• Full body tattoo
• Suspension (body modification)
• Transhumanism
• Rhinoplasty

Notes

External links

• The Official Body Modification Organization
• New Zealand Body Modification Community
• Pictures of scarification in Africa - Features by Jean-Michel Clajot, Belgian photographer
• Body Modification E-Zine Encyclopedia entry showing various inappropriate uses of ear piercing instruments
• Body Modification E-Zine article on the Studex System 75
• Church of Body Modification
• The Scary Guy's Website