My Findings on Body Art and Modification

A woman arrested months ago for piercing her own cats was sentenced to house arrest recently, a little light of a sentence in my opinion. Also, the judge did let her keep some of her animals. What is going to keep her from doing it again I ask. But that is not the point, was this animal cruelty. I have written about this before but I am still iffy on the subject.

On one side, the cats where her own animals. Also, she was not hurting the animals and being a groomer she knows how to handle animals. Was she wrong to pierce her cats?

On the other side, she was trying to sell the cats as “Gothic Kitties”. Also, she had other arrests on her record such as heroin use on her record. Which leads me to wonder, was she under the influence while piercing the cats? This could have affected her ability to think clearly and perform a proper and safe piercing.

I, personally, do not agree with what she did. Especially when I found out about how she tried to sell her pierced cats. That was taking it a step to far. But she has lost her grooming license which serves some justice.  Giving her house arrest and some of her animals back might not be the best idea. But that is just my opinion. What do you think? Let me know in a comment please.

For more on the story click here.

In August of 2008 a thirteen year old girl walked into a Panama Beach Department store and was able to get an upper ear cartilage piercing with no parental permission. While this is not good that minors are able to get pierced as they please in this store that is not the issue.

The girl claims she that only was she not asked for parental permission, but was also not told how to care for the new piercing. By the time she returned home from her vacation she had an infection so bad she had to spend two days in the hospital and has permanent ear disfiguration. Her family is trying to sue the store for medical expenses and damages for the girl’s pain and suffering that apparently she still deals with to this day when she looks at her ear and cries.

But, besides for piercing a minor without parental consent, the store should not be responsible for covering her medical expenses and giving her money to ease her emotional suffering. While she was only thirteen at the time, she still should have recognized something was wrong when an infection started to develop, her parents should have also noticed. For a two-day hospital stay the infection and the pain must have taken some time to develop. I feel bad for her but she should not get money out of the store due to be young and foolish.

More information and pictures of the “horribly” disfigured ear (it is really just a small bend in the cartilage) can be found here.

With any modification to one’s body there are risks involved. But besides the physical ones such as infection or rejection there are others which we usually overlook, such as divorce, bra straps, and psychiatric commitment, among others. The BME encyclopedia risks site has information on almost all of them.

For divorce one man talks about losing a custody battle for a few mod related reasons. The judge deemed him unfit for full custody  after hearing about his voluntary castration thinking that his wife had made him do it and that made him weak. Also, his wife had a shrink tell the court he forced her to get body piercings. Just another thing to keep in mind during a divorce.

Some people may think of you as certifiably insane after an extreme body modification. Then they just may have you hauled in for psych evals up the ying  yang. But chances are they won’t find anything and you’ll be free in 72 hours.

In the bra strap category they warn people about bra straps snagging on new tattoos or piercing and suggest going braless or wearing some sort of padding or cushion under the strap until healing is complete. They also advise to be careful of children around any modifications they can pull on or grab at such as stretched ears or transdermal implants.

For more risks click here

Everyone always wants to try anything to try to get a piercing before they turn 18. They think they can easily hide a piercing. Young people think they can just find someone who pierces at home or a friend to pierce them, or they might even just pierce themselves. All of these can lead to infection and messed up holes.

But the real trouble is young people going to non-professional piercers.  In Portsmouth, NH there are reports of minors getting body piercings from piercing people out of a residence, illegally, but also sexually assaulting at least one minor that was a “customer”.

Besides for messed up piercings and infections this is the real trouble. Kids are going to anyone they hear will give them a piercing thinking what harm can come from someone giving them one hole, maybe an infection at the most. They don’t see the danger of what could happen with these non-professionals.

Crazy pedophiles piercing minors is actually making it safer for kids to pierce each other in their bathrooms while their parents are at work. Or better yet just wait until they are 18 or have parents’ permission.

Maybe more parents will give consent to piercings after hearing about this. I am not saying kids shouldn’t have to wait, but piercings, with the exception of stretched holes, can be taken out and close back up quick when a person no longer wants it.

Here is the article I read from the Boston Herald

Hearing aids are usually seen as devices for those with hearing impairments and are not one bit fashionable for people. As technology advances they are becoming less and less visible. But also, instead of making hearing aids less noticeable there are also ideas for combining them with other things. As the young become old, hearing aids are adapting to have the potential to be more than just something that you rely on to correctly hear sound.

This new idea puts a hearing aid in an ear stretching plug and has a tiny wire running into the wearer’s ear. Some people might think this is crazy, why would someone with hearing complications, someone who is most likely older, want to stretch their ears? But as younger generations who practice ear stretching get older and develop hearing issues they are not going to want to seem so old. Modern technology is allowing them to hold on to their youth and their ability to hear. Besides 40 is the 20 and hearing complications will be more likely to develop then. Also, for young people with hearing impairments, this will be something fun for them and they will feel more included than ever and can be called freaks like everyone else by those who disagree with ear stretching.

For more information check it out here at Design Studios

Hindu Festival of Thaipusam is more than just a music and prayer festival. Ritual body piercing also occurs during the festival that takes place under a full moon to pray to Lord Murugan for a year of good health and peace. Thaipusam is celebrated in Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and other various parts of the world sometime in January or February.

While piercing is not mandatory, more extreme worshippers will get pierced while in a trance like state.  Hooks and skewers will normally be used for jewelry. One of the main events is said to be over the top worshippers pulling chariots or other heavy objects with their piercings. Most people will just pierce cheeks or tongues to affect their speech so they can concentrate on worshipping.

I bet she's a deviant haha

I just read this article about a recent study that claims people with 2 or more tattoos or piercings are likely to be deviants. I am not making this up; I wish I was because it’s almost funny. With my three tattoos and plans for more, according to this I am high as a kite, drunk, and should be finding someone to cheat off  of for my next test.

Performed by Texas Tech University, the study states that those of us with two or more tattoos are likely to partake in deviant activities such as cheat on tests, use drugs, and abuse alcohol. I remember in high school seeing plenty of people cheat on tests and not one of them had a single tattoo, let alone two. Most of the “deviants” I know live on a deviant budget and cannot afford tattoos and piercings.

The study surveyed students at two state colleges and two religious universities with tough enrollment processes. 37% reported to have one piercing, and 4% reported to being tattooed. I feel that this survey is quite likely to have gotten incorrect results. Not everyone is always honest about their involvement with drugs, alcohol, cheating, tattoos, and piercings. I think everyone has lied a little on a survey before.

Then, if someone was bad enough to have *gasp* 4 tattoos and maybe even a nipple or genital piercing they were twice as likely to report to marijuana use. Plenty of people get 4 tattoos or a genital piercing and never touch pot.

I think that people with more tattoos are more confident in their “deviant” activities than those without tattoos who may not admit to doing certain things. Way more people do drugs, drink booze, and cheat on tests than have multiple tattoos and piercings.

Most body piercings came into popularity in the 1970’s and 80’s, but Monroe piercings have only been around since the 1990’s.

A Monroe piercing is an oral/facial piercing that is above the side of the upper lip. It is named for its resemblance to beauty marks, such as the mark that was on the face of Marilyn Monroe. It can also be called the Madonna. It is traditionally a female piercing but it is not out of the ordinary for men to have it done. However, men are said to have a slightly more painful experience due to more frequent shaving of the upper lip.

The piercing heals in just a few weeks usually and is done in 14mm-18mm gauges. It is not out of the ordinary to see a person with double Monroe piercings; this is normally called Angel Bites. While healing the piercing should be treated with facial and oral piercing care.  Infection and mouth damage are common with a Monroe piercing.

Birthdays are awesome days for getting new tattoos. I, like many young people do, celebrated my eighteenth birthday with a tattoo a few years ago. I also celebrated my last day of high school with a second tattoo a few months later, but that isn’t the point.

What is the point? That birthdays are one of the best days to get tattoos. I am hoping to receive enough money for a new tattoo or something cool like that, but tattoos cost money and I do not want to get my hopes up. But I have rounded up some spectacular tattoo, piercing, and body mod pics for you all.

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Is this picture of a pierced fish an example of animal cruelty? Is it really obscene and horrible to the animal, because they cannot speak up and refuse to be pierced from their owner?

Is piercing a fish any different from when a farm animal has a tag pierced through their ear, like this cow? Also, is it worse than cropping pet’ ears, removing its dew claw, or neutering it?

Piercing a fish seems just about the same, if not better than, some of those animal modifications.