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Body Modification

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Bloody Angel:
Preliminary remarks: there might and will be many errors, due to many reasons. I beg for mercy on me, mostly from the scary editor. I don’t even know if this is the right forum for this post, but I really couldn’t seem to find a fit one, so I let “Say It” be the one.
Dialogue out of X-Men 2, the movie you can blame for the following rambling and raving speech:
Storm on Nightcrawler’s scars: What are they?
Nightcrawler: They're an angelic language passed down to the human race by the archangel Gabriel.Storm: How many?Nightcrawler: One for every sin, so, quite a few.

Still unusual, but no longer considered as weird, body modification is increasing in Europe and America. “Body modification” is what I actually call body art, though the concept of “art” is always arguable and the “bm” label is anthropologically accepted.
What makes a modern man turn to bm, besides the wish to change his body? I didn’t write “permanently” because it’s another debatable topic, as in anthropology even hairstyles used to be considered body modifications, even if nowadays the term points out something different.
No doubt pain (the idea of, its craving, its bearing) strongly affects those who choose to get their bodies changed, as it is a fundamental aspect of life and experience, as natural as life itself and death. In a Christian context pain is so well underlined through the death of Jesus, who suffers in order to redeem. But medieval pain is opposed to the modern one, which keep people focused on their bodies and flesh rather than soul and spirituality.
Through the years the most common forms of bm (tattoes and piercings as opposed to scarification and branding) have become sort of a fashion accessory, it seems that the permanence of most of the practices is considered a contradiction to the whims of trend.
In both Christianity and Judaism the body is created by God, in his image, and is thus perfect. In a version of the Bible it is phrased -`Ye shall not make any cutting in your flesh for the dead nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord', Leviticus 19:28 (thanks for the input, DV). Body modification is often stigmatized. Author Betti Marenko points that a `permanent marked body shares with the monstrous body an uncompromising otherness'. So it’s nice to learn that the word “monster” comes from the Latin “monstrum”, that which reveals.
Me, I think to body as a form of communication, often stating difference, exhibitionism, or deviance, even if the act does not necessarily need an audience and may be carried out on personal level.

Though by now you must already be bored to death, reading a shorter post or intrigued and trying some physical pain, I think women should deserve a further spin-off of the thread.

Devious Viper:
Interesting post, F!
Well, as you know, I have several tattoos; I would say that the first three or four I had were all due to the military culture I belonged to; the thing about soldiers is that you are rarely an individual: there is no "i" in team, as they say, and the military takes that to the extreme. When you are all wearing identical, drab, military clothing, with identical close-cropped hair, then the smallest ways to express your sense of self are grabbed with both hands. And in the military - at least, the British Army - tattooing is one of those ways. As the years went by, I had the smaller tattoos covered and linked by a much larger Maori tribal design on each upper arm. That was purely for aesthetic reasons, I guess. Accross the top of my back is a statement of something I believe in "Dulce et decorum" etc. Military and patriotic reasons - originally I planned to finish it off with a large depiction of St George slaying the dragon beneath it. I just never got around to it. On my heart I have an English rose. That was purely because I loved it so much.

The pain aspect... The first tattoo I had... Wow! That hurt!! The second one hurt briefly. Since then I have never noticed the pain. The last one I had, the rose on my breast, I actually fell asleep while having it done! Must have been an endorphin rush  :wink:

I would like another - the angel design I showed you - but  I won't go against Lev 19:28  :-(

Bloody Angel:

--- Quote from: Devious Viper on June 19, 2006, 12:31:21 PM ---Interesting post, F!
Well, as you know, I have several tattoos; I would say that the first three or four I had were all due to the military culture I belonged to; the thing about soldiers is that you are rarely an individual: there is no "i" in team, as they say, and the military takes that to the extreme. When you are all wearing identical, drab, military clothing, with identical close-cropped hair, then the smallest ways to express your sense of self are grabbed with both hands. And in the military - at least, the British Army - tattooing is one of those ways. As the years went by, I had the smaller tattoos covered and linked by a much larger Maori tribal design on each upper arm. That was purely for aesthetic reasons, I guess. Accross the top of my back is a statement of something I believe in "Dulce et decorum" etc. Military and patriotic reasons - originally I planned to finish it off with a large depiction of St George slaying the dragon beneath it. I just never got around to it. On my heart I have an English rose. That was purely because I loved it so much.
The pain aspect... The first tattoo I had... Wow! That hurt!! The second one hurt briefly. Since then I have never noticed the pain. The last one I had, the rose on my breast, I actually fell asleep while having it done! Must have been an endorphin rush  :wink:
I would like another - the angel design I showed you - but  I won't go against Lev 19:28  :-(

--- End quote ---

I think if you don't only stick to tattoes (as well as piercing, though some hurt as hell) the pain aspect is very important into naturally shape-shifting (or sort of) into something or someone you were not meant to be.
Last year I made myself a gift for my birthday by going and getting the fourth done. I just entered the room and asked "where does it hurt more? I want it there". But they are all covered, so also the "difference" side of it does not apply (to me, at least).
But what is body modification to you? Does it have to be permanent? Is surgery an accepted body modification because it's done to meet people's standard of beauty?

Devious Viper:
I used to have only one body piercing - a Prince Albert - but with Leviticus in mind, and as that could be removed (whereas tattoos could not) I removed it when I became a Christian. Why did I have it done? I'm not sure. because I could? It wasn't painful for more than a second or two. Maybe there was an aspect of altered sedlf-image. Until you raised the subject, I hadn't really given it much thought.

Bloody Angel:

--- Quote from: Devious Viper on June 19, 2006, 01:00:29 PM ---I used to have only one body piercing - a Prince Albert - but with Leviticus in mind, and as that could be removed (whereas tattoos could not) I removed it when I became a Christian. Why did I have it done? I'm not sure. because I could? It wasn't painful for more than a second or two. Maybe there was an aspect of altered sedlf-image. Until you raised the subject, I hadn't really given it much thought.

--- End quote ---

You know how many puns could be intended? Sorry, I just couldn't spare it. In Italy they say it's like shooting on the Red Cross. You should not, but it's far too tempting.
I actually had many piercings, but had to take them all of. My body refused them, as I'm allergic to many materials. But I kept on doing them, in the same spot, no matter what.
What you call aesthetic it was to me sort of a way out, faced with Fury, the one so close to Mr. James Frey. It's a different approach and that makes things opposites, even if we had both tattoes and piercings. I think the approach, the reason behind bm, is a topic to study in-depth

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