Body Modification
People always say, "never judge a book by its cover," but a first impression is a different story. When meeting a person for the first time image is everything, almost as if the person is a product. Although one cannot tell a book by its cover, we often look to physical appearance to give us clues about a person's sanity, morality, intelligence, and abilities. Because appearance can be a fairly reliable indicator of one's behavior, it is no surprise that in society physical image is very important. Today people can change any aspect of themselves; their clothing, hair, teeth, face, and body. Most of these changes are met with a level of tolerance, some more socially expectable than others. Taking action to change one's appearance is often approved or at least accepted as a way of retaining youth, keeping current with the times, or boosting of one's self-esteem. However, when a person chooses to make a radical change that may be quite original and or go against society's! standards, there is usually some sort of backlash. This is seen currently with the trend of body piercing, tattoos, branding, and other forms of body adornment. These forms of body adornment are seen by the
As stated in earlier paragraph body modification is being done by youths to help differentiate themselves from the norm and to be disobedient to there parents. Well there is also one more very distance reason body modification has become so popular among Going to a professional piercer may cost more but as far as safety and sterilization is concerned it is well worth it. A note to remember nothing is perfectly safe, and if body modifications were any different, than there would be no restriction on donating blood after under going a modification process. Other health issues may occur of course, but it is to be expected when something of the sort is introduced to the sensitive tissues of the body. Reasoned facts show that there are even more risks involved with plastic surgery then with any other form of body modification. In contemporary Western society, people who alter their appearance in socially provocative ways are typically youths, and because youths are essentially the future of society it is potentially revelatory to examine why so many deliberately choose to separate themselves from the population at large. Does norm-defying ornamentation fulfill some psychological need unmet by contemporary society? Are certain forms of body ornamentation indicative of unhealthy, antisocial, or even evil influences as some Haworth has taken his obscene flesh artistry to disturbing new extremes, creating human modification so radical that critics accuse him of "unethical home surgery" (Hibberd). In 1995, Haworth successfully transplanted threaded implants through the scalp of Joe Aylward, a resident in Phoenix. The threads allowed Joe to screw spikes into is head creating the first metal mohawk. Recently a Church member had a doughnut like hole cut into his scrotum because "I wanted to be able to stick my finger through it (Hibberd)." Haworth also hosts suspensions in his own backyard patio for the members of the church. Suspension is where a person had eight to twelve hooks placed in there body, so they can then be lifted off the ground by the hooks, hence the name suspension. "I am proud that these people come to me and ask me to guide their journey," Haworth says. "It's not a sadistic kind of thing." Some would appose this statement saying what journey; it seems to be self mutilation at th! teens and young adults. It has become to and extent a rite of passage, very similar to the ceremonies used by tribes (The'voz). When a adolescent can not tell if they are coming or going, and the only thing they do know is that they want to be separated from there parents. e highest degree, and not even for beauty, but for mutilation purposes.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Choosing Pain, Introduction People, Mod Laws, Professional Piercers, Conclusion Body, America Nudity, Tibetan Buddhists, Japan Willis, Records Hibberd, Laws Piercing, body modification, forms body, body piercing, plastic surgery, body modifications, body ornamentation, visual art, piercing tattoos, rite passage, ear piercing, body piercing tattoos, ear piercing guns, form body modification, art body modification, forms body ornamentation,
Approximate Word count = 4117
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page double spaced)
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