body modifications
...fication had also been used as a way for one group to distinguish itself from another. By reading their bodies, whether they were circumcised or not, what tattoos they had, did they elongate their necks, chip their teeth, pierce their tongues. These were the essential prerequisites of belonging to a group. In the 16th century Native Americans, such as the Iroquois, also used body modifications within there tribes. They wanted to keep the population of the tribe stable, so if at any time they were to lose a member due to illness or war, they would use modifications such as tattoos to integrate European captives into there tribes. According to McCracken “Groups like the Iroquois defined themselves not in biological terms through bloodlines but culturally as a people that had undergone certain rites of passage” (McCraken 102). A tough physical drill and body modification were both part of the program to replenish the tribe. Tattoos also helped the language barriers between Native Americans and Europeans. Europeans learned to read and interpret the tattoos on Indians such as they would a book Even today, scarifications, piercings and tattoos are common in all walks of life and all sectors of society. Body adornment is a cultural universal. All cultures everywhere have attempted to change their body in an attempt to fulfill their cultural construct of beauty, religious and or social obligations. It represents freedom, as well as rebellion and can be an effective means of providing shock value to the public. As Kingwell mentions in his book,“ Something to shock and disconcert, or an attempt to break out of the biological and cultural confines that limit the range of personal self-expression”(Kingwell 32). The author Hewitt explores self-mutilation through history and across cultural divisions, finding these acts "positive expressions of social custom, individualism and resourcefulness ... symptomatic of crises of identity, religious faith, or modern social structures.”(Hewitt 50) There are many degrees of body modification, and it is mainly in Western society where many are separated from the normality of society because of their modifications. There are many reasons why people get their modifications, reasons varying from simply cosmetic to rites of passage to personal spiritual meaning. II. Motivations A. Rituals Many non-western cultures have rituals or rites of passages that individuals go through once they reach puberty. Inuit women traditionally tattoo their faces and breasts and believe that acquiring sufficient tattoos guaranteed a happy afterlife. In many African cultures scars indicate social status and desirability as a marriage partner. Also, Cree Indians get tattooed for luck, beauty, to protect their health, and to help them communicate with spirits. Rites of passage are lacking within mainstream Western society, so many modifiers try to bring about a personal form of a rite of passage. With the lack of institutionalized rituals, many individuals feel innately compelled to go through some form of a rite of passage. They may not even realize that they are performing a rite of passage, more often that not, they feel as if they need to do something to their body. The most common time to perform one of these rites is when an individual is coming to the age when society labels them an adult, similar to what many tribes do when an individual becomes an adult within the tribe, often at a different age than in Western society. Another reason some people choose to go through a ritualized form of modification is to be accepted into a group, an example being the branding of initiates of many African American fraternities and sororities, and the tattoos a group of people get when they have been through something together, such as war. Mary Douglas, in her book Natural Symbols, explains the interaction of the self-expression through the physical and social bodies. According to her, “the social body limits the range of expression possible through the physical body”(Douglas 27). The separation of the physical body and the social body is an aspect of culture some piercings attempt to avoid. Since body modifications result in the altered perceptions of self, people have imposed rules onto the human form in their search of self-discovery. The act of modifying the self is an attempt to attain 'completeness' as an individual. B. Expression The motivations behind body art, including body piercings and tattoos, are a constant presence. In society today, individualism and free expression reign as important beliefs through which individuals feel comfortable conveying ideas. Body piercing and tattoos are mediums that allow individuals to convey these ideas physically. It may also provide a sense of empowerment or control over ones own body when that individual feels powerless themselves. During the punk movement and surge of anti-government feelings, Wojcik mentions body art as being seen as “taboo and restricted to a small population” (Wojcik). Through the influence of music and cultural traditions, the idea of body piercing and tattooing became much more accepted. As a result, the presence of body art in today's society is strong and growing. In her analysis of the origins and motivations of body modification, Hewitt draws upon psychological, medical, and cultural theories on self-inflicted pain. She finds that such acts of self-mutilation in present-day America may "express a change in how society perceives marginalization"(Hewitt 33). Humanity has, says Hewitt, "a universal urge to alter consciousness through body manipulation, this urge also indicating an individual and cultural moment of transition through crisis and passage into maturity"(Hewitt 46). C. Pleasure Other reasons include self-mutilation, or as an alternative to tattooing, or for sexual pleasure. Albert Parry, a psychiatrist and writer who often wrote about the significance of tattooing, associates tattooing with deviant sexuality. Male piercing was seen as an indication of homosexuality, due to its aesthetic appeal on females. Parry asserts that the use of body art for sexual pleasure is an “established practice and is a known reason for body adornment” (Parry 85) People who don’t get this pleasure have a hard time understanding how having a surgical lance thrust through living tissue be pleasurable. Since it is trauma, there is of course pain. It is very hard to define both pleasure and pain in easily understood concepts. For the sake of this argument, it must be understood that pain can be either pleasurable or can induce a pleasurable state. Pain is the cohesive agent that unifies the body and the mind. "No pain, no spiritual gain" (Kingwell 184). Pain is an essential step in the process of piercing, and is the effort needed to experience pleasure. Being pierced releases endorphins and adrenaline, which produces a physiological high-this being the pleasure. S...