Modifying Perceptions Of Beauty

One week ago today I received my first piercing. It was a rather spur-of-the-moment decision but it was something that I had been considering for quite some time.

I have, since I can remember, always had a particularly strong interest in exploring other peoples’ cultures and beauty, being a huge element of culture, had always fascinated me. Since college I had wanted to explore the idea of body modification to and study how different peoples perceived beauty.

I decided to pierce my right wrist with a bar and two studs, a sort of counterbalance to my first small tattoo on my left wrist and the second marking to symbolize the two nails driven through Christ’s wrists.

What amazed me most about this decision wasn’t my willingness to see my flesh pierced or dealing with the awkward stares, but rather how easily willing I was to try it. When I was a teenager, a period of life mostly associated with emotional turmoil, self-uncertainty and rebellion, I could never have imagined daring to cross my western cultural boundaries. What I had realized before, and what the piercing reinforced, was that I had slowly broken away from those standards and norms of reality and the world that had been taught (or some may say ‘imposed’) to me since I was a child.

The fear that is instilled in you regarding “dangerous” behaviors like taking drugs, getting tattooed/pierced, associating with certain people, taking up certain interests, etc. is one that can be difficult to find release from. The movement, though, to break this fear is a movement worthy of effort as it can finally allow one to come to terms with how he/she actually and personally views this world. One can finally come to terms with how they actually perceive reality.


I got pierced. The world didn’t end. The government didn’t lock me up. My employer didn’t mind as long as I made no show of it. My friends barely noticed it after the first day. The world kept going. And so did I. The curtain of fear and illusion fell and a steel bar rests under my skin until the day comes when I decide that my current notions of self-beauty have change.

I’ve always believe that a human being has multiple births. One of these births is the one in which we’re first born into the real world – the day we realize that our parents are not perfect. Our two models for God are exposed and so are we. We feel vulnerable and unsure of the world, unsure of what’s to come because our protectors may no longer be able to keep us safe. Since that day we all slowly come to terms with certain things about our world, about our existence that we must learn to deal with. I see my piercing as a small step in that personal development - a step in the direction of being honest with myself and with what’s around me.

As the world turns and our species evolves I so too evolve in a deeply personal way. One in which I more and more realize that simply because an authority told me so when I was young doesn’t make it so.

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Interesting Historical Facts of Body Piercings

I. Ear Lobe Piercings
- Practiced in a ritual form by the ancient Aztecs, Mayas of Central America and various tribes of the American Northwest. The tongue was pierced to draw blood to propitiate the gods, and to create an altered state of consciousness so that the priest or shaman could communicate with the gods.
- Ear piercing is an almost universal practice for men and women, it's only in western society that it's deemed effeminate. At various times in history men wore elaborate earrings, including historical figures such Shakespeare and Sir Francis Drake wore gold rings in their ears.

II. Nose Piercings
- First recorded in the Middle East approximately 4,000 years ago, it is mentioned in The Bible in Genesis 24:22
- This practice is still followed among the nomadic Berber and Beja tribes of Africa, and the Bedouins of the Middle East, where the size of the ring denotes the wealth of the family.
- It was later adopted by the Punk movement of the late 1970's as a symbol of rebellion against conservative values.

III. Septum Piercings
- The piercing of the septum is probably the second most common piercing among primitive peoples after ear piercing.
- The septum piercing is particularly prevalent among warrior cultures.
- The Septum piercing was beloved by the Aztecs, the Mayans, and the Incas. They wore a variety of jewelry, but jade and gold were the most popular because of their religious associations.