Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

I'll be writing a much longer article on this in an upcoming week, but I sure have been getting some funny hatemail lately from tribbles lately for supporting self-piercing. So let me make my stance on this very clear:

1. Many of my piercings are self done, and they were without exception safe, well done given the times, and a positive experience.
2. The entire piercing industry is built on the efforts of self-piercers. It was founded by self-piercers, and most of the early piercers and current “master piercers” are self-taught self-piercers.
3. Given the state of the modern piercing industry, if a person lives in a mid-sized or larger town, odds are good they have access to a solid experienced piercer. This is usually the best option.
4. Some people either do not want to be pierced by someone else, or do not live in an area where they have reasonable access to a piercer and therefore will either self-pierce or not be pierced at all.
5. BME's role in this case is provide information on the subject, not to force one view or silence another.
6. Supplies are very easy to get from thousands of sources. Many of these sources are disreputable and sell low-quality items.
7. If someone wants to pierce themselves, they have that right, and I will support them in that right, both politically as well as by offering access to high quality supplies.

So… While on the whole I think most people are better off going to a professional (when I say most I mean 99%), I also recognize both that for some people self-piercing is a better experience and that ultimately as long as I've done everything I can to provide good information, it's up to the individual to choose their own path.

I don't know… I guess some people think that's an unethical stance and that people like me are going to be responsible for killing this industry. But I think that's a ludicrous stance, and I'd put BME's ethics and genuine support both of this community and this industry up against any other site out there.

In any case, I'll have some funny/scary funmail later today for you (unrelated to the above). It snowed again this morning, but it didn't last long this time either. You can sort of see it in these pictures (it's totally gone now):

As a PS., I'm not sure that I would ever trust a piercer who didn't have experience piercing themselves to pierce me. I personally think it's a pretty fundamental step in the learning process (but that's my personal opinion, not my official stance or anyhting).