Here's another recent interview I did… As usual, my comments are are in “normal”, and the interviewer is in blue. Hope I did OK, it was just a quicky… Now off to test the image update robots (they're complete, sans debug/test of course).
1. How have you become part of the body modification scene?That's sort of like asking, “how did you become a part of the gay scene”. The answer is similar — I was born that way, and, for whatever reason, I chose to actually express the way I felt. I understand that expressing the way you feel is frowned upon in most cultures.
It's just who I am. I put up a web site about it, and as it turns out, I'm happy to say that it's also who a lot of other people are. Remember, BME doesn't just stand for “Body Modification Ezine”, it also stands for “Be ME”.
2. What modifications are the most talked about on your bme site?
Just going by the numbers, as far as the BME site is concerned, body piercing is by far the most popular, followed by tattoos. Going only by submissions numbers, male genital piercing is by far the most popular by a 2:1 margin. The next most popular is ear piercing (of course), followed by nipple piercing.
(Yes, I realize you probably wanted me to tell you amputation or something like that, but the fact is those modifications are still incredibly rare, no matter how much media attention they get).
3. Do you think extreme modifications such as voluntary amputation should become acceptable?
If you're asking me whether I think people should accept other people's personal decisions about their bodies, then I'll loudly yell YES!
4. Do you think body modification is becoming more mainstream and would you prefer it to remain underground?
Clearly body modification in general enjoys a far greater media presence than it did twenty years ago, and people who choose to modify themselves face far less discrimination now than they did twenty years ago.
While I can make no claim to have played a role in the creation of body modification, I do believe I've played an important role in bringing heavy modifications and play out of the underground and into the mainstream. So clearly I'm not motivated to keep things underground.
However, I do have several serious concerns about the popularisation of heavy mods and ritual:
A. That impressionable individuals jump into things a little too fast, and listen more to excitement rather than their natural and healthy desires. When things were still underground, people had minimal external influences, meaning that their decisions were entirely personally motivated. Clearly that is no longer the case.
B. It attracts undue attention to us from a hostile mainstream. This has happened, and the end result has been the arrest and prosecution of a number of artists who would otherwise have flown under the radar.
5. Finally, what modifications have you endured and is there anything you would like to have?
Your choice of the word “endured” makes me a little uncomfortable. To go back to the sexuality analogy, it would be like asking, “how many times have you endured gay sex?” — there's nothing to endure — I like it!
I've chosen to modify my body in the way it asks me to, and I intend to continue to enjoy doing so.
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