| These two interviews were conducted with the assistance of 1 Ounce White Rum, 1/2 Ounce Lime Juice, 3/8 Ounce Melon Liqueur, and 3/8 Ounce Apple Sours, shaken with ice and served in a martini glass.
At what age did you begin voluntarily modifying your body?
When I was first handed markers as a little kid, I drew on myself rather than drawing on paper (or walls). I can't remember a time in my life when I did not have these drives.
Body modification is my — and I believe everyone's — natural state of being. The most distinct thing that humans do is communicate on a complex and massive scale. The way we decorate and modify our bodies is one of the more carnal and “true” ways that we communicate. To be honest, I find it highly disturbing that someone would choose to muzzle themselves and not try and communicate.
To answer the question on a more direct level, I started seriously modifying my body (as far as mods that were permanent and public) in my mid teens with tattooing, stretched piercings, and scarification.
What spurred this decision? Did you think much about it beforehand?
Not really, no — but why would I? It's just who I am. It's sort of like asking “what made you decide to talk with that voice?”
Please describe your body image prior to your modifications. Have you noticed a change since then? Please elaborate.
I don't know if it was an “internal” versus “external” body image sort of thing, but what I can tell you with full certainty is that the few periods in my life where I was forced to restrict my body modification activities were the darkest I ever experienced.
How do you view your modified body relative to Western societys beauty norms/ ideals?
To put it simply, I don't. I am not “Western society” — I'm Shannon, not some statistical average — so what Western society has decided the beauty norm or ideal is is totally irrelevant in the decisions I make as far as my body goes. My body modifications reflect who I am, not what I think I'm supposed to look like according to the lowest common denominator.
What role do you see the modified community playing in regards to these ideals?
I hope that the modified community can help show people that they have the right to think for themselves and look however makes them happy. A person's body belongs to them, and is for them alone to shape. What other people think should only affect their decisions for their own bodies.
Do you see a relationship between heavy body modification and blurring/erasing gender roles, gender norms, and the binary system of gender identification?
I don't think that body modification specifically affects gender identification in and of itself. Certainly there are people who will use body modification for gender shift, and there are others who will make assumptions about others' gender role and orientation because of body modification, but those are personal prejudices that I don't think speak directly of body modification. |
Can you give me a brief history of body mod?
The history of modern body modification is extremely difficult to confirm. Not only is it almost totally undocumented until quite recently, but a massive assortment of conflicting stories as to its history exist. We'll never really know the truth but I'll do my best to give what I think is an accurate overview. Body modification has always existed as a subset of sexual expression, both in individuals and in “clubs” (which I've documented going back at least into the late 1800's if not far earlier). Body modification is also evident in the Middle Ages, with paintings of the times documenting an assortment of facial piercings in various crowd scenes. It also become briefly popular in the 17th century and then again at the end of the 19th century, and is of course enjoying massive popularity at present. Simply put, body modification always exists on some level, and depending on the whims of the dominant culture, it becomes more or less apparent to the mainstream (picking up transient enthusiasts at the time). It's possible that the popularity at present has grown large enough that it'll be the norm in the long term, which would be wonderful. What are misconceptions people have about body mod, the people involved, culture etc? Let me name a pair of facts first. Body modification is normal for all demographic groups. Body modification is a healthy expression of being human. To generalize, anything other than that is a misconception that has more to do with the ignorance and/or prejudices of the speaker than any truths about body modification itself. Any religious implications in changing the body? I guess that depends on your religion. If anything, body modification and more importantly body rites can be used as a tool to “get closer to God” — as was recently seen in Iraq as Shi'ite Muslims free of Saddam's restrictions were once again free to engage in their bloodletting and flagellation rituals! What would you say to a young person who is thinking of getting any work done? “I'm glad you're thinking!” is what I'd say. Too many people modify their bodies without really thinking about it one way or the other, which seems to me like it could be kind of wasteful… not that I haven't done exactly that on many an occasion! What safety precautions do you recommend people know about? For the basic procedures (tattooing and piercing) I'd recommend that people understand the sterility concerns, how things like cross contamination occur, jewelry selection issues, and so on… if they understand that they'll be able to find the best and safest artists in their area. For heavier procedures I'd advise people to educate themselves as fully as possible on the details of the procedures. Because body modification is on the whole utterly unregulated, and will be for some time still, clients need to be very aware of what they're doing. What have you done to change your body? I've cut it, poked holes in it, burned it, shoved plastic under my skin, bisected it, and cut off parts of it. I've done the same things to my cars incidentally. It's all about being yourself, being happy with who you are, and communicating that. Ask yourself this: are you YOU, or are you what others made you? Can you tell me a bit about your site? BME is the largest and oldest (est. 1994) full-spectrum body modification publication on the planet. It strives to help people understand who they are and what they're going through, and to assure them that it's normal. It also fights to responsibly educate the world about body modification, as well as promoting its growth. |
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