I'm headed up to Aviation World with Rachel shortly. When I get back I'll probably start posting those screenshots from the movie. Until then, here's a mini-interview I just did (it was just for a highschool project… is it bad that I'm more likely to accept interviews with young students than I am with National Geographic and other “real” media?):
1. Why do you believe some people find modding to be “mutilation”?Probably because they're ignorant and have trouble perceiving other mindsets than their own. “Mutilation” isn't just some biassed synonym of “modification” — it quite specifically refers to crippling and damage. Calling body modification “mutilation” shows that a person has only a superficial understanding of the subject. The word is like a “stupid-detector”.
2. Is modding the (legal) right of the person who's body it is?
Well, there are rights and then there are “legal” rights, right? In nearly every country in the world, citizens do not in fact own their bodies — they are merely leased from their government. Thus even in America there are areas where tattooing is illegal, and even consensual acts between adults are banned when the government doesn't approve. So is it a legal right? No, definitely not. But I believe that it's a fundamental human right (the ownership and liberty of the self), and it's very unfortunate that few governments recognize that.
3. People of different races and religions are protected from discrimination by the government. Should the modded community also have these protections?
It depends on how far you want to take it. I believe people should have the right to control their own lives. I do not believe that they should have the right to control other people's lives.
What I mean by that is that I want to make sure that I have the right to make any change to my body that I want to, and I want to have the right to ask anyone I want to do it (ie. if I consent to a modification, the practitioner should not be prosecuted either). I also want equal right to the public services I pay for with my taxes — no discrimination for mods in education, medical aid, or government services of any kind.
However, I do not believe that we should force businesses to hire us. If we force companies to hire people with body modifications (and they don't want to), then we're really no better than they are in not hiring us (in that we'd be forcing our will on them).
4. What reactions have you got before that you found offensive or discriminatory?
Personally it's not really been an issue to me. Because I've always been self-driven, motivated, and self-employed, I've not had to fight for jobs against the unmodified mainstream. The few times someone has been an ass to me because they didn't like my mods I mostly just took it as a reflection of the pain they're feeling inside… It's mostly a comment on how unhappy they are in their own bodies when they behave so poorly after seeing someone who's not.
5. Why do you mod your body?
You could also ask me why I paint. I don't know. It's who I am. I have a drive to communicate with the universe, and your body is the most pure way you can physically do so…
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