Wednesday, April 24, 2002
It's fairly regularly said that young people shouldn't get pierced because “their bodies are still growing”. I think I've even said that at times… But let's be honest — that's a politically correct lie that serves to further our cultural notions of adulthood, not any medical truth.
Let's step through a few common piercings that younger people want, and assess what changes that part of the body goes through from early/mid teens to adulthood (note: I'm not talking about babies and pre-pubescent children, as their bodies are obviously going through dramatic changes):
- Ears – It would be ludicrous to suggest that there is any significant anatomical change in ears over time.
- Tongue – There are obviously no physical changes in tongue anatomy from young teen to adult.
- Eyebrow – Given that your eyebrows don't shift all over your face, why would a piercing?
- Lip/Labret – Again, one can't seriously propose that there are physical changes so dramatic so as to make a piercing change? I don't know about you, but my lips are the same as they were when I was a kid.
- Nostril/Septum – It's not going to make a damn bit of difference how young they are.
- Navel – My navel is in the same spot as it was when I was a kid. More seriously though, any physical changes in the navel from young teen to adult are no more extreme than normal weight fluctuations in an adult.
- Nipple – OK, here I agree. Especially for female nipples, until the changes of puberty are complete, nipples or their development could be damaged by piercing. As far as when that is, it's going to vary from person to person — in general that's probably between 13 and 17 years of age.
Now… I think a more important thing to address is whether a person is intellectually and emotionally mature enough to handle a piercing. Judging by the experiences on BME, immature people come in all ages, and it's not uncommon to see a fifteen year old that's far more able to handle their piercing than some twenty-five year old. More important questions that body growth include:
- Is the person able to commit to taking care of the piercing? Some piercings, such as navels, are not that easy to heal, and it is a serious commitment and shouldn't be taken lightly.
- Does the person understand the social implications of their piercing, and are they mature enough to accept those consequences?
- If the piercing is of a sexual nature (nipples and perhaps tongue piercings), is the person emotionally mature enough to handle it, or will it help send them down a bad path?
Anyway, young people aren't stupid. So let's try not to make up lies to keep them from getting pierced!
And now, I want to say something to the young people reading this as well… I was pierced when I was young, and it turned out well for me. But if you want to get pierced, you have a responsibility to do your research and be responsible. If you act like an ass, you're going to mess it up for other young people. If you act like “an adult”, then maybe you'll get to play a role in fighting for young people's rights.
Related link: Young Modder's Alliance
OK, here's the contest. I've got two old pictures here — the one on the left is me at 16 or 17, and the person on the right has changed just as much. The first person to post the name (or IAM name if you don't know their name) of the person on the right wins a one year full BME membership (including IAM of course). If you're the person in the photo, you can't enter!
Shannon
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Mystery Man
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UPDATE: Andy correctly guessed that it's The Lizardman! Yay!
The CBC just asked to license my video of the OCAP/OCF protests on October 16th (and they ever offered to pay for it, so I guess that means that whatever they give me will turn into a donation to the groups in the video). I should also mention that they really liked the music (courtesy of our own Jack Sordid). I've asked them if they're also interested in suspension footage. I've got to dig thorugh my old tapes and find the Vatican performance… I really hope the camera was working…
I guess here is the multi-part question I'm trying to ask myself. I hope this helps clarify what's going through my head. Helpful feedback is always appreciated (via the Whatever forum). Anyway:
- Has BME — at least the public parts — served its purpose? Does continuing to add more and more to it add anything to the world in general?
It's hard to answer this because BME has played such a pivotal role in the popularization of body modification. In real life, when does a parent know that it's ok to die? Also, there's the question of the long game — will having BME be as monstrously huge as possible serve to sustain body modification as a societal norm? And, more ominously, there are a number of very low-end body modification sites online — will these morons fill in the void if BME left? Because that would be a huge disservice that I have to consider as well. I'm not just doing BME for “good”, but I'm also doing it to stop “evil”.
- Given the amount of physical time BME consumes, is this the best way I can contribute to the world in general?
Definitely not. At this point I'm absolutely sickened by what the Internet has become. I spend more of my time dealing with fraud, hacking, fake stories, stolen picture, complaints, fights on IAM, and trying to find my real email among thousands of pieces of ever-better disguised spam, rather than producing quality content. Now, I don't know what the answer to that is. Quite possibly, it's simply a matter of hiring someone to deal with the day-to-day crap… but I don't want to run a business.
In addition to asking myself if the web is the right medium for me, I also have to ask myself if I only want to contribute to the body modification community, and whether I have larger things to contribute as well. I'm not sure if I do or not, but I do know that as long as BME fills in most of my spare moments, it's very difficult for me to answer that.
- If I were to give up parts of BME, is there anyone that could take it over?
Whoever took it over would need to be willing to accept an enormous workload, as well as shouldering a five thousand dollar monthly loss, at least until they turned it profitable. In addition, there are very few people with both the technical know-how as well as the extremely specialized body modification knowledge and experience required (although I can think of any number of people that would tell you they do). I'm not willing to see BME bastardized by someone incompetent.
- What about selling BME?
Selling BME would be a massive betrayal to the people who contributed to it and I would never do that. I don't even like charging for what I do, so selling is simply not an option. I have turned down ever offer of this type, and will continue to.
- Is it possible to fully automate BME without having it fall apart?
I don't believe so. It's already very automated, and any further automation steps place enormous trust on the general public, and if I've learned anything online, it's that no matter what you do, a huge percentage of people will do their best to exploit it and damage it and it will sink to the lowest common denominator very quickly if there isn't a strong hand keeping that from happening.
- But what about all the people who rely on BME?
I'll illustrate this with a story. Last year, Delaney from TSD came up to Toronto and helped some local kids here do some hooking in my basement, and shortly after iWasCured was formed. That summer, iWasCured hosted suspensions and pullings for anyone that wanted them, from anywhere. As a result, many of those people went home, and started groups of their own, and continued the process. That is what it's all about — going out and doing good things in the world — not looking at pictures on a web site. Anyone who reads and enjoys BME has the power to go out and create these things on their own as well. (I'm not saying don't look at the website, I'm just saying you have the power to look, learn, and do.)
- What about IAM?
I have absolutely no plans to dissolve IAM. I think it's an incredibly positive resource and public service, and I believe it would be an enormous loss if it were shut down. I also believe that many of the functions of BME, at least in the longterm, could be moved over to an IAM model.
(Plus it's my homepage, and the homepage of a lot of people that I care a great deal for.)
- What about bme/HARD and BME/extreme?
I have absolutely no plans to dissolve these either. First, I personally enjoy these subjects immensely and would miss them. Second, I feel that I still have a lot to say and contribute on these subjects. Third, I don't feel that these subjects will go mainstream, so I feel that the existense of bme/HARD and BME/extreme is an “essential service”.
