Body Modification...

What an interesting lecture! First of all thanks so much to John for making the session so entertaining and stimulating. It was great to finally know the history and origins of all those tatoos and piercings we see everyday. Especially gratifying was the explanation of the "emo stars" tatoo, not actually stars but a compass once used by sailors to find their way home. I have personally always wanted to get a tattoo but always resisted the urge because of not wanting to misread the meaning of a picture or text. This lecture only reasurred me that this was definately the right decision. There are countless tattoos around today that are merely thought of as fashion statements, all of which usually carry with them deeply personal meaning. If used by anyone other than the original creators they become highly offensive and derogatory. It was also quite amusing to learn that most genital piercings are for the pleasure of the female rather than the male. Also the belief in certain tribes that men must pierce their genitals to counteract womens periods which balances out the cycle of life. This practice seems very noble to me and seems extremely respectful to women, although some tribes practices definately contradict this opinion. In modern western society extreme body modification is now often used to either enhance sexual pleasure or to create a personal perfect body. It just begs the question, in a world where new unique techniques are always being dreamt up, how far will people go to create their body beautiful?

Perhaps you'll get some ideas - http://www.bodymod.org/