Body Modification Culture - 5 Unfamiliar and New Modification

Over the last 100 years, the body modification community has become bigger and bigger. Due to the increasing acceptance in society people who wear tattoos and piercings are no longer pigeonholed as prisoners. Furthermore, there are many new types of body modifications, which can be fascinating and a bit scary at the same time. Today I will present 5 unfamiliar body modifications that will probably surprise you. If you don’t want to see them, you should skip this post.

Ear Pointing:

Ear Pointing is a surgical procedure, in which the ear is cut, reshaped and sewed together to make it look like an elves ear. It is very common among Lord of the Rings fans, but it is still a quite unusual body modification. I don’t find that very surprising, as the procedure is done without anesthesia. The reason for this is that generally body modification artists have no allowance for it and the ‘normal’ plastic surgeons never do ear pointings. So anybody who wants elf ears has to be willing to go through a lot of pain for it. Moreover there is always the risk of failure. The ears might get infected, the stitches might burst, and during the healing process the shape can change a lot. But admittedly, I really love the look of pointed ears, provided they do NOT fail. Anyway I would never consider getting them, because of two reasons: Firstly, I am incredibly scared of the procedure and secondly, I still don’t know, which profession I will work in one day. But it is always great to look at people with elf ears. I admire them for their courage.

Corset Piercing:

Corset piercings are done multiple times. Mostly they are placed on either side of the spine and they can be connected with cords, to create the illusion of a corset laced up the body. But it is also possible to get them nearly anywhere else on the body. They belong to the category of play piercings, which means that they normally are taken out of the body after a few days. Corset piercings can also be worn permanently, but this is even more unusual, as they are obviously very irritating in everyday life. They get easily tangled with clothes and the pressure on the rings can cause infections. All in all it is very likely that corset piercings migrate and are rejected by the body over time. But it is still popular among people that appreciate alternative looks and it is often worn as a party gag. I really like how they look, especially because I like corsets in general. But I hate the idea of temporary piercings as they cost a lot of money and the pain is probably really bad. 

Watch the video (if you dare)!

Stretched Piercings:

Stretched lobes are already quite common, but it is also possible to stretch labrets (lip piercings) nostrils (nose piercings), cheek and septum piercings. The stretching is achieved by conical bars, known as ‘Expanders’. Once a month, the expander is shoved through the piercing hole to make it bigger one by one. If it’s done slowly and carefully, the procedure is not too painful, even though it might seem like that. Stretching any piercing other than lobes is very uncommon, as it reveals parts of the body that are normally hidden, e.g. the inner nose and mouth. Personally I have stretched my lobes to 1cm. As I mentioned, it wasn’t too painful for me, but it took quite a long time. I also like bigger lobes, but when they are stretched to sizes over 1cm, they will probably not shrink back, so I leave them how they are. Stretched labrets, nostrils and cheeks on the other hand are not to my taste and I think that it only suits a few people. For example the girl on the picture.

Subdermal Implants

Subdermal implants are sometimes also called ‘3D tattoos’ which is actually not correct as it is not ink but silicone which is implanted under the skin to make it look raised. Today it is possible to achieve a huge variety of shapes using subdermal implants and they can be put nearly everywhere. Some brave people also get them in their eyes! Furthermore it is possible to get little magnets implanted in your fingers to magically attract little iron pieces. That is certainly also a very funny party gag. All in all I am not a huge fan of the ‘standard’ subdermal implants, as I think they can sometimes look like skin diseases.

Bagel Head

This is probably the most uncommon body modification you have ever seen. Through a needle, sterile saline gets injected under the skin of the forehead. After a while, a little bump starts to grow on the forehead. Then the body modifier presses his finger on the middle of this bump to shape it like a bagel. It is also a temporary modification, as the saline gets absorbed by the body after about ten hours. The bagel head was first presented on a Japanese body modification convention in 1999 and it has become popular in the Japanese fetish scene.  The Bagel Head is mostly worn on parties and it is rarely performed anywhere else in the world. Fortunately the medical risks seem to be quite low, as long as the procedure is performed correctly. All in all the Bagel Head might be quite shocking to some of you, and I have to admit that it also gave me goose bumps to see the video about it. But as long as people feel confident with this modification, there is nothing wrong with it.

That is also the final message of my blogpost: Obviously, those more extreme forms of body modifications are not for everyone, but I think that our society still needs to become more tolerant towards it. Even though modified people are not pigeonholed as prisoners anymore, they are still considered antisocial, lazy and unemployed very often, which I find really sad. In the end, a person should be judged by his or her skills and not by appearance.

What a Train Journey Reveals about People from Various Regions

I travel to Germany each year around Christmas time to visit my parents in Stadtlohn and I usually go by train. I have often recognized that depending on the region I drive through, the accent and the way people talk to each other changes a lot. As Christmas is coming, today I am travelling to Germany again and this time I will observe this phenomenon for you. Beware! You may find stereotypes and irony in this post. ;)

The voyage starts at 5:45. *Yaaawn*. I hate getting up so early. There are not many people in the train. Only one woman sits nearby, well, actually she is lying nice and cosy – like a real Austrian – with legs on the seats. Her quiet snoring fills the compartment while far away I can hear some Grazers talking in familiar accent. Hmm… I feel at home here, which is strange, as I am still a German citizen. I don’t mind. I will try to get some sleep while I am in this train.

I woke up in Schladming. Guess why! Yeeah right, because our compartment was invaded by drunken skiers. Some hours ago I thought that I was good at understanding Austrian accents but now that I sit here, half-asleep, listening to those guys talking, I think I should take a language course. I try to get some sleep again but it’s in vain. Therefore I decide to listen to their stories about good and bad snow and exciting après-ski parties. At least I think they talked about that.

Unfortunately the skiers left the train after one hour and I directly fell asleep. Now I’m awake again. I don’t know why and I don’t know where we are. Hmm… Are we in Bavaria already? Probably not. Outside everything looks just like it did before and in the train everything sounds like it did before.  I look at my phone and I realize that I was wrong. ‘Welcome to the EU…’ Ok. I guess there is no big difference between Bayern and Austria. I look at my watch. We are arriving in Munich in 20 minutes. I’d better wake my boyfriend and collect our luggage. As I will do a photo shoot with my sister, I have all my equipment with me. So there’s a lot to carry.

The cosy atmosphere of the first train is past. We’re sitting in the ICE to Essen and we’re surrounded by snobbish people in suits. Most of them are probably bankers on the way to Frankfurt, where they earn their money by stealing it from honest, hardworking people. But there are also managers in our compartment. Most of them seem to be obsessed with their job, because they’re talking about it so loudly (of course in perfect High German), that everybody has to listen, whether they want or not. The man behind us, for example, explains how he forecasts the future of a company with the help of brainstorming and mindmaps. He learned this technique in an advanced training. Now I know why Germany goes down the drain.

We have arrived in Frankfurt and now all those managers and bankers are gone. I should become a forecasting manager too! I didn’t even need a mindmap for this prophecy. There are only some backpackers and families left in the compartment. It’s so quiet! Even though it’s raining (not snowing…), Christmas spirit takes a hold of me now. In a few hours I will be home again.

We changed trains in Essen and I am really getting excited now. This little local train is the last one of our journey.  Only one hour until I meet my parents at a little station in a town called Borken. The wagon is stuffed full of people. Considering their Low German accent, the’re all farmers. They are probably on their way home after a shopping-trip in the huuuuuge shopping-city Essen. There is no way to buy a Christmas present when you live in a town north of the Ruhr area. I used to go shopping in Essen too, when I was younger.

A funny farmer talking Low German

I'm finally home! It’s good to see that nothing has changed here and I’m looking forward to spending Christmas with my family. But anyway I already miss my cats so much. A pity that we couldn’t take them with us. After all it is quite difficult to define the term home for me. Is it in Graz? Or is it in Stadtlohn? I’d say it’s in Graz AND in Stadtlohn. I will probably write one more post about my holiday here so stay tuned!