Tattoos & Piercings - Lifestyle or health hazard ? (no Spam please)

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Wed May 15, 2002 6:10 pm

I don't have any piercings or tattoos. When I was about 12 and all my friends were getting their ears pierced, I really wanted to. Thing is, over here you have to be 16 to get piercings, or have your parents' permission, and my parents said if I still wanted to have my ears pierced when I was old enough not to need their permission, I could go ahead. Of course, by the time I was 16, I didn't really care enough to bother. Piercings just don't appeal to me... they look ok on some people, although I do tend to think having multiple piercings on one ear just looks kinda tacky. As to genital piercings... I just don't understand why anyone would want them.

Tattoos, well, the whole permenancy thing would put me off, along with the fact that no matter how cool they might look when you get them, old tattoos look horrible.

I really don't know a lot about the health issues involved, that isn't what puts me off getting tattoos/piercings, I just don't see the appeal of sticking bits of metal through my skin... I have actually seen people with babies who have pierced ears, and I find that really weird... who on earth would get their baby's ears pierced?

Posted by HLD:
chicks dig guys with earrings

Never understood that either

Posted by Thantor:
An interesting point that has been made by some spiritual teachers, like Caroline Myss, is that the current resurgence in body modification is a crying out for the inclusion of a more meaning spiritual path within a culture that has become sidetracked by materialism.

Interesting, but does sound to me a bit like trying to find depth in actions that are rather more shallow. I think most people probably don't see their piercings as spiritual... I suppose tattoos have more potential for being meaningful, but still, I reckon most people just do it cos they think it'll look cool...

Posted by Gwalchmai:
I would have been more cynical and would have said that the rise in piercing among the young is their attempt to be noticed, to rebel, to be different from both the generation before and from each other.

I'd have said it's a rebellion against the older generation, but not necessarily from each other - how many people get piercings because of peer pressure, or because the kids they think are cool have them?

I would have thought that Shock-Value had a lot to do with the trend, at least at first. Now it seems to have boiled down to a fashion trend, and people will lose interest in it as soon as it become common-place and perceived as mundane. What will be the next trend, I wonder?

It certainly seems like it... getting an ear pierced used to be enough to be a rebel, now that is so commonplace that people have to get multiple piercings, or piercings in other places in order to shock. Maybe piercings will become so common that the next trend will be not having any piercings

Tamerlane · Post by **Tamerlane** » Wed May 15, 2002 9:23 pm

I've recently seen a trend where girls are getting their tounges pierced. I know for a fact that guys find it disgusting (I know I do). So what I would like to know is what compells them to disfigure a part of their body.

I can't put it down to rebelling or a shock factor or anything like that.

As for tattoos, I always think ahead. Having a tattoo when your 60 or 70 isn't exactly my cup of tea. Being wrinkled and all

Ode to a Grasshopper · Wed May 15, 2002 9:28 pm

Yet another Simpsons moment

Originally posted by Tamerlane
As for tattoos, I always think ahead. Having a tattoo when your 60 or 70 isn't exactly my cup of tea. Being wrinkled and all

Like Grampa's "Flying Hellfish" tattoo.

Tamerlane · Post by **Tamerlane** » Wed May 15, 2002 9:34 pm

I guess you saw it a while ago on TV too.

Ode to a Grasshopper · Wed May 15, 2002 10:16 pm

I ususally video-tape the Simpsons and watch it on the VCR in my railway carriage.

frogus · Post by **frogus** » Thu May 16, 2002 10:41 am

Originally posted by C Elegans
the "Prince Albert" for men, where a ring is partly led through the urinary tract.

Rrrgghh...*doubles over... reads down screen...crosses legs*. I don't like ear piercings. I don't know why they're so popular, maybe just because they're discrete and painless. Nose piercings look really cool [IMO], but are the nastiest to get infected, and the least convenient really. Lip piercing is the only one I would get I think, but not those one's you get that go through the side of your head

. In the middle.

LOL. I know a kid who got his nipple pierced with a cold needle at Reading.

I laugh whenever I see him...

anyway, I love tatoos. I'd like to be a tatoo artist, but wouldn't really like them on me. I know three people who represent my tatoo experience nicely. No wait, four actually:

My uncle - Got a cartoon devil tatooed on his shoulder when very drunk. It was ****d up, and he spent a great deal of money later on to get a sking graft to cover it up.

Another middle aged guy I know - Has a Humming bird, or whatever kind it is, a lot like the one on the cover of Crash Landing (Hendrix).He got it when he was a hippy, and still likes it. It's tasteful.

A Kid in my school - has his grafitti tag written in big gothic print across his back. He likes it, but when he changes his tag, or gets old, it'll be very intrusive

An Oxford Theology student who I see around and kind of know - Has three equilateral triangles on his upper arm. I think he didn't want to get a traditional picture, and is probably the type to have got a zip or a barcode tatooed on him. It is not especially exciting, and not that arty. When he's old he'll think 'What a bloody ponce I used to be'.

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Thu May 16, 2002 11:06 am

Originally posted by Tamerlane
I've recently seen a trend where girls are getting their tounges pierced. I know for a fact that guys find it disgusting (I know I do). So what I would like to know is what compells them to disfigure a part of their body.

I know someone with her tongue pierced (actually my housemate's ex), and I suspect there was an ulterior motive (she's lesbian, so go figure...)

I also know a guy who had the kids from South Park tattooed on his shoulder. I bet he'll regret that when he's older...

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Thu May 16, 2002 11:16 am

Originally posted by Georgi
I also know a guy who had the kids from South Park tattooed on his shoulder. I bet he'll regret that when he's older...

So you think that one day he'll wake up and say [turns on Kyle voice], "I've learned something today. It's not the way we decorate our bodies that makes us individuals, it's what we are on the inside that is valuable. If we get a tattoo to show our individuality, but everyone else is doing it, we'd still just be lemmings trying in vain to conform with society's standards. I don't need nipple rings or a tattoo of a naked Jolene Blaylock to prove that I am my own person; I am happy with myself just the way I am." [/turns off Kyle voice]

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Thu May 16, 2002 11:23 am

LOL @HLD

I would ask who Jolene Blaylock is, but I get the idea I probably wouldn't want to know...

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Thu May 16, 2002 11:24 am

by HLD
So you think that one day he'll wake up and say [turns on Kyle voice], "I've learned something today. It's not the way we decorate our bodies that makes us individuals, it's what we are on the inside that is valuable. If we get a tattoo to show our individuality, but everyone else is doing it, we'd still just be lemmings trying in vain to conform with society's standards. I don't need nipple rings or a tattoo of a naked Jolene Blaylock to prove that I am my own person; I am happy with myself just the way I am." [/turns off Kyle voice]

Impressive. Most impressive. Excellent choice in naked tattoo selection as well.

This post gets five stars.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Thu May 16, 2002 11:48 am

@Flanders:
All too easy.

@Georgi:
Jolene is Subcommander T'Pol on Enterprise. I'd post a link to one of her fansites or a gallery site, but I'd probably get banned for posting links to soft porn.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Thu May 16, 2002 11:54 am

Originally posted by HighLordDave
but I'd probably get banned for posting links to soft porn.

Damn right you would..... *cough* PM *cough*

Nice work with Cartman....sweet

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Thu May 16, 2002 11:55 am

@HLD ah, Enterprise isn't on over here yet... don't worry, I don't really care to see her... save it for Sleepy

CM · Post by CM » Thu May 16, 2002 11:57 am

Me me, me also.
I am serious!

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Thu May 16, 2002 11:58 am

by sleep
Damn right you would..... *cough* PM *cough*

No, you can't post the links but I'd like to add them to my collection.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Thu May 16, 2002 12:03 pm

Originally posted by Georgi
@HLD ah, Enterprise isn't on over here yet... don't worry, I don't really care to see her... save it for Sleepy

It is on Sky One though....the first episode where she is being rubbed down by that geezer was, well, bizzare

I think that is probably enough for one as aged as me, i might have a choronary if anything more was to appear

@Ned & CM tut tut, you and your hormones (HLD remember me in your CC's

)

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Thu May 16, 2002 12:06 pm

She is the reason I tune into the show at all. Did you happen to catch her interview in Maxim magazine. Oh, and to stay on topic, I think she has a tattoo.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Thu May 16, 2002 12:14 pm

Just go to Yahoo! or Google and do a search. Be sure to spell her name correctly (Jolene Blalock, not Blaylock as I erroneously posted above) or you'll end up at porn sites who are trying to "stealth" you in . . . this happened to me . . . by, uh, accident . . .

CM · Post by CM » Thu May 16, 2002 12:14 pm

Forget on topic, where is that pm???

Azmodan · Post by **Azmodan** » Tue May 28, 2002 4:26 pm

i have loads of piercings and i am tatooed aswell....
All of my piercings are homemade, with safteypins (not a good idea). but i have never had any problems with a single one of them!.. My tatoo on my arm is too small,(if you ask me) and i would like it to fill my whole arm, from my fingers to my neck. but that is expensive.... so i will have to do it in small parts..

I think it's a way of expressing your self. I have grown out of some of my piercings. such as.. i had one in the flesh between my thumb and (pointing finger). That was a really stupid piercing. and now i only have one piercing between my eyes (on the nose), i once had 2, but that was too much (me thinks). I have grown older aswell, but that dosn't mean that i regret those things.. that only means i know where i DONT want a piercing! *L*
And for the tatoo bit, im really glad i was 22 before i started with that hobby. so i had a little taste!

My word of advice, is go to pro's and get those things done, it's so much more safe that way. And a piercing you can allways remove, but a tatoo is so much harder to have undone, so think hard before you do it, and be sure to have enough money (i speak from experience *L*)