The Body Modification Project

Abby

Tell me about your body modifications.

i have three piercings, my right nostril and two lobe piercings that i’ve stretched (one to just over 5 mm and the other to just over 4 mm). no tattoos, not yet anyway, though i think a lot about them.

Why did you decide to get your body modifications? Why in those particular locations?

i got my ears pierced when i was in 8th grade… late bloomer i guess. it was a big hullaballoo though because my dad had to OK the piercing place and when we showed up and this man with large gauge stretched ears, covered in tattoos and piercings told my dad he was going to stick a needle through his daughter’s ears, my dad wasn’t pleased. it’s kind of funny in retrospect. but as for why i got them pierced, not sure, i guess i wanted to wear earrings. in high school i started stretching them by sticking more than one piece of jewelry in my ear at a time and since then wearing increasingly larger gauges of spiral type earrings. my friend got me a pair of earrings as a present that required that i stretch my ears so that probably was an impetus. i probably won’t stretch too much larger (maybe just the next size up), but i really love larger gauges on other people. as for my nose, i thought for probably at least one or two years before i got it, but towards the end of last summer, a bunch of friends and i were talking about how we wanted to get this and that pierced etc.etc. and then in typical group-think fashion, about 5 of us went together to get pierced. i fretted about a ring vs. a stud, and currently possess both, but typically wear a steel stud.

Are your body modifications symbolic?

i guess they’re not particularly symbolic. i could probably fashion a narrative, but that’s not the driving impulse, and overall, they’ve been pretty aesthetically motivated.

What, if any, were your inspirations (visual and otherwise) for your body modifications?

probably in high school at least, my friend who gave me my first pair of gauged earrings was a motivating factor. plus i was such a cool punker and i wore mismatched earrings and band hoodies and was totally badass so why wouldn’t i stretch my ears duh? .. but really, i guess it was just seeing them around and on other people (though not so much in my high school). i think i also liked that not everyone around me was piercing and stretching and whatever, at least in high school. i also really like wearing spirals in my ears, or spiral type patterns. as for my nose, again, i think just seeing it on other people. i had thought about actually getting a lip piercing or an eyebrow piercing before my nose, but this same friend had gotten her nose pierced and didn’t get snot everywhere so it might’ve made it seem more plausible for me.

Do you ever feel you are stereotyped or judged for your body modifications?

i generally feel a lot more judged for my dyed hair (i’ve been dyeing it for 8+ yrs) than i do for any of my piercings, since i guess those are super obtrusive but you really can’t not notice my hair. some people i’d known for years saw me after i got my nose pierced and couldn’t figure out whether it was new or whether i’d always had it. similarly, my ears aren’t stretched to a very large gauge, so spiraly-type earrings can look more usual, though right now i’m wearing tunnels that clearly outline the hole through my ear. i think it’s also that i already present kind of “alternative” or whatever, so no one seems particularly shocked by anything i have. this is probably a tangent, but on the one hand, constructing a “look” is kind of interesting, but on the other hand, knowing that this look plays into others’ conceptions of what someone who looks like ___ should do or be is frustrating. paradoxically, by being unconventional, i’m pretty sure i play into conventional notions of nonconformity. at the end of the day though, i like having metal in my face, and i like freaking people out by playing with my nose stud, so really, everyone wins.

What further body modifications are you considering? What is holding you back from getting them?

i’ve put off getting second holes in each ear lobe for a long time, so i’ll probably do that at some point in the near future. maybe as a graduation present to myself. also, like i said at the beginning, i’ve debated getting a tattoo but i can always take piercings out, i can’t just remove a tattoo like an earring. i’ve had a tattoo in my mind for a little while, but what i wanted when i was 17 till i was 20 is no longer what i want, and so that’s something i take into consideration. on the other hand, i really love adding things that feel at home on my body, and as a result, things that make me feel more at home in my body to begin with.

Anything else you would like to add?

something that i consider is hiding tattoos or getting retainers for piercings. i’ve been asked about dyeing my hair in interviews before, but never about my stretched ears (i didn’t need to interview for the jobs i’ve had since i got my nose pierced). now that i’ll be going to more interviews than ever before (hooray, the job search!), i’ll have to figure out my stance on hair/piercings.

also, i was just looking at the website that you have up for your project, and i don’t know whether you should include this since i didn’t include them at the beginning, but i bite my nails a lot (habit…always have, tried quitting a lot when i was younger, tend not to care so much now… but it gets worse when i’m stressed) and i shave my underarms and, when i will be wearing something that will show my bare legs, i pretty much always shave my legs.