Fun With My Nipple

By Skip Moon skipmoon@cdc.net

I would bet your average forty-three year old straight male doesn't usually relate to someone pushing a needle through his nipple. I pretty much made my decision over Memorial Day weekend last Spring to do just that.

I was visiting my brother's family in Spartanburg SC and we were sitting by his neighbor's pool drinking into the early hours. His neighbor was one of the Marshall Tucker Band members and had been relating some wild stories of being on the road. Someone initiated the question "What have you always wanted to do but never tried?"
With all the good answers used up, I surprised myself when I said "I've always wanted to get something pierced". Everyone loved it and encouraged me to do it.

When I got back to Chattanooga, I researched it over the internet which led me to great resources at the BME website. I found out all kinds of information that helped me choose my body piercing guru. So the next morning I set out on my adventure with a list of the three piercing studios.

I should say that it wasn't until I was actually on my way that I fully made up my mind which body part was to be pierced. I had considered my ear, thinking I shouldn't start with something too radical. But then as I looked in my rear view mirror at my ears, it suddenly hit me "I don't really even like my ears so why draw attention to them?" I also ruled out anything below the belt because I was thinking that if my recent sex life stayed at the current level, who would ever know I had it? As I drove, I reminisced over the traumatic events in my life over the past year and it suddenly became clear to me. The decision was it would be my left nipple and since then, I've never regretted it for a second!

My enthusiasm wavered a little when I arrived at the first studio on my list. It had been shut down and padlocked by the city. I didn't know if that was an indication of anything but I just went on to my next possibility.

The next studio was located up some stairs on top of another business.
All the people waiting around were bikers and the tattoo - piercing person had the same look. Now there's nothing wrong with bikers, in fact I wish I had a Harley. Its just that I didn't know what their reaction was going to be to a conservative looking guy like me asking to get his nipple pierced. No one gave any reaction though.

I filled out the paper work and paid about $50. I was beginning to have second thoughts though because he didn't have any examples of his work and when I asked about ring size he said he only had one size.
He ushered me to what looked like a barber's chair where I waited a few minutes. When he came back and showed me where he was going to place the ring, I responded that I had read on the internet that its better not to have it in the areola. He said he was trained by the best and that's where they always put it. What could I say?

My heart was beating really fast and the silence of the next couple of minutes seemed to stretch time as I waited. I have attention deficit disorder (ADD) and a flood of thoughts were going through my mind. In a situation like that where you've paid your money, filled out the questionnaire, waited forty-five minutes, and been told by a figure of authority not to worry.. its difficult to back out. Then I focused on one memory that came to me. Someone on BME had written that if your not perfectly comfortable with the person doing the piercing, don't do it.

Suddenly I jumped up and said "I'm sorry but I . I just don't feel like I should do this right now." I don't really know what was said after that. The next thing I knew, I was running down the stairs with my money in hand. I sat in my car for a while trying to understand why I felt so stupid. Oh well, there was one studio left.

I arrived at a place called Red Queen and right away felt good.
Upstairs there was a hallway with several rooms including a customer waiting area and an individual room for each of the three tattoo and piercing artists. On the left was a separate store that sold what looked like mostly leather clothes and other leather goods. I laughed to myself and thought "I guess that's a pretty good location for a store like that."

I was soon greeted by a cute girl who explained to me the options and gave me a scrapbook with pictures of some of their work. I know some of the other customers overheard what I wanted but it made me feel good when two different attractive ladies in their thirty's each shot me a sly sexy smile.

I was introduced to Justin who led me into the last room down the hall. He was a full time piercing artist who might have gotten plenty of experience from just doing his own body. It was really nice to have him explain in detail exactly what he would be doing and all the sterile techniques that would be utilized. He explained that he would be piercing the nipple close to the base but would not actually be getting into the areola.

As I recall, I first stood while he placed some marks on each side of the nipple and then let me look into a mirror to see if that position looked ok. Next, he had sit in a chair which reclined and did the cleaning, etc. He used a device to clamp my nipple which didn't really hurt and prepared to insert the needle. He said to relax and breath deeply while focusing all my energy on an object across the room.

I didn't make a sound when he inserted it but let me tell you why.
This was kind of funny. The door was usually left open and I was lying with my head near the door. At some time before he inserted the needle I heard a little kid in the hallway yell at his mom to hurry and come look. In no time, a small crowd had gathered a few feet away including one of the attractive ladies I had mentioned. Man, I couldn't act like a sissy! I decided that no matter what, I wouldn't make a sound.

When he felt I had become focused, he slid the needle through my nipple. Oh, it hurt! Let me make a comment as I slow down the time that the needle moved through. As it began from my left and proceeded to my right correlated with the pain and the movement was a visual graph that formed in my mind. In fact I still remember exactly how it looked, even more than how it felt. The bright light moved from left to right in jagged movements and peaked at its highest point about three-fourths of the way across the video screen in my mind. I know I'm a visual person but this was just really interesting to me and I swear its true. (Later my brother recanted an experience he'd had when he stepped on a needle that lodged on a nerve. Every time he even touched it a bright light would go off in his mind.)

Next Justin confirmed that I was ok and then inserted the ring as he extracted the needle. He finished up a few other minor things that I don't remember and it was over!!! I was proud that I hadn't even flinched with the most intense pain I'd ever had. I think a few people in my little audience even clapped.

In days to follow, I cleaned it three times a day and applied Bactine.
It turned out great. My only accident was once when I was gathering several books from the right seat of my car and sliding them into my left arm to be cradled against my chest. The last one hooked its corner right into my ring. I did some cussing.

I told my family and of course my sister reacted the worst because she is an M.D. Now days I enjoy being able to selectively share my secret with those whom I choose. That summer I easily expanded my circle of friends to at the pool to include someone others had nicknamed "The Tattoo Guy" and his stripper girlfriend. They were really fun people. Unfortunately our friendship came to an end one day when I drove up and saw him being loaded into a police car to be extradited to Georgia to serve several years in prison. I never found out what for.

Let me finish with the most important part which I have purposely left out until now.

No one would have suspected me as someone to have his nipple pierced.
I just don't really look like it. In fact last fall I did a short contract job teaching Visual Basic at a graduate school of information technology in Atlanta and it blew a couple of students away when I showed them my nipple ring. When they asked what motivated me, I brought them a poem a poem the next day which I had written. I am submitting it to this same section and it's called "Just When".

On March 28th, 1997, a tornado wiped out my apartment and everything in it. My only injury was from the closet door that broke my fingers when the tornado slammed the door shut as I was closing it. When I came out, almost everything was gone. When I called my wife at work to let her know I was ok, I should have taken it as an omen of things to come when she asked if the cats were ok, but didn't really ever ask about me. About a month later, she left me after ten years of
marriage for someone she'd been having an affair with at work. I was totally devastated.

In the poem I relate the pain that occurred in my life and lead the reader through what appears to be a sad poem about lost love. It's not until the last line that I say "And that's how I got my nipple ring". To me, my nipple ring is a symbol which reminds me of the pain I went through and the gradual healing that was able to take place.

If I were to describe myself, I would say that I'm a rather deep analytical, but sensitive (and sensual) guy who loves to be creative so getting my nipple pierced as a symbol might not surprise most people.

Hey this is starting to sound like an add in the personals section!
What the heck, I'm on a roll. .. I'm available now and most chemically attracted to women in their twenties and thirties who keep themselves in at least moderately good physical condition. I run every night for endorphins and to try to keep my six foot body around 175 pounds. If you think we could potentially be fun partners, why not go ahead and send me some email? Maybe you could tell me some fun things to do with my nipple ring. And who knows, you might even talk me into getting something else pierced.

-Skip