Conclusion

While it is impossible to give definitive answers, and indeed in this case the ideas being proposed apply to only a small group, the importance of piercing to the Modern Primitive should not be underestimated.

The majority of all piercing is done for fashion reasons. The Modern Primitives, however, act as an enduring bastion of piercing and when piercing is no longer fashionable it will still be an integral part of their lifestyle.

It cannot be denied that piercing can be highly sexual and is used by many for sexual reasons, however little attention has been paid to this aspect of piercing in this paper, due to the ample coverage of this subject (Myers 1992, Clarke 1994, Juno and Vale 1989) and the limitations of this dissertation.

There are many other areas of related study I would like to investigate, particularly looking at piercing across cultural and subcultural groups, such as the relationship between pain and the Sadomasochistic community. What this paper is trying to make clear is that piercing, far from being merle a means of decoration , is seen by many as an important anchoring point to understand and express who they think they are and to whom they wish to be related to in present day society. The other important aspect of piercing for the Modern Primitive is as a link to ritual and religion, which many people feel is lacking from their lives.

Finally I feel piercing can also be looked at as a social marker. As noted, Western societies attitudes towards body art are linked not only to Judeo-Christian belief but also to the moral standards of the Victorian era. As a fringe group Modern Primitives exhibit evidence of society's change in attitude from one set of social values to another. This is further backed up by the uptake and acceptance of many of the Modern Primitive's practices by mainstream, society.