Who gets Pierced

Within the framework of today's society many people feel there is a general emphasis on conformity and normality, as dictated by the society one lives in. Indeed this goes as far as to have prompted people to remark that within our Western culture any non- conformity, but particularly physical non-conformity is regarded as something to be feared - Fakir Musafar (Modern Primitives).

Piercing the body, particularly in a highly visual manner such as on the face, immediately sets one apart from the rest of society. As noted in Van Gennep's Rites Of Passage a stranger in a given society is often treated with superstition and fear, or respect. In today's impersonal society, piercees see much emphasis put on conformity and anonymity. To specifically draw attention to oneself is the goal of an ever increasing number of people who are dissatisfied with 'traditional' Western culture, which many regard as oppressive.

A stranger entering a new social situation will be subjected to various restrictions, this is brought about by a lack of knowledge and understanding. Within the present-day industrialised West such restrictions remain, but are not necessarily as visually spectacular or obvious as those found in less industrialised society. Most piercees regard themselves as subject to such restrictions, most commonly in the form of reduced freedom of movement and interaction within the society being entered. This is particularly true in relation to job opportunities.

In addition there is a feeling amongst the Modern Primitives that by deliberately setting oneself up as a stranger within one's own society such restrictions are not only imposed but often done far more strongly. Such a strong reaction can be seen as a result of fear of change within one's own society. Such reactions are sometimes sought, but far more often they simply go to prove, to the Modern Primitive, the problems which they perceive within society.

This leads to the question of what kind of people wish to deliberately disassociate from mainstream society, in the case of those who have visual piercings, or, in the case of those people whose piercings are not obviously visible, wish to affiliate themselves with the former group?

Piercing Fans International Quarterly (PFIQ) is possibly the largest independent publication on the subject of body piercing. It is published by Gauntlet, America's largest supplier of body jewellery, and as such can be found in most piercing studios in the US. Gauntlet ran a piercing profile in 1985 of its subscribers. Due to the magazines specialist nature it is reasonable to assume that the majority of people who responded were involved in piercing to a greater extent than someone with a casual or passing interest in the subject. Whilst the results are by no means conclusive they do provide an interesting insight into the type of people who become involved in piecing. The most significant result of the survey, in my opinion, was that most, 83 per cent, of the people who responded had attended college, 24 per cent had college degrees and 33 per cent had gone on to postgraduate study. The result also showed that 93 per cent of the people who responded were Caucasians. This survey, then, would seem to suggest that of those people who become deeply involved in piercing a significant number are well educated. Without extrapolating too much it is reasonable to assume that many of these people will hold jobs of some responsibility, this is further supported by the fact that each individual piercing is expensive at œ20 - œ30 in the UK and similarly priced in the US. We see, then, a practice supported by a number of people who make up the 'white middle class' and yet which emulates the practices of many of the non-industrial aborigines in the world.

I would also note that of the many people I have met while not all were particularly well off a significant number were; also of those people I talked to who were deeply involved in piercing most were, if not educated, intelligent. The people I have spoken to were predominantly from the UK. In my experience however the general trend seems to emulate that of the US.

Ted Polhemus, in his book The Customised Body, pointed out the irony of the fact that traditional tattooing styles are being preserved not by their developers but by the West as part of our 'tattoo Renaissance'. As Western influences spread across the globe and invade the more isolated traditional communities we see art forms and ritual practices being abandoned, only to be preserved by people from the very communities which are destroying them.