A black-and-white photo of a person mid-air in a Superman-style body suspension pose, supported by multiple hooks in their back and legs, smiling joyfully toward the camera. They are suspended horizontally in a large indoor space with high ceilings and visible rigging. A group of onlookers—some seated, some standing—watch with expressions of admiration, amusement, and support. The atmosphere is lively and communal, capturing a moment of shared experience and transformation.

Cao: Growing up kinky in Borneo

(from the interview; click through to read it and come back to comment)

Cao is a friend of mine that grew up and still lives in Borneo where he has a “normal” professional career. You’d never guess — but that’s almost always the case — that under his pants his genitals have gone through a series of modifications, and that he’s had a fetish for them since he was young. This interview is an excerpt from my upcoming book, but I wanted to print it now because I heard a recent Jim Ward interview in which he opined that piercing had moved from the sexual arena into the aesthetic, which made me think of many older friends like Cao who are still very much motivated purely by their sexual eccentricities.

Although the face of body piercing is certainly very visibly aesthetic, I still think his story will feel very familiar to many readers…

Comments

17 responses to “Cao: Growing up kinky in Borneo”

  1. Leroy Avatar

    Great interview, I was suprised he had the implants done by a nurse!

  2. Clovertastic Avatar

    Very cool! Always great to see another DIY Gen-Modder

  3. golden_eternity Avatar

    Great interview, very interesting. Its nice seeing shots of healed piercings, I know I would have liked to have seen some of those when I was investigating my apa.

  4. golden_eternity Avatar

    Er, I mean removed piercings.

  5. Diva-D Avatar
    Diva-D

    Great interview!

    Its interesting how the most “normal” looking people can have mods hiding all over.

    I like how the first thing you see is a bunch of blurred out pictures.

  6. Campbell Avatar
    Campbell

    As a semi-offtopic reply to golden_eternity – Shannon, do you accept submitted photos of retired piercings? I have a few interesting pictures of the healing and subsequent ‘dimple’ left by my retired ampallang 🙂

  7. melsgam Avatar

    Interviews are my favourite 🙂

  8. Wells Avatar
    Wells

    Yeah, I got a huge genitals fetish too. Don’t tell anyone!

  9. Jacques Avatar
    Jacques

    loved it, learnt a wee bit, thanks for posting that.

  10. Viking In LaFleche Avatar

    Very interesting interview.

  11. Venusimpelz Avatar
    Venusimpelz

    Thanks for this very interesting interview–I was amused to see that Cao described his circumcision as allowing him to feel a greater sensation during sex, whereas some other men have argued that circumcision reduces some sensitivity…everybody’s different, I suppose!

  12. tattoedmat Avatar
    tattoedmat

    superb interview. very interesting to hear(and appalled) that Missionarys essentialy destroyed a culture (nothing new there)
    Shannon do you know if people have gone back to “the old ways”? or are they forever lost now?

  13. Shannon Larratt Avatar

    I’d say forever lost.

  14. Stephanie Avatar
    Stephanie

    –I really enjoyed this interview. I didn’t realize that pearl could be used to implant. My husband and I read about that and went “REAL pearls?!? Hmm…actually, why couldn’t you?” I’m not saying it’s ideal but this man hasn’t seemed to have any problems. Pearls are essentially just layers of calcium carbonate. It’s an interesting alternative that I can see being an attractive option for different reasons. (Obviously, everyone would have different reactions and all of the standard cautionary statements…)
    – I think a lot of people still are driven to modification due to sexual desires, it’s just that now there is a larger group who appreciate the aesthetic. There are also a lot of options and freedom to satisfy desires that are sexual and/or aesthetic in nature, so the need “to find some outlet no matter the consequences” isn’t quite as desperate or difficult once it once was. I mean, it certainly for some people on an individual level. But BME is out there, there are practitioners and piercers and tattooists out there. Someone has been faced with something similar to your desire and it’s now easier to accomplish or satisfy that need, without necessarily having to flush other aspects of your life down the drain. We have visibly pierced people in NASA for heaven’s sake. I think that because of the modern modification pioneers (Jim and Fakir and the rest) today we have the opportunity to play with the aesthetic side of modification.
    –I thought that this was a wonderful piece about an individual need. There are so many “I just liked it” people (which I have been known to be myself) so it was really nice to hear about someone, without access to what a lot of people take for granted, get what he needed and end up with mods that he really appreciates.

  15. jack6two Avatar
    jack6two

    My experience is that the clamping before cutting (f.e. meatomy)isnt so exciting like the cutting through the unclamped skin and meat, for pearcing the same! So the bleeding is more, but its a part (perhaps an important?) of the modification process, i think. And bleeding is healthy for our body: it cleans the wound and trains the production of blood.

  16. Tieforce Avatar
    Tieforce

    Great interview but lets face it he really has genital warts… c’mon fess up!

  17. komenu Avatar
    komenu

    Good interview

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