BME: Body Modification Ezine

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.

Tattoo, Piercing, and Body Modification News, Events, and Culture

  • Punch and Taper Surface Piercing [The Publisher’s Ring]

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt


    Punch and Taper Surface Piercing

    “Great ideas, it is said, come into the world as gently as doves. Perhaps, then, if we listen attentively, we shall hear amid the uproar of empires and nations a faint flutter of wings; the gentle stirring of life and hope.”

    – Albert Camus

    GLOSSARY
     Since this article contains terms that not all readers may be familiar with; here are a few quick definitions to help you, and there are many more in the BME/encyclopedia.

    Surface Bar (“Staple Bar”): A surface bar is a barbell that’s quite literally shaped like a staple. Its goal is to place as little pressure on surrounding tissue as possible, thus its unusual shape.

    Tygon: Tygon is an inert and extremely flexible plastic tubing. Instead of attempting to find the “perfect shape” as a surface bar does, Tygon works by being flexible enough to just “go wherever your body wants it to”.

    Dermal Punch (“Biopsy Punch”): A dermal punch is a cylindrical blade that doctors use to remove tissue samples for biopsies. It is also used by piercers for large gauge piercing work and of course the technique discussed in this article.

    Drop Down Threading (also Step Down Threading): This is a form of externally threaded jewelry where the threaded section has a smaller diameter than the main rod, thus minimizing irritation if it’s drawn through a piercing.

    It’s rare these days to see new innovations in the field of body piercing. It’s been almost a decade since piercers like Jon Cobb, Tom Brazda, and Steve Haworth pioneered procedures like the surface bar, pocketing, and the transscrotal, and while things have certainly been improved and fine-tuned since then, not a lot has changed when it comes down to it. However, over the past few years, a number of artists have been working out a new method of surface piercing which promises even better results than are possible using traditionally placed surface bars.

    This new procedure is called “punch and taper” or “transdermally implanted” surface piercing. It is similar to surface bar piercing, and in fact uses surface bars as jewelry most of the time, but in an effort to reduce trauma and pressure (and thus migration) the entry and exit points are formed with a dermal punch and the “tunnel” for the jewelry is formed with a taper or elevator. The end result is a surface piercing that heals faster and has a far greater survivability rate than a standard clamp and needle type procedure. I recently had a chance to talk to three piercers, each that can make the claim of having independently invented this method. They were kind enough to talk to me both about the procedure itself and the development that went into creating it, giving a rare insight to the technical “craft” element of body piercing as it advances.

    Before we begin I’d like to introduce them to you, and make one thing very, very clear:
    This article is not a how-to. This is an advanced procedure and the text here is not enough to teach you how to do it.


    BRIAN DECKER

    iam: xPUREx

    Brian was the first person I saw doing this procedure, although in the early days he was using a very different version than he uses now. He pierces (and more) at Sacred Body Arts on Canal St. in NYC. Brian is also an accomplished scarification and heavy modification artist.

    TOM BRAZDA

    iam: TomBrazda

    Tom is considered the primary inventor of the surface bar and ran Stainless Studios in Toronto, Canada for ten years (where I worked for him and learned a lot!) before moving on to a smaller salon environment. You can find him at TomBrazda.com.

    ZACHARY ZITO

    iam: zak

    Zak is currently working at Mainstreet Tattoo in Edgewood, Maryland. It all started one day at the age of thirteen, when he was skating home from a friend’s house and found a PFIQ on the side of the road, and the rest is history. He’s been piercing since 1993 and like most piercers at the time is largely self taught.
    BME: What do you tell people when they come in asking about surface piercing?
    TOM: First we talk about risks and rejection, and then I explain to them the different ways I can do the piercing. We talk about care issues and possible lifestyle changes that will help them contribute to a successful healed piercing. We also talk about longterm concerns such as accidents and how to deal with them — all in all this initial consultation takes about an hour.
    ZAK: Usually for me it starts with a phone call from someone just trying to find a studio that will do it — most in this area turn them away due to inexperience, and eventually they get pointed in my direction, and then I have them come in for an in-person consultation.
    BRIAN: I explain the procedure in detail to them, the way the jewelry has to be custom designed for them, and how and why it works with their body. I haven’t used a needle for a surface piercing in four years and with the results I’ve seen with transdermally implanting the bars, I’m not about to start again. Some people find the idea of punching and elevating the skin unsettling, but I assure them it’s not nearly as bad as they think… I can’t remember ever having anyone walk out because I’m not using a needle, and these days people actually seek me out because I don’t use a needle.
    BME: Let’s get right into the procedure itself. How exactly do you do a “punch and taper” or “transdermally implanted” surface piercing?
    TOM: After I’ve talked to them for long enough to make informed consent, we inspect the area of the proposed piercing in terms of tissue stability — does it stretch or flex, and how does it fold when they bend? I look for the most stable placement I can find. Then I determine the dimensions of the jewelry that are going to be needed. If I’ve got it handy we can go ahead and do the piercing, but a lot of the time it has to be custom ordered.

    Before we actually start the piercing, we talk about what they can expect from the procedure itself. I prep the area and spend a lot of time marking it to make sure I’ve got the best placement both in aesthetics and technical placement. This is redone as many times as it takes for me to be satisfied it’s the best it can be.

    I actually give the customer the choice of insertion method after explaining all the issues to them, but if they choose the punch and taper method, the first thing I do is double check all my tools to ensure I have everything and all the sizes are right and everything fits together as it should. I also make sure I have enough gauze on hand, because some bleeding control is often needed — although because the vascularization is much higher in the deeper fatty tissue, unless you go a little too deep there’s usually not a lot of blood.

    I make the two holes by dermal punching down into the tissue. I take a normal taper and put it into the first hole and pull up on the skin a bit to make sure that the taper is at the bottom of the subcutaneous layer. Then I gently push the taper toward the other hole, applying force as necessary. When the taper is at the exit hole, I put one of the dermal punches back into the hole to “grab” the end of the taper. I find this works better than a small receiving tube because some of the fatty tissue can get in the way and the dermal punch helps cut the tissue if needed.

    After the taper is through, I follow it with a second taper that’s screwed onto the jewelry. That pulls the jewelry into place, and the rest goes like a normal piercing. I make sure to keep them in the studio for ten minutes to chill out to make sure they’re OK, and make them promise to come back and check with me later so we can be sure everything’s healing like it should.

    Above: Punch and taper procedure by Tom Brazda
    BRIAN: First thing I do as well is the jewelry design — a lot of poking and pinching at the skin. My main goal is to fit the jewelry exactly to the piercing tunnel I’m going to make. Any pressure is going to mean a greater chance of scarring or migration. It takes a bit of practice learning how to hold the skin in different areas, and what areas need what depths.

    After prepping the skin and marking, I pinch the skin up with my thumb and index finger, and twist a 1.5mm biopsy punch down into the dermis and straight into the subcutaneous tissue — generally that’s 2 to 5mm, 2mm being thin skin like temples and inner wrists, and 5mm being areas like the back. These aren’t just standards though — you need to pinch up the skin before punching so you can make it much easier to tell when you’ve reached the subcutaneous layer.

    After I’ve removed that small cylinder of dermis, I insert my elevating tool straight down into the hole and shift it so it’s parallel with the skin. I slowly work my way across the subdermis at the same depth as the lifts on the jewelry I’m putting it. The tool I use for the elevation is 6mm bar stock with about two inches of one end milled down to about 2mm width. It’s sturdy and and the ease of using the handle allows me more control and requires less pressure than a taper pin, especially in harder to separate areas like the nape. The consistent flattened shape of the tool tip keeps the pocket tight and uniform so the jewelry sits firmly.

    I then insert a small 12ga steel rod that’s round on one end and externally threaded on the other into the pocket as if I’m doing an implant. To make sure the tunnel doesn’t arc up into the dermis, I poke the end of a 12ga taper down into the exit hole and match it up with the end of the rod and follow the rod back out that exit hole. So at this point it looks like a surface piercing with a straight bar in it.

    Since I bend all my own pieces, I use step-down external threading on my jewelry. I’ve tried bending internally threaded jewelry but it tends to buckle and break. To keep from pulling threading through the fresh piercing I us a tiny 1/2″ piece of Tygon tubing to attach the surface bar to the 12ga rod. The rod then pulls the jewelry into the piercing in one smooth motion and is removed. The entire thing from punching to putting on the beads takes just a few minutes.

    Above: Punch and taper procedure by Brian Decker
    ZAK: Assuming we’ve already talked about everything, I start with explaining again why and what materials I’m using, tell them about sterile technique, and the exact process I’m about to use. We also go over their daily activities and lifestyle again to be as sure as possible that nothing will clash with the piercing they want. We determine the perfect jewelry for them after examining the local anatomy in terms of rise and bar length.

    Once all that is settled everything goes in the StatIM autoclave. While we’re waiting for that a gross decontamination scrub is done and all the marking is taken care of. The StatIM cassette is opened, hands are scrubbed with Technicare, rinsed, dried, and then misted with Vionexus. I put on my first pair of sterile gloves, and using a sterile 4×4 of Nugauze that is saturated with Technicare I prep the area. These gloves are then disposed of and I put on a new sterile pair.

    I massage the tissue, doing a non-invasive dissection, to make dermal elevation easier and less traumatic. With a 1.5mm biopsy punch the exits of the wound channel are incised and removed. I use a four inch long threaded taper and insert it into the entry point and elevate the channel being created across the length of the piercing. When the taper reaches the exit hole I massage the tissue to help the taper exit. After that, all that’s left is threading a titanium surface bar onto the taper and feeding it through the channel. I use disc ends for beads, clean the area, and apply a Tegaderm patch to keep the wound from being exposed to outside elements during the first stages of healing.

    BME: What sort of aftercare do you recommend to people?
    ZAK: In a perfect world I’d suggest dry wound care, but since we don’t live in a perfect work I try to get people just to do as close to dry wound care as they can.
    TOM: Just leave it alone as best as you can. If you bump it or it comes in contact with something unclean, clean it with saline immediately. It should be washed daily — gently — and given a couple sea salt soaks for a few minutes, or longer if it gets irritated. Most of all though people need to be aware of their surroundings and prevent problems rather than treating them. Lastly, good health! A healing piercing needs proper resources — nutrients — to be able to heal, and your immune system has to be strong. It doesn’t just happen on its own.
    BRIAN: From my point of view, the most important part of the aftercare for surface “piercings” are the warm or hot water soaks which help soften crusting and drain bacteria from the inside of the pocket. The average body piercing is through less than half an inch of tissue, but surface piercings are usually much longer, making it harder for your body to excrete harmful bacteria and dead tissue from inside it. The warm soaks will also increase blood circulation, and your body needs these white blood cells to heal the piercing, just like any wound.

    The only antiseptic I recommend for healing is natural sea salts — four teaspoons in a gallon of water, which can then be microwaved to heat it. If you measure this correctly it will match your body’s salinity. Soaps usually have colorings, perfumes, glycerins, triclosan and so on — chemicals that are too strong and can damage and destroy healing tissue. Even for people whose bodies are strong enough to heal with these soaps, healing without them will probably be quicker since your body won’t be spending time fighting off the things that are in the soap!
    BME: If they take care of it, how long does healing take, and what sort of success rates can they expect?
    BRIAN: I think with “perfect” care, complete healing can be quicker than a standard navel or nipple, depending on the placement. Areas with little movement tend to heal in four to six months assuming they’re not banged up. The sad thing is, most people don’t take perfect care of their piercings, so healing times are often longer than they need to be. The success rate I’ve been getting is very good though — exponentially higher than with needle piercing.
    ZAK: I think the majority of healing takes place in the first three months, but I agree that the complete healing is closer to six months. As to the success rate, nothing is 100%, but in the time I’ve been working with this method I haven’t seen any of the pitfalls and problems traditionally associated with surface piercings — no scarring, no rejection, no wound drainage problems, and so on. I’ve even seen them take substantial abuse and other than temporary swelling and a bit of bleeding, they tend to return to normal and don’t show long term effects of that trauma.
    TOM: I’m seeing them healing in no more than three months, personally, but with a surface piercing aftercare is for life. Success of the piercing involves a lot of factors — sometimes it can come down to a choice between lifestyle and a piercing. Enough damage to a well healed surface piercing can cause migration at any time. I tell people that a surface piercing is not permanent in that somewhere down the road it will probably need to come out. Of all the ones I’ve done I’ve only seen one reject though, but I only do the ones I think are going to be successful.
    ZAK: I’ve done quite a few of these as well, to the point where I’ve stopped keeping track of the numbers. Initially I had everyone coming back in weekly so I could keep an eye on them, but all I ever saw was immaculate results… It was actually funny to see people coming in with Tegaterm tan lines around the piercing months later.

    Above: Punch and taper work by Zachary Zito

    BME: How did your surface piercing technique evolve over time, and how did you come upon this particular technique?
    BRIAN: I adopted the idea from doing transdermal implants — which is why I call them “transdermally implanted surface bars”. When I first started doing them, I was using a #11 scalpel blade to make incisions into the skin. Why I didn’t think to use a dermal punch is beyond me, but after talking to Tom a few years after doing them exclusively with a scalpel I switched. Another one of Tom’s incredible ideas that I’ve adopted is milling down the bottoms of all my bars for a while now, in order to lessen the chance of the jewelry “rolling” over. It’s worked wonders.
    TOM: I think about nine years ago we actually talked about it after looking at pictures of Jon Cobb’s wrist piercing, an 8ga straight bar going from one edge of the wrist to the other. Looking at that all I could think about was how much damage the needle could do traveling across all that tissue and blood vessels. At the time I thought about making two scalpel cuts and tapering across the holes. The idea stayed in my head, but I didn’t think that such a long bar across the wrist was a good idea anyway so I didn’t try that.

    At about that time we stopped using curved barbells for surface piercing and developed the surface bar. After refining the surface bar I looked at the tissue that I was going to pierce in order to anticipate potential problems and work around them. Later came the use of flat wire bars, which makes a big difference if you’re working with thinner tissue.

    Down the road you always find those things that you wish you could do but are limited by your process. How do you pierce a person with tissue you can’t even grab? Or a piercing so short that you know it’ll reject quickly? Thinking about these problems brought me back to the old idea from Jon’s wrist piercing. It took me a while before I found someone who’d let me do a piercing that would be a good proof of concept. If you’re doing it on a spot that would have been easy to pierce with a normal surface bar technique it wouldn’t have proved anything.

    Once I did this, I wanted to get around another problem in surface piercing, and that’s getting a proper entry through the skin, going straight down, straight across, and then straight up. Before you could only do this by piercing at the exact right spot based on what the tissue did when you clamped it, but otherwise the piercing arced through the tissue placing weird stresses on the jewelry and pushing it upwards, increasing the risk of migration. Even if you got through the dermis and epidermis correctly, you still arced through the subcutaneous tissue, which would be visible as a slight bump in the middle of the piercing. So that’s how using the dermal punches came about, and how I got to the procedure I’m using today.

    ZAK: When I started doing surface piercings I was using Teflon and Tygon barbells and placing them with standard piercing needles. Later I switched over to titanium staple bars, but still used needles to place them. When I started to experiment with the idea of using a punch and taper technique rather than a needle, I didn’t know that other people were developing it as well. I was mostly thinking of the shape of the initial wound channels; where the jewelry was sitting on the tissue itself. I thought that using this technique would drastically change things, and the results have been very positive.
    BME: What kind of response have you had from other piercers, and — to ask you an uncomfortable question — what would you say to piercers reading this who’d like to start using the technique?
    ZAK: All the colleagues that I have shared this with, done demonstrations for, or showed healed results to in person have had nothing but good results themselves with it later. If you want to start doing this, find someone that is experienced and do some shadowing to see what’s involved firsthand.
    BRIAN: Pierce yourself or your friends before you pierce customers! It might take some time to learn the feel of the tissue you want to work with since there’s no standard depth for proper separation. If you separate too shallowly, you’ll run into rejection problems. Learn to bend your own jewelry as well so you aren’t forced to wait for custom orders (or compromise and pierce too shallow or too deep). I don’t think this method has any special risks — just the time it takes to do it, maybe five minutes instead of one minute. It’s also a bit messier, as it’s not unusual to strike a small blood vessel with the punch and have to pinch the skin for a minute or two before proceeding with the elevator. It won’t affect the outcome though, but you’ll spend a bit more on gauze maybe!
    TOM: This piercing does take more skill and understanding of the anatomy to perform it well. Shit, I think you could say that about all piercings, but if you’re going to do this, talk to other piercers that have tried it before?

    Above: some of the steps in doing a punch and taper surface piercing (photos and procedure: John Joyce, Scarab Body Arts, Syracuse NY; iam: j_scarab).
    STEVE TRUITT

    I also had a chance to talk to Steve Truitt of Stay Gold Tattoo in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who you may know as stainless on IAM. Steve has been piercing professionally since 1995, and uses a slight variation of this technique for his own surface piercing work. Steve also is an experienced implant and scarification artist, and runs an active suspension group in the Albuquerque area.

    BME: Tell me about the punch and taper technique that you use?
    STEVE: I started off back in 1996 or 1997 using the HTC surface bars, and used those until I tried Tygon in 1999. At the time I was just placing them with a needle, but now I’m using a punch and taper method. Procedurally it’s similar to what Zak, Tom, and Brian are doing — after the cleaning, marking, and so on, I massage the skin for a minute or two to separate the skin from the fascia. Then I dermal punch straight down into my marks. I insert a threaded taper into the first hole and guide it across until it exits the other hole.

    That taper is attached to Tygon tubing which I draw through the piercing. I trim the Tygon as needed, and it’s done. It’s a little more bleeding than using a needle, but it has a much higher success rate — probably at least 85% or higher (and I’m doing three or four people a week with this method).

    BME: What gave you the idea of switching to using a punch and taper method?
    STEVE: I’d tried it a few times over the past five years, but that was using an elevator rather than a taper. I decided it was just too painful and traumatic to do as my normal procedure, but after talking to Zak about how he was doing them, I ordered some punches, tried it, and loved it!
    BME: How come you don’t use the metal jewelry like most people are using?
    STEVE: Most people find the Tygon is a lot more comfortable to wear. The Tygon does need to be changed occasionally, so I have them come back in the first few months to change it, and then three or four times a year as long as they have the piercing. I can swap in a steel or titanium bar after nine to twelve months, but most people do seem to prefer the Tygon.


    Triple chest piercing by Steve Truitt

    BME: Are you seeing about the same healing times?
    STEVE: Just switching to punch and taper I saw healing times for surface work drop from six to nine months, down to two or three months in most cases. Even in the harder to heal surface piercings like spinal piercings, they heal in four to six months.
    BME: I’ll ask you as well — any advice or warnings to piercers who’d like to start doing this?
    STEVE: Learn to swim before you jump in the ocean! I see a lot of “piercers” that are attempting things way out of their league. Take your time, learn how skin works, how the body heals, and get all your basic piercings down before you attempt to move to the more complicated procedures and tools.

    The risks of this procedure are minimal in the hands of an experienced piercer, but they’re greatly compounded in the hands of a hack. You have to be a lot more careful looking for veins with this method, since you don’t want to push a dermal punch in and take out a chunk of an artery, nerve, or vein! Other than that, the only negative I can think of is that there are some States that don’t allow piercers to use dermal punches.

    Thank you very much to the piercers above, and as well I’d like to thank Jakk “ScabBoy” Cook (Express Yourself, Lackawanna NY), Matt Bruce (Spitfire Tattoos, Victoria BC), John Joyce (Scarab Body Arts, Syracuse NY), Tony Snow (Bad Apple, Las Vegas NV), Emilio Gonzalez (Wildcat, Antwerp Belgium), and Keru von Borries (La Paz, Bolivia), who all helped in creating this article with supplemental interviews, commentary, and procedural photos.


    Shannon Larratt
    BME.com

  • Overdone: Why Do People Get Star Tattoos? [The Publisher’s Ring]

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt


    Overdone:

    Why Do People Get Star Tattoos?


    “Quod est ante pedes nemo spectat: coeli scrutantur plagas.”

    (No one sees what is before his feet: we all gaze at the stars.)

    – Marcus Tullius Cicero

    Bod mod elitists have always made fun of people with modifications they feel have become “common” and moved into the mainstream. In the past (and still now), the legions of people wandering about with kanji symbols tattooed on them became objects of derision, accused of wearing what they didn’t understand or relate to because someone told them it was the cool thing to do. Similar accusations of mutilatory exercises in conformity have been leveled at those with star tattoos, as over the past five years stars have become perhaps the single most common piece of tattoo iconography.

    Can star tattoos still have meaning — or did they ever? Why do people get star tattoos anyway? Are they just going with the flow? Have they devalued over time like a Right Said Fred CD? Earlier this year I started asking people why they got their star tattoos; below are some of the answers I got in their own words, along with the tattoos those people wear (click to view them). Decide for yourself if they took their skin seriously enough for you to judge them from your ivory tower.

    Sarah W

    Sarah is “an artist of sorts” from the UK who draws lots of flash for friends and has an online clothing store. She’s been getting tattooed since she was fifteen and loves being part of such a rich and varied community. She’s also a vegetarian, involved in animal rights, and (surprised?) loves travel and music. She’s still deciding whether she wants to be a tattoo artist or a bag lady when she finally grows up.


    I have earlier star tattoos, but they are just simple ones, more for decoration and to fill space. But I’ve always liked stars for their aesthetic qualities — they look very neat and clean. They can be endlessly changed and altered in almost any way to suit any tastes. I also love the idea of tattooed stars relating to real stars, and the relation to the universe and space. It’s a reminder of how small we are within everything that exists and gives me a certain amount of peace of mind that what I do is ultimately unimportant.

    This star you’re asking me about was designed by Alison Manners at Ultimate Skin in Leeds. I found a basic star design with an oldschool rose inside it; she redrew it perfectly for me. I chose the color because I love pink and am a bit of a girly-girl, and leopard print because I relate it to pin up girls (something I love), and also to nature. My boyfriend suggested getting it on the front of my shoulder, at the far side of my chest, but I felt it wouldn’t really fit with the chest piece which I have designed. I had always wanted a rose on my sternum, right in my cleavage because it would be very private, and also very suggestive, to show that I am a sexual person. A star with a rose in it would fit perfectly, so it was pretty easy to place it.

    Not too many people have seen it because of its location, but obviously I’ve shown it to my friends. They all really liked it when they first saw it, and expected that it was pretty painful to get done. The biggest reaction was from myself, because I was surprised at how different I felt after having it done. It’s the first tattoo I’ve had which I can see when I look at myself face-on in the mirror, as most of my tattooing is on my back. I had a great feeling of satisfaction being able to see it all the time, and comfort within myself after it was done. It was like I was becoming more like me. It’s changed the way I think about my body and myself, giving me more confidence and making me more secure with who I am.

    Sarah F

    Sarah is a twenty year old hairstylist, a profession she chose because it allows her to look how she wants. She also hopes that because the job lets her interact with the public so often that she can change people’s opinions of the modified, because, as she puts it, “I’m such a nice girl!”


    It’s not that I specifically liked star tattoos, I just liked stars. When I started high school I would doodle them everywhere and when I was sixteen I drew up the design for my first tattoo, a star with black and white checkers inside it. That design waited, tacked up on my bulletin board until I was almost nineteen and had the opportunity to get it. So now it sits on my left forearm just below the bend of my elbow, and I absolutely love it. I chose to put it on my arm because I didn’t want it to be hidden, I wanted it to be a part of me that people could see.

    I have had my checkered star for over a year and a half and I still love it just as much as the first day I got it. I recently got another star tattoo on my back between my shoulder blades. Sometimes people notice the top point of the star coming up the back of my neck and they are curious to find out what it’s connected too. I always show them if they are truly interested and not being rude. I am happy to show them off.

    I don’t care what’s popular and what isn’t. I got my star tattoos because I like them and that’s that. Things that other people do rarely affect my decisions on anything, and my tattoos are no different. I think it’s fairly obvious that I do not follow the crowd anyway. Most likely I will be getting more star themed pieces — how could I not? I never worry about them going out of style. It’s never even crossed my mind. As for the way other people see them, I don’t think that in twenty years people will be saying, “Oh, star tattoos are soooo 1998” or whatever. And if they do, well, I just don’t care.

    I think it’s really sad that people make fun of star tattoos just because they are popular. Especially in this community where you think people would be more open minded
    it’s sad to hear that people get all elitest about it and think “oh she’s not cool, she must have gotten that because everyone else does.” I know it’s been said before but don’t judge people for anything! You don’t ever know where they are coming from and the reasons behind their actions and decisions.

    Claudinne


    Claudinne is twenty and an officer in the Dominican Republic Army (a Caribbean nation next to Cuba and Jamaica, and bordering Haiti).


    I love stars, ever since I was a baby, so, when it was time to decide on a design for my first tattoo, I had no doubt it would be a star. I did some research, drew a couple myself, and then decided to have it put on my back. Everybody just loves it! Here in the Dominiccan Republic I’ve had girls on the street just going crazy over it! I don’t regret doing it at all.

    What other people think about star tattoos doesn’t change my feelings. I’m keeping this one and I’m getting more stars as well. Star tattoos will never look outdated, especially when you add details from your own imagination.

    Melissa


    Melissa is a nanny by day and Italian photo charm entrepreneur by night with a short fuse for people who don’t use common sense.


    I have always loved stars. I love science, and stars are awesome heavenly bodies. To figure out my design I just looked around at some tattoo web sites. I found one that I liked and made it a little more special for me. I wansn’t really sure where to place it, but I always wanted tattoos on my chest, so I took the dive. Didn’t tear up once during it!

    My mom hates my tattoos, and a lot of people think where I put them was a bad idea, but I love them and wouldn’t change a thing about them! I don’t care what everyone one else has as tattoos. A lot of people have star tattoos, but they aren’t all the same. There are so many different ones that I don’t think it matters that a lot of people have them.

    Darren


    Darren is an 18 year old living in the small middle of nowhere town of Tipton, California, where he’s lived all his life. He’s been playing guitar for the past five years, and music is something that makes him tick, along with hobbies like restoring muscle cars.


    I’ve always been a tattoo person. I like hearing stories about people’s meanings behind the tattoos, and I like it when someone is able to put a meaning behind something that that put on their bodies. I thought about my design and actually going through with it for two years, and decided to have it done on my 18th birthday. Stars are also kind of an attractive shape. They always somehow seem to catch my eye when someone has one tattooed on them. In life I run into some troubled moments. I would sometimes stop my car and pull over on the side of the road on late nights coming home from hanging out with my friends, if something was on my mind. I would stop and get out, and just look into the sky. It’s almost always overcast here and the stars and clouds were just a design that kinda went together, and I figured if I tattooed it on me, it would always remind me of the things I do and why I do them.

    I knew that I wanted the stars and clouds, but I wasn’t absolutely sure. I met Keith Duggan from Tiger Rose over in Pismo Beach who helped me work on the design. I chose to put in on my chest pallet and shoulder, just because I figured it’d be a good place to start, and Keith figured it’d probably look better there. My friends thought I was absolutely crazy. It’s just about ten inches in length and covers a pretty good sized area, and none of them have tattoos. They liked how good it looked and they thought that it was really cool, since it wasn’t just a plain star. A lot of people have said that it suits me just because of my personality. I absolutely love the damn thing. I don’t stop getting complimented on it. I’m actually thinking about making it it bigger and maybe even adding some stuff too.

    Each and every tattoo I have and will get will be different in some way. Stars tattoos have been around forever. If you like a design that has stars in it, and feel like later on it’ll be out dated, don’t worry about it. If that star means something to you, then by all means go for it. There are some designs that people feel are “played out”. The nautical star for example, is something I hear about all the time. People say it’s played out, some say it’s cool. It all just depends on how you feel. I don’t regret one minute of choosing to put stars in my tattoo though!

    Danica


    Danica is a 29 year old administrative assistant to five oncologists at Vanderbilt University’s Medical Center (so all of her tattoos are in places she can hide). She loves her job but dreams of being a concert photographer. Like many others with star tattoos, she lives her life for music and travel, the most important things in her life other than her friends and family.


    When I was ten I got my first telescope and fully intended to be an astronaut or astronomer when I grew up. For years I studied the stars, the sky, the moon, and the planets. It was such an awesome feeling for me to know that there are so many things up there that we’ll never know about. As I grew up I bought material items with stars on them. Star frames, jewelry, pillows, hair pins, and so on. I still do this, but I’m a little more picky now about the style of it.

    The second tattoo that I ever got was a fairy sitting on a crescent moon holding a star in her hands. The star was never the main focus of the tattoo, but somehow it became the centerpiece. It was my favorite thing about the tattoo. Some years later, my best friend and I decided to get matching tattoos in which we would design from something I had previously seen on a temporary tattoo template. It was a spiral of stars circling around each other with some lyrics that read “gonna twinkle” (a line from a Tori Amos song). It was special to us in that cheesy way, thinking that no matter where we were (as we live hundreds of miles apart) we’s always be there for each other, somewhere under the same star, twinkling. I know, it’s complete cheese. But it’s cute cheese at least!

    My biggest tattoo to date (the one pictured above) has 90 stars in it and one line of lyrics set between each star. I wanted it to look like the Milky Way. I remember in the summer, laying under the stars in my back yard just staring at the Milky Way and thinking how incredible it was. I couldn’t (and still can’t) even put into words what looking at that does to me. So my tattoo artist took into consideration what I wanted and he drew it to paper brilliantly. The lyrics go along with the star theme — “billowing out to somewhere”.

    People love this tattoo. I get so many compliments on it several times a week. I haven’t had a negative thing said about it since I’ve had it. As for myself, I am in love with this work of art and I’m very proud to carry it around with me. I’m never going to change the tattoo or get rid of it. All my tattoos are bits of my life embedded into my skin. They represent a time and meaning in my life. If I got rid of them, it would be like erasing my memories.

    Ali


    Ali is a nineteen year old and was working at Burger King when I interviewed her, and assuming her plans went as expected, is just starting college now. Her boyfriend is currently serving in the Army, and Ali looks forward to his return next July.


    I’m not sure why I like stars so much. I have stars and moons all over my room and seem to have them everywhere else I can put them! I looked for a long time before I had decided where I wanted it and what I wanted for my first star, a basic pink star with a black outline. When I went to Warped Tour a few days ago a majority of the tattoos I saw were stars — which was cool — but they seemed to be more on guys.

    My “American” star was done in honor of my boyfriend and the rest of the people that I know personaly in the military, and is my own design. I’ve never had anyone comment that stars are overrated, but even if they did, I got them because I like them and wouldn’t care what others thought. I think most people have had positive reactions to my stars, and I do plan on getting more.

    Janis


    Janis is a 28 year old South African working at an accounting and auditing firm. While on a two year working holiday in the UK she was bitten by the “tattoo bug.”


    My baby sister originally went overseas with me, but didn’t stay long. Once home, we would send each other text messages all the time and one night she said something about the brightest star in the sky and how it was me “watching over her” from far away. From then on, I was her star.

    I got my first star, the larger one in the middle of my back, as a birthday present to myself in 2001. Then when I went home for my sister’s 21st birthday in 2002 I twisted her arm to have the same one done.

    I got the other three done last year, here in Cape Town as a sort of “new beginning” phase of my life. People’s reactions are mostly “why stars” or just, “shit, that’s awesome”. I don’t always explain the full story to strangers — I just say “because I am a star!” which seems to work.

    I only noticed recently how popular stars are, and it makes me feel kind of crappy because I wonder if their stars mean as much to them as mine do to me. When I’m seventy and can just barely turn my body to see my wrinkly stars they will still mean something to me. I’m not going to change them at all, but I am getting the Chinese symbol for star done in a week or so.

    Melanie


    Melanie is a twenty year old now in her third year of an English major. She’s still young, mostly just concerned with living a good life, having fun, and effecting some sort of positive change on the world. She’s asked me to point out first that her tattoo is a snowflake that just happens to be star shaped, not a star per se (“dammit!”).


    I originally thought of getting a star tattoo on my foot because I liked the look of it, but I held off on it because a star really had no personal meaning for me. I think stars are very strong looking, and they come off as bold on the wearer. Star designs have been around for an awfully long time, and I don’t think they’re going anywhere. I guess I vote that they’re “eternal”. Also, I am a big fan of black tattoos as opposed to color (just on me! color on other people is cool!) and star designs have a tendency to look very sharp and sexy in black. However, I decided to wait and think on the idea, because I just didn’t feel personally connected to stars.

    Later, I was flipping through one of my favorite books, called Principia Discordia, when I saw the design. It was a picture of the snowflake, and scrawled next to it were the words “Look for this snowflake — it has magic properties.” Principia Discordia is a funny book about an “anti-religion” called Discordianism, which kind of mocks the concepts of organized religion. It was written in the 60s by a couple of stoners, and it has grown into a sort of sub-culture. It’s hard to tell whether or not the whole so called religion is one big joke or not, but it basically advocates living life your own way with a sense of humor and not taking things too seriously.

    I discovered the book when I was in high school, and it was really important because it took up a lot of my time then, and I was really involved in researching the sub-culture aspect of it, and its origins. It helped me to realize a lot of my own beliefs, and understand my opinions a bit better. I always knew I wanted a tattoo from that book (it’s filled with funny pictures and random designs) and when I saw the snowflake, I knew that was it. It had a star-like quality to it, but it wasn’t a star. And according to the book, it had magic properties to boot, so how could I beat that? It was very meaningful to me, so that was it!

    Most of my friends aren’t really into tattoos, so they just tell me it’s hot and it looks good, and that’s about the end of it. To me it continues to represent a really cool book and the memory of a period in my life where I experienced a lot of personal growth.

    Sarah S

    Sarah (I’m beginning to think that name is more popular than star tattoos) is a twenty five year old into music and works for a music label. She’s mostly into things like Fear Factory, Perfect Circle, Tool, Pantera, and so on, and loves dancing — everything from belly dancing classes to going out clubbing. She loves art, is constantly reading and learning, and gets a kick from all things weird and wonderful.


    I’ve always had a thing about the star shape. All my doodles were stars. I’m a pagan, so the pentacle-pentagram and other symbolic star styles are important to me. I wear stars in my jewelery, on my clothes, they are all around where I live. You can see it as a symbol of the five elements or as distant planets, balls of gas that cast such a spell over anyone who looks up and realizes how small they are. They’re my shape and my symbol, and that’s why I had a version of one done and will have more versions ingrained on me.

    This star is based on a favorite necklace — like a talisman for me but it broke… It was in a mehndi style and looked a lot like a flower, and I added the swirls from some flash — I wouldn’t usually choose flash unless I could change it enough to make it my own. I have only had good comments, and people have liked the fact that it’s not one that is seen a lot. That’s what makes them comment, that it was unusual. I still love it, but I want to add to it now.

    I going to expand it and have it trailing into my future designs, which will keep with the celestial, goth, and mehndi themes, because those are styles that I have been drawn to since I was a child and they have personal meaning behind them. I’m not worried about them becoming dated, since fashion goes round in a huge circle. If I worried that any design I was going to have wasn’t eternal for me, I wouldn’t have it done. The tattoos that last are the ones that are imagined from the heart, not from society.

    Natalie


    Natalie is twenty years old and helps manage a Hot Topic. She enjoys her work, and is also passionate about photography, describing herself as a sentimental person who enjoys getting tattoos, whether they mean something or not.

    As a child, I always enjoyed stars in general. They make me happy and are beautiful. I chose to make my first star tattoo a rainbow pride shooting star to show my support of gay rights and gay marriage. My second star tattoos are located around my areolas. I thought my nipples were a tad too ordinary, so I decided to decorate them. The tattoos around my nipples were simply for show and enjoyment. They don’t have any specific meaning, like my rainbow pride star tattoo.

    After getting my first tattoo, I gathered a lot of opinions from friends and the tattoo artist himself, as far as placement went. As far as design, I compiled three or four pictures and the tattoo artist went to town with them, and it looked perfect for me. My boyfriend loves them! As for people who say they’re overdone, I don’t give two shits about what others think of my tattoos. My tattoos are my tattoos. I didn’t do it for anyone else but myself.

    Ronda


    Ronda is a seventeen year old that’s been interested in tattoos and body modification for far longer than she could find someone willing to work on her.


    I liked tattoo stars at first because I just thought they were beautiful, and then I realized that they kind of symbolize a few things in my life. They mean something to me, and I loved that they were simple at the same time. I got my stars scattered because the points in my life were somewhat scattered, and not exactly in a perfect line. I decided I wanted them on my back because I want to make them part of my backpiece in the future.

    As I’ve had it, I’ve loved it more and more because when I see it I’m happy and I can remember something by it. People who see it say it looks beautiful, cool, or interesting, but of course they don’t know that it stands for something. When I decided a year ago to get tattooed, I didn’t notice that stars were a popular design. It bothers me because I think people automatically think I got them done because they were just “cool” or whatever they really think. I assume things like that sometimes as well, because I know people do things because everyone else is doing them, but I am not one of those people.

    To me these stars feel eternal. Real stars are always up the sky, they’re always burning and shining bright, and so are many things in my life. As far as what other people think, basically I just don’t care too much about what other people think.

    I hope this helps clarify, that, in the simplest of terms, that if you speak ill of someone simply because they’ve chosen a star or a kanji symbol to express themselves, that you’re a moron. It’s not relevant what language a person is speaking — what’s relevant is what they’re saying and if anyone else is listening. The people I talked to here were speaking with stars. There should be no question left as to what they’re trying to say. The question now is whether anyone heard it.


    Shannon Larratt
    BME.com

  • Extreme Makeunder? [The Publisher’s Ring]

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt



    Extreme Makeunder?


    “We all wear some disguise, make some professions, use some artifice, to set ourselves off as being better than we are; and yet it is not denied that we have some good intentions and praiseworthy qualities at bottom.”

    – William Hazlitt

    Last night on ABC’s hit show Extreme Makeover, Jeanene, a “punk rocker” got what they called an extreme makeunder, promising that with the aid of their surgeons “even a punk can be hot”. The show painted a very sad picture of a woman who’s spent the last half decade pathologically getting body modifications in order to cover up her unhappiness with her body. “This is like my mask,” she says. “Look at my hair not at my chest, look at my ears not at the hair on my chin…”



    Jeanene, the “freak” sister, wearing no makeup and, unbeknown to her, showing off her natural beauty and charming smile.


    Erica, her “pretty” sister, wearing plenty of makeup and, unbeknown to her, barely hiding her deeply judgemental nature.

    Now, don’t get me wrong — first, I have no problems with cosmetic surgery. I’ve even had cosmetic surgery myself, as have many people I know. If you’ve got something about your body you don’t like, change it so you do! That’s the wonderful and empowering thing about body modification — including plastic surgery — it lets you be who you want to be; it lets you seek out the ideal you and express yourself as publicly as you want to. Second, if Jeanene is now happy with her new look, she looks great and I’m glad she’s where she wants to be.


    “We are so accustomed to wearing a disguise before others that eventually we are unable to recognize ourselves.”

    – Francois De La Rochefoucauld

    But this show really rubbed me the wrong way, because as well as being generally condescending and playing up stereotypes, it showcased a very unfortunate undercurrent that certainly exists among pierced and tattooed people — people who, like Jeanene, got piercings and tattoos and make fashion decisions not because they like them, but because by ostracizing themselves first, they eliminate anyone else’s ability to do it for them, and by making themselves “ugly”, they diffuse outsiders’ ability to level that accusation.

    But here’s the problem: stretching your ears doesn’t make you ugly any more than listening to rap music makes you a criminal. Stupid closed-minded outsider bigots might decide you’re a criminal if you listen to rap music, and stupid closed-minded outsider bigots will deny your beauty if you stretch your ears, but the fact is that neither of their false assumptions alters reality. If you’re a white dude wearing a suit driving a minivan to work from the suburbs, listening to rap music isn’t going to hide the fact that you’re Mr. No-Risk Joe Normal. And, like it or not, if there are shortcomings in your appearance, stretching your ears isn’t going to mask them in the public’s eye — it’s going to compound them and make it worse by giving them an easy excuse to kickstart their insults. That said, modifications can just as easily enhance your natural beauty if they’re applied honestly and in a complimentary fashion.

    Atypical body modification is a personality amplifier.

    “Normal people” say very little in and of themselves. Thus, we initially judge them on their innate characteristics — their weight, the symmetry of their face, their teeth, their facial hair, their fitness, their breasts, and so on. While those are certainly relevant if our sole goal is to become aroused, rape them, and deposit our seed — our biological imperative — the fact is that these characteristics are sorely lacking when it comes to actually describing the character or personality of the individual, or for providing enough information to even base a relationship on.

    Jeanene is right when she say that there’s a communications element to modifications; “if people are going to judge me, I want people to judge me on my terms.” A person with body modifications has the opportunity to wear their personality far more “on the outside” than a person who sticks with being a plainskin. However, it’s wrong to think of it as a “mask”… Thinking of body modification as something that can cover up things you’re unhappy with is a mistake, and it won’t work any more than you can hide the fact that you’re listening to bad music by turning it up really, really loud.



    Jeanene shortly before the surgery: by some people’s rules freakish, unattractive, and unfit for a happy life. Personally I think she looked great, but I’ve never claimed to love blandness.

    Jeanene suffered from — or at least believed she suffered from — a hook nose, a slight weight problem, asymmetrical breasts, and excess facial hair. Modified or plainskin, these are issues that would bother most people. Jeanene had it worse because her sister — referred to throughout the show as “the pretty sister” — escaped most of these problems. Jeanene said of her, “[we] are night and day with our appearance. My sister is a very beautiful girl and I wouldn’t mind looking like her. It would be cool if I got the same kind of attention as she does.”

    Jeanene though was never able to gain the confidence she needed to appreciate that attention, fearing that if she looked “normal”, people might notice her hairy chin or other shortcomings. Gesturing at her bright hair and stretched ears, with her eyes tearing up, she tells the camera, “it’s easier to have a… you know… sorry…” and has to stop there. The problem came when she saw body modification as her escape, when in fact it just allowed her to temporarily avoid facing the things that were upsetting her. At the same time, it lead to a whole new set of problems and hardships which eventually all escalated to a breaking point where she had no choice but to reject body modification publicly, needlessly slandering people with honest and uplifting modification drives. While it’s not Jeanene’s fault that she was pushed to this — the public can be truly brutal — it does unfairly affect others.



    “Pretty” Erica talks about how it upsets her to go out in public with her sister because of people’s reactions.


    Jeanene is brought to tears while talking about the abuse she’s afraid to get from the public because of her looks.

  • Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Anal Piercing But Were Afraid To Ask [The Publisher’s Ring]

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt


    Everything You Ever Wanted
    To Know About Anal Piercing
    But Were Afraid To Ask


    “Some people never go crazy; what truly horrible lives they must live.”

    – Charles Bukowski


    Anal piercing is a bit like tongue splitting — we all thought it was impossible (or at least a very bad idea), but then one person showed one off, and all of a sudden everyone’s doing them [ok, I’m exaggerating a litte — so CNN, don’t come knocking asking about the latest trend unless you want me to go Jayson Blair on you]. But still, unlike tongue splitting, people don’t tend to show off their anal ring to anyone who’ll look, much less talk about it at length. BME finally had a chance to sit down — carefully — with a half dozen people who could talk first hand about their experiences with anal piercing.


    Click the thumbnails in this article to zoom in.


    Anterior anal piercing
    Fresh and bloody
    double anal piercing
    Posterior anal piercing

    First we’ll talk to Travis, a thirty year old white-collar business owner. He’s rather mainstream looking when you first see him, but he does have a few genital piercings, and rather by accident, found himself with an anal piercing as well. After a gland became infected, Travis developed an anal fistula, an infected tract inside the body with one end exiting inside the anal canal, and the other externally, near the anus. Fistulas of this type can be treated in a number of ways. They can be cut out (by inserting a rod into the fistula and literally excising along its length), they can be glued shut internally, hoping they’ll drain out and heal, or they can be tricked into “rejecting,” which is what happened in Travis’s case.

  • Suspensions & Tensions: Today, Part III – Fakir Rants & Raves

    Written by

    BME

    Suspensions & Tensions:
    Today, Part III

    FAKIR VS. STELARC, THE LISBON FACE-OFF

    I was delighted that Shannon was able to catch up with the elusive Stelarc recently at the TransVision 2004 Conference. I was even more thrilled that he was able to make a video interview, and further, that Stelarc remembered our televised Festival Atlantico confrontation in 1997. You see, I had long been a rabid Stelarc fan since I first saw his 1985 book “Obsolete Body Suspensions”. I had tried in vain to contact him first in Japan and later in Australia. I never got a reply to the many questions I had about the “whys” and “wherefores” of his suspensions. To me, they were imaginative and an extreme visual turn-on. And since I had already done a number of my own suspensions (including several O-Kee-Pa’s), I felt his must have taken him somewhere in the unseen worlds. But he never mentioned this in any of his books, films, or writings.

    So we were both booked to perform in Lisbon. Now he could not avoid me! The first time we met face-to-face in the festival gallery, Stelarc was charming, funny, and highly respectful of “Fakir”. He had also heard of me. I was in awe of him and he seemed to be in awe of me. The festival director arranged for a lengthy television interview and debate, in English, for the European TV networks. Now I had my chance, on public media, to ask all those old questions!

    Well, he dodged and danced claiming all his suspensions were merely “works of art” and did not go to any erotic or esoteric turf. No masochism. No “unseen worlds”. He said they were only one step in his attempt to explore and improve what he thought was a poorly designed machine. His goal was to become a “Cyberman”, part flesh and part machine. A scientifically improved body. On the other hand, I told him that for me body suspensions were part of a greater ritual that allowed me to bridge the gap between spirit and body — and that for me body was already a great and marvelous creation. I suggested that in his suspensions he may have been at the door to “unseen worlds” but perhaps was afraid to go through. He didn’t seem to like that suggestion! So we parted in total disagreement, but friends. If you would like the full story of our confrontation, go to my site and order a copy of BODY PLAY #16.




    Stelarc (Mr. Cyberman) and Fakir (Mr. Organic) as they faced-off in Lisbon.

    SHAMANIC SUSPENSION RETREAT

    This summer I took a ten-day vacation in the magnificent Northern California mountains between the coastal valleys and Pacific Ocean. Luckily, I have a piercing and suspension loving friend who owns 200 acres of isolated prime wilderness there. On this land’s hilltop, in absolute stillness except for nature’s birds and breezes, I had a vision: devotees swinging in the twisted branches of an indigenous oak forest. What an exceptional place for unhurried shamanic rituals, rituals for those who want an organic suspension experience. The vibes of this California hilltop equaled or exceeded any of the traditional ritual locations I have visited in Wyoming, South Dakota, or Southeast Asia. And it is only a three-hour drive from San Francisco! Better yet, it is only a few miles from my favorite hot springs spa which is also owned by friends. My mind started churning.

    Over the next few days I scouted the location, asked questions and found that the nearby hot springs had just built an isolated group building to house fourteen to twenty people. It has a private kitchen, dining area, bath and community space used primarily for tantra and yoga classes. Wow! What a great combination this would be for an exclusive Shamanic Suspension Retreat in the summer of 2005. Now, dear adventure seeking friends, those who have expressed a desire for a more organic and nature-driven suspension, would you be interested in participating in such a retreat? Numbers would be limited. The retreat could be anywhere from two to four days. Devotees could participate in teams of three or four. Everyone gets a turn. Shamanic and medical guidance would be available, including the energy of Fakir and several other skilled psychic and physical guides.

    If you long for this type of experience, please write me a private email. I have been in touch with a number of you since my last column, especially those few of you who have tried a true O-Kee-Pa style suspension from two chest piercings. Some of you have had mechanical difficulties with it. From your pictures, I have spotted a few problems, chief of which are:

    1. Chest piercings too high on the chest, too superficial, and in a place where the skin is very thin and not strong enough to bear your weight. Remember, if you weigh 160 pounds, each piercing must bear 80 pounds!
    2. Piercings not made exactly across the grain of the skin which causes ripping, bleeding, and the entrance of air pockets into the skin as it separates from the extreme weight it must bear.
    3. Not enough deep tissue in the piercings (lack of enough tissue volume again causes ripping and air pockets). Please note, bigger hooks or other hardware does not compensate for lack of strength in long superficial piercings in the upper chest. My advice: lower the piercings into the breast area where the grain of the skin is more horizontal and you can get a substantial amount of subcutaneous tissue in the piercings by piercing more vertically. See pictures of my O-Kee-Pa suspensions as a guide.

    I’ve also been studying lots of BME pictures of horizontal suspensions (some people call them “Coma” and “Superman”). Again, from my own experiences I see several mechanical problems that can create disruptive and unpleasant sensations that interfere with trancing or prolonged suspension. These are:

    1. Too few hooks and hook location that does not allow uniform distribution of body weight. I try to plan hook location so each hook bears about the same amount of weight (between five and seven pounds).
    2. Not enough hooks located over the heaviest sections of the body. For example: over the hips, buttocks and upper thighs and over the upper chest. I suppose modesty is preventing some of you from placing hooks in strategic supportive positions. Yes? Forget modesty. Take some cloths off!
    3. Suspension cords or ropes with lack of “spring” or elasticity that makes your lift-offs very quick, sharp and painful. I find that bungie cord loops permit a gentle lift-off that is easier to adjust to. The worst thing I ever did was try a Sun Dance with steel cables that had no stretch. Not fun.


    Indigenous oak forest in Northern California coastal mountains.
    Group lodge at hot springs spa nearby the oak suspension forest.
    Horizontal hook suspension with bungie cords (click to zoom).

    SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS
    A Spiritual Suspension in Austin Texas (Reprinted from BODYPLAY #16)

    Experience text by Beth Basar
    Photographs by Dan McCollum

    Long after my return from Lisbon in 1997, I received a letter from my dear shaman friend Bear in Austin, Texas. He told me he had been continuing his practice of facilitating body suspensions for those who sincerely desired the experience of journeying to unseen worlds and inner space. He wrote that he had just completed just such a journey, an outdoors shamanic suspension, with a young woman, Beth Basar.

    The whole event was beautifully photographed by Dan McCollum. And even better, afterwards Beth had written about the journey and her subsequent feelings. I have long cherished this account and photographic documentation. It stands out as a prime example of what is available to us if we go about a suspension with integrity and clear intent. Bear, Beth, her husband, and Dan McCollum were kind enough to offer to share this magical event with those who wanted to know more about a spiritually-oriented suspension. In her own words, here is Beth’s account:


    Dolphin Journey

    On August 16, I was involved in an outdoor suspension. It was the most incredible journey of my life and this is my story. I had read about suspensions before and had been intrigued by them. Almost a year ago I had the exciting opportunity to actually see a suspension for the first time. Ever since then I knew it was something I would one day do.

    It was a perfect night for an outdoor suspension, warm with a gentle breeze and almost full moon. The suspension took place in my backyard on a beautiful old oak tree. It was lit with artificial lighting so everyone involved in the suspension could see what they were doing and so photographs could be taken. Before the suspension everyone present, including myself, was smudged with a sage smudge stick to purify all energies present and take away all negative energies. The oak tree from which I was to be suspended from was also smudged and blessed.

    Bear, my guide and piercer, and his assistants were wonderful to me. They would tell me step-by-step what they were doing and why, so that I would not be surprised. After cleansing my body and marking it with ink to show where the piercings would go, they began piercing me, the first step on the way to my journey. One person on each side of me, piercing in tandem.

    Once all 20 hooks were in and the clips were in place, they started threading cords through the clips and started tightening them. The first time they lowered the gurney from under me, I felt light-headed as if I were about to pass out. Bear raised the gurney under me again and loosened all of the cords. He then asked me if I wished to continue. I said yes. He started tightening the cords again at a little bit slower pace, letting me get used to the pressure and tightness before tightening them more. Then the moment came to lower the gurney again, little-by-little until I was free from the gurney and suspended only by the cords on the tree and the hooks in my body.

    What an incredible feeling, the energy from all my friends watching was enormous. I felt so free and at peace. I would just close my eyes, listen to the music and fly. The breeze would gently sway my back and forth which would heighten all of my sensations.

    I felt someone put their hands on mine. I opened my eyes and there kneeling in front of me was my husband George with tears streaming down his face. George knew that being suspended was something I wanted to do for a long time, and I knew it brought joy to him knowing I was doing something I had dreamed of doing for a year now. He sat there for a few moments, told me he loved me and told me to have a wonderful journey; and what a wonderful journey I did have!

    One part of my journey led me to swimming with two dolphins, one on each side of me. I should actually say flying with dolphins for there was no water around us. But I could hear water running, like a waterfall somewhere near us, but could not see it. Every so often, Bear would gently sway me back and forth. This was such a surreal feeling it would take me further along my path.

    While on my dolphin journey, my “big brother” Sam came up and gently touched my side and told me how beautiful I was and that I was flying with the Gods. My journey with dolphins may be due to receiving two gifts involving dolphins from two separate people right before the suspension. One was a bracelet with a dolphin on it and the other was a dolphin pendant both of which I wore during the suspension. Neither person giving me the gift knew anything of the other person giving me a gift involving a dolphin. So was it coincidence or fate that I should swim with dolphins? I have no idea how long I was on what I call the dolphin journey. I just know it was an amazing journey. During the suspension I had absolutely no concept of time.

    After returning from my dolphin journey I returned to my physical plane and opened my eyes. Sitting on the ground in front of me were my two guardians, my husband and my “big brother” Sam. They were both sitting there holding each other looking over me. I motioned for them both to come closer to me. They did, each taking one of my hands. I looked at them and told them what a beautiful experience I was having and how glad I was that I was suspended outside. We all three started shedding tears. For me it was both tears of sadness and joy. There were tears of sadness because I wanted so much for both of them to feel and experience the happiness I was feeling. Yet there were tears of joy because the two men I cared about most were there to witness and support me as I continued my journey. I can’t say if their tears were tears of joy or sadness. Based on the energy being given off, which was very powerful, I would say they were tears of joy. We all three stayed there, connected to each other — smiling, laughing and crying. After they both went back to sit down, I continued my journey.

    I closed my eyes, concentrated on the music (playing in the background) and let whatever was going to happen next happen. My next path took me further away into the land of the beyond. I felt I was flying with the Gods. Even through I was in a place far away in an unknown and unfamiliar land, I never felt afraid or worried. Instead, I felt very much at peace and free from all worries. It felt as if there was a protective orb surrounding me; it was very spiritual for me.

    When I would open my eyes I would see the ground and it seemed many miles below me. But in reality was only a few feet below me. It was unbelievable, as if I were many miles away looking down on myself and everyone around me. Again I closed my eyes and continued my journey with the Gods. I eventually returned to earth for a bit, and before continuing the journey, all lights used to light the scene were turned off and it was only moon light shinning through the old oak illuminating the ground around me. Once again I closed my eyes and started flying, not as high this time but just as wonderful. With only the moon light caressing the ground, everything seemed more powerful. I was one with all my surroundings; one with the tree I was suspended from. It was an incredible feeling. After slowly coming back to earth I just lay there for a few moments appreciating all of my friends who witnessed my journey and their powerful energies, the beautiful oak tree from which I was suspended, the beauty of being able to be suspended outdoors, the music being played and everything that made that magical night possible.

    I then motioned to George to come near me and told him I was ready to come down. Slowly, Bear and his assistants put the gurney underneath me and raised it up to me. They proceeded to remove the cords and clips, then the hooks from my body one-by-one. When I got off the gurney and first attempted to walk on the ground it was a very strange feeling. Gravity and trying to walk on the ground just didn’t feel right after flying so long.

    My journey in suspension lasted one and one-half hour and was by far the most powerful, spiritual and beautiful event I have ever experienced. It was truly an experience like no other. I feel like a different person having returned from my journey. I feel I am a stronger person and have more inner peace now. It was truly a wonderful and magical experience for me. I was so charged from the suspension that I did not sleep for almost 36 hours. I will never look at that oak tree standing in my backyard the same again.

    Beth A. Basar


    Beth Basar suspended from the branch of an oak tree in Austin, Texas by shaman Bear who guided her on her magical journey.
    Beth flies with the Gods and sees the earth and others at a distance.
    As Beth journeys, her husband George kneels before her, tears in his eyes.

    In my next column, I will depart for a bit from suspensions and try to acquaint BME devotees with the deeper and more magical aspects of what we have been calling “Energy Pulls”. This is something both Fakir and his partner Cléo have been bringing to cities all over the U.S. and Canada for the past two years in our day-long SPIRIT+FLESH workshops. They loved them in Washington D.C. (twice), Minneapolis (twice), Los Angeles, San Francisco (twice), and next we go to Vancouver B.C. and New Orleans. How about your city?

    Yours for safe and enlightened journeys,


    Fakir Musafar
    fakir at bodyplay dot com


    Fakir Musafar is the undisputed father of the Modern Primitives movement and through his work over the past 50 years with PFIQ, Gauntlet, Body Play, and more, he has been one of the key figures in bringing body modification out of the closet in an enlightened and aware fashion.

    For much more information on Fakir and the subjects discussed in this column, be sure to check out his website at www.bodyplay.com. While you’re there you should consider whipping out your PayPal account and getting yourself a signed copy of his amazing book, SPIRIT AND FLESH (now).

    Copyright © 2004 BMEzine.com LLC Requests to republish must be confirmed in writing. For bibliographical purposes this article was first published September 29th, 2004 by BMEzine.com LLC in Tweed, Ontario, Canada.

  • Tattoo my head with anything anti-Bush! [The Publisher’s Ring]

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt


    Tattoo my head with anything anti-Bush!


    “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

    – Thomas Jefferson

  • What does your mother think? [The Lizardman]

    Written by

    BME

    "My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it."
    – Mark Twain



    Earlier this month I took suggestions in a forum on my IAM page for frequently asked questions that people would like to see columns written about. I took the suggestions and listed them in a poll which was, in turn, voted upon by visitors to my page. As a result of that voting a topic question for this column was chosen by the members of the IAM community, or at least those who chose to stop by and vote:

    What does your mother think?

    This is a question that I, like most body modification enthusiasts, have heard many, many times. Of course, it is just one variation on the theme of family reaction. As much as I do love my mother (who offered in jest to write this column when she heard about the topic) I do not want to leave out my father (whom many people have thought would disapprove due to either his teaching or military careers) or even my younger sister. Thus I prefer to respond in more general terms to the question: What does your family think?

    I have often commented upon how important my family is to me and that without their love and support I may not have had the strength or courage to do what I am doing today. It is obvious to anyone who gets to know me even a little bit that my family is very important to me and that I have a great relationship with them. Of course, many people expect just the opposite to be the case. Because of this and the fact that I am aware of how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family, I make a concerted effort to point out my good fortune regularly.

    But getting back to the question, I often wonder, at least for an instant before boasting about my family, why does the inquisitor want to know what my family thinks? I’m not talking about interviews; this is a question that many people face regularly for no other reason than that they have chosen to modify their bodies. As with many of the more commonly asked questions, I suspect a masked hostility. I suspect it even more when the tone is seemingly unkind. And sometimes they even make it obvious — instead of asking the question they make a statement like ‘Oh, your poor mother’ or sarcastically quip ‘I bet your father is real proud.’ When I choose to dignify this type of behavior with a response, and per my confronting rudeness column I do believe it should be responded to, it is generally to announce that my mother is doing quite well and that both she and my father are happy to have raised a child that grew up knowing how to conduct themselves properly and politely — obviously unlike some people’s parents.

    So, just for fun now, let us consider why someone might ask what a person’s family thinks of their modifications. They might be legitimately curious but outside of people who are also modified, or considering it, and looking to find out about the situations of similar people to themselves I doubt this accounts for many questioners. Others might be looking to throw proverbial salt in what they suspect may be an open wound. I may be overly suspicious but I think this is the category into which the most will fall.

    There is also the chance that the person has not actually made up their mind about you and your modifications. It is certainly not uncommon for a person encountering someone with very public or unusual modifications to be thrown off balance. I have, on a few occasions, had people be clearly unsure of what to think of me that were then rather calmed and pleasant after finding out that my relationship with my family was quite positive. Ostensibly, this would mean that being able to maintain a good family bond indicated a positive trait for them and enough so as to remove concern over the behavior of modification.

    This leads me to the other question that sometimes leaps to my mind when people ask about family: ‘Why does it matter what my family thinks?’

    I am an individual. And, I endorse some rather extreme forms of individualism. To me it seems perfectly rational to say that it doesn’t matter what my family thinks and it is far better that I live for myself. Circumstances have granted with me a family that loves and accepts me, but if things had been different it would be better that I struggled through living the way I wanted rather than caving in to pressure from them. I can understand why many people, as a result of social conditioning, would be highly inclined to believe that maintaining a good family relationship is admirable but I do not accept that it should come at the cost of one’s own self. As good as my relationship with my family is, I would be lying if I said there were not bumps in the road and there were times that I had to say I was going to go ahead regardless of what they thought. Fortunately, I found out that my family is open-minded and intelligent enough to love and respect me even more for following my own way. If this had not been the case things would have undoubtedly been harder for me but it would still have been the right thing for me to do, in my opinion, to go on without their support.

    I know that a lot of readers do not have the luxury of a family like mine. So, to close this column I want to move away from the topic question a bit and talk about dealing with family. As I have said before, clichés are clichés for a reason — there is truth in them. You don’t get to choose your family and you cannot escape that they are your relatives. As such, there is a certain prudence in taking extra care when dealing with family. Remember that it is a two way street — what hurts you, hurts them and what hurts them, hurts you. Particularly in dealing with parents you should keep in mind that, even if misinformed and misguided, much of their behavior arises out of deep concern for the well being of their children. My optimistic side makes me want to believe that if they truly love you they will eventually come around to realize it is more important that they accept you for who you are. Now, the potential of that future moment is, I realize, little comfort when in throws of what are often highly emotional and irrational battles but it is important to keep it in mind to prevent going past a point of no return. Your family is very likely trying to reconcile all sorts of information on modification, much of it poorly represented or blatantly misrepresented by popular media, and doing so in light of someone they love and care about being involved with it.

    Just as you should educate yourself about any modification you want to undertake, you should also, at least attempt to, educate your family and those who matter to you. Let them know, as best you can, about the history, method, and most importantly the personal significance. Do not ask them to somehow psychically divine your motives, especially when your actions may be very foreign to them. By involving and informing them you make it that much easier for them to be accepting even if they cannot fully understand.

  • Lizardman Q&A #8 [The Lizardman]

    Written by

    BME

     

    Hey Lizardman fans! Theo‘s in Corpus Christi, Texas (5815 Weber Road) is christening its new stage with a Lizardman and Live Music show
    on October 16, 2004.

    Lizardman Q&A #8

    The brief respite from Q & A columns seems to have been a good thing as this time I got lots of fun questions. Hopefully you enjoy reading them with my responses as much I liked getting them.



    swirly wanx sinatra

     

    If you were to run for president what would your policies be?

    My policies would be enough to make sure I never got elected, or at least ensure my assassination. Rather than address the myriad of issues a presidential candidate must formulate policy on, I will simply put forth one I think is most important to our future and also the one least likely to happen (which is unfortunate since I consider it absolutely necessary):

    The abolishment of the legal status of corporations as individuals and/or entities in terms of liability or action. I would demand that all businesses ‘have face(s) put to them’ such that there was direct and obvious culpability for any and all operations.


    Perk900

     

    What wouldn’t you do for a truckload of cash? Meaning, is there a moral you won’t break for any amount of money???

    I once turned down over $10,000 to eat a football as part of the superbowl halftime show. This was the same one that featured the infamous Janet Jackson nipple. Since no one else did it either I guess they dropped the bit or just couldn’t find anyone — frankly the former seems much more likely. It wasn’t so much a moral decision as it just wasn’t my thing. I’m sure I could do it but I didn’t want to. I don’t have a lot of moral objections but I am very obstinate about only doing what I want or absolutely have to do.

    Is there a trick in your act that you’re afraid to do sometimes?

    Not on a regular basis but there are times when due to random circumstances I get a little nervous – not so much for my safety but more because I think it’s not going to go right and thus detract from the show. If I have any safety worries I just don’t do it – that’s why I am not in the morgue.

    Do you believe the stranglehold corporations have on the youth of today will affect our future?

    I don’t believe that corporations do have a stranglehold on the youth. I believe they have an undue amount of access to power and influence, but I also think that their position is fragile and that anyone ‘under their hold’ can break out or be broken out at any time. As for the future, I think we do have to be vigilante and that corporations will play a large role but if it is to be as dark as your question implies is up to us, not them.


    glider  
    If you found yourself with a large burst of cash in the million dollar range from a film or advertising contract, how would you spend it?

    I have given this some thought – probably too much thought when weighed against the likelihood of it actually happening. But hope springs eternal, just like my get rich quick schemes…

    1. $250,000 – Pay off mortgage and remaining student loans, sell current home, purchase lot, and construct “dream home”. Dream home is more a matter of custom design than furnishing and this could all likely be done for much less – any excess would be channeled into #3.
    2. $500,000 – Create funds and investments for our future. Start up money for various business ventures. I would continue to work (at highly reduced rates) being far more selective about projects and donating much more time.
    3. $250,000 – Given away to family, friends, and as patronage to the arts and sciences.

    What will you do if elements of your transformation backfire? That is, what if your brow implants start to erode the orbit or otherwise damage your face? What if your teeth decay and have to be extracted? It wouldn’t be the first time that modifications believed to be safe went bad.

    I have given a lot of thought to this, especially when I started to see some of the first stories on complications with implants. They present the biggest potential worry to me but seem to be doing ok thus far – if they need to come out, they will and it will sadden me since I like them so much. If my teeth decay then I can always get the implants that were part of my original idea but I do prefer having my natural teeth.

    I have often said that life is an odds game. I am playing and will continue to play the odds I am comfortable with. If things backfire there is really nothing to do but go on, hopefully a little bit wiser and able to let others know how to better their odds.

    What is your backup plan? If the ability to work as a freak totally disappeared and America became highly conservative, what would you do?

    The loss of a viable market for work as a freak is one thing. It would mean that I would have to either move or travel regularly to where such a market still existed – and I really think there will always be a market somewhere in the world for what I do. Obviously, I am more than willing to do the traveling and if absolutely necessary I would move.

    The loss of the market for reasons of extreme cultural or social backlash represents something else entirely and implies not only a lack of work but also an openly hostile daily existence. In such a situation I am ready and willing to fight (take that as you will) so long as I see a possible victory – but I will not martyr myself or my happiness. If I believe the shit has hit the fan I will not hesitate to extricate myself through any and all means available or necessary.


    Superstarlet AD  

    Does performing ever feel like a chore? Do you have the same dread of going to work that most people have?

    I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t had some days when I was tired or sore and just wasn’t as into it as usual. However, I know the ‘work dread’ from my previous more typical jobs and I have never felt like that about performing. In fact, it is usually thinking about how cool it is to get to perform for a living that gets me over being tired, sore, and cranky.

    Where’s the best place you’ve performed (in terms of money, crowd reaction, or any other factor)?

    Money: (tie) German & Japanese Television

    Crowd Reaction: (tie) The 2nd Annual Sideshow Gathering / Jagermeister Music Tour

    Personal Satisfaction: Coney Island

    Would you ever give up your freak career for more financial security? If so, how much money would it take?

    It would take the proverbial butt load and even then it would depend on the conditions. Do I have to work a new job? Am I somehow banned from performing? There are other jobs I could see doing, but not many, and if I was amply compensated I suppose I could go without publicly performing but I would still be doing the acts on my own in private – these activities are part of who I am.

    Why haven’t I seen any Lizardman action figures in toy stores?

    Ask the toy manufacturers. I want it to happen (and yes, I have tried and will continue to).

    [Editor’s note: BME actually made Lizardman action figures, but we were never happy with the final product and did not release them publicly… but there are about 50 Lizardman action figures in existence!]

    Do you ever hear audience members explaining the “tricks” behind your act to others in the audience, and does it bother you when people don’t believe that what you do is real?

    Well, I don’t do tricks so there is very little if anything to explain – in fact, I often explain it as I do it. Explaining my acts would be a lot like explaining tightrope walking i.e. ‘He is just putting one foot in front of the other and not falling.’ Sure, I get the occasional wannabe expert who thinks he can explain the bed of nails or some other act via physics but the fact is that I push the physics (like using sixteen nails or less) to a point where most people can’t or won’t ever want to go. Knowing the science behind pole vaulting doesn’t mean you can go break the record and knowing the science behind fire eating doesn’t mean you will pull it off without getting horribly burned. Such people are basically sorrowful killjoys who don’t know how to enjoy a show — I pity them.

    As for people thinking my acts aren’t real, I go through a lot in the show to prove the veracity of what I do. In the end though, if you don’t believe it then that’s your thing – try and enjoy the presentation at least. I have heard incredible theories as to how I do some of the acts because people won’t accept what they see… it amuses me that the simple obvious truth is not acceptable to them.

    One guy claimed that the gavage wasn’t real because he claimed all the fluids stayed in the hose – he didn’t deny that it was in my stomach via my nose; instead he claimed that all the fluid in the pump (more than a quarter gallon) stayed in the tube when the handle was depressed and then was sucked back out of just the tubing when the handle was pulled and thus he claimed I wasn’t really pumping my stomach. How crazy is it to think I would stick a tube up my nose and down into my stomach for an illusion? It seems that it is just about as crazy as believing six feet of quarter inch diameter tubing can hold over a quart of liquid volume. Not to mention the extra stuff that comes up with it or when I make blue fluid from the pump mix with yellow fluid I drink and turn green when extracted. The gavage is one of the most obvious ‘what-you-see-is-what-you-get’ acts but still people question it – I can’t let it keep me up at night.


    Does it creep you out at all that someone has a tattoo of your face?

    Not at all – I think it is incredibly cool. I just hope that down the road they still think it is as cool as I do.


    Badine  

    What human quality do you admire the most?

    Humor

    What human quality annoys you the most?

    Jealousy

    Are there any foreign cultures that influence you?

    I have been influenced by a lot of cultures. Outside of my own culture I believe I have drawn a lot from the Assyrians, Chinese, Japanese, Ancient Greeks, Ancient Egyptians, Native Americans, and Polynesians to name but a few. I make it a point to expose myself to as many different worldviews as possible and I have yet to find one that has not given me something positive to add to myself.

    What body modification do you plan to get next?

    The next actual modification will probably be a tattoo session. However, the next thing that I am considering outside of already ongoing processes would be a navel negation. I have been discussing this with plastic surgeons and it seems likely that I will soon have my navel effectively removed (i.e. smoothed over as if never there).

    Is there any modification that you would like to get done but they don’t have the technology for it?

    Alligator / crocodile tail graft.


    Live For Pain  

    In a society of today’s culture, how do you feel about the banning or prohibiting body modification? Such as tattoos, body piercing, or surgical modification?

    Obviously, I would be opposed to it and I believe it would almost certainly fail and eventually come back to bite those behind it on the ass. Parts of my rights and responsibilities column address this further:

  • Non-Compete Agreements for Tattoo and Piercing Studios [Legal Link]

    Written by

    BME


    Non-Compete Agreements
    for Tattoo and Piercing Studios

       

    As a new monthly feature to BME, US-licensed attorney Marisa Kakoulas will be answering your legal questions that touch upon the body modification community. These columns should not be relied upon as legal advice, but they may offer some insight into the laws that affect your passion or business. Or they may just provide greater incentive to flame the author. Either way, she enjoys the attention. Marisa’s book, Tattoo Law, will be available whenever she finally finishes it. She is on permanent retainer for Calypso Tattoo in Belgium.

    Marisa is also the author of Employment Discrimination: Be Careful What You Sue For and The Tattoo Copyright Controversy, previously published here in BME/News.


    QUESTION: I’ve only been tattooing about a year and now have an opportunity to work for a tattoo studio with a great reputation, where I can learn a lot from the owner and principal tattooist. The problem is that before he hires me, I have to sign a non-compete agreement that says I can’t tattoo in the city where the shop is for at least five years if I decide to leave. Is this legal? I really want to work there but I don’t want to get screwed. What do you think?

    Non-compete or non-competition agreements are contracts that can be used to protect owners of tattoo shops from unfair competition, particularly in keeping trade secrets and customers. The other way of looking at it is that it restricts artists from tattooing after they have left a studio and puts restraints on making a living. Either way you see it, the bottom line is the bottom line. For studio owners, it can take years of hard work and expense to build up a clientele and strong reputation, and many want to protect that investment. For the artists that work there, it can hold them back from breaking out on their own and being their own boss, or from working and learning from another tattooist. But these non-compete agreements also work in favor for employee artists. If the owners feel protected, then they may be more willing to hire and train others, divulging tricks of the trade to see their employees grow and achieve their own fine reputations. They are less likely to do so if they fear that fine reputation will open shop across the street from them.

    The fundamental problem of a non-compete agreement arises when it is drafted in a way that is overly broad and restrictive. In such cases, the agreement may not be enforced. Yet, what is deemed fair and enforceable is different from state to state. For example, California has banned covenants not to compete, and only allows those agreements not to compete when business owners sell their businesses to new owners. Colorado and North Dakota also ban non-compete agreements. As for the other states, there are few straight answers – it’s mostly grey shading.

    There are, however, general criteria that courts will use to determine whether a non-compete clause is enforceable.

    1. Is the non-compete agreement reasonably necessary to protect the employer’s legitimate business interest?
    2. Is the agreement unreasonably restrictive of the employee’s rights?
    3. Is the agreement against public policy?

    How the courts come down on these criteria largely depends on the facts of each case.

    The courts have found a legitimate business interest to exist where the employer taught the employee special knowledge or skills that could be used once the employee left the business and at the employer’s expense. So, say, the owner of tattoo shop showed her employee tattooist how to make special needle bars, mix colors for special effects, or certain signature shading techniques, the courts could find that the owner had a legitimate interest in protecting her trade secrets, especially because many choose a tattooist based on their techniques and skill and not on marketing ploys and free gifts. An owner’s near permanent relationship with clients could also be deemed a legitimate business interest depending on the length of time, investment, and continuity in that client relationship. Think about how often one hears, “I will only be tattooed by that artist [or studio]” and it is easy to make that connection. Some reputations of employee artists can be enhanced by mere affiliation with a Master Tattooist. Should the Master Tattooist then suffer, without compensation, the loss of his or her clients when an employee banks on the studio’s rep and competes against it?

    Before you answer, what if you consider that the employee tattooist slaved away for years for the Master Tattooist at a low percentage or salary and then was barred from tattooing in that city for ten years? In deciding whether a non-compete agreement is fair or unreasonably restrictive of an employee’s rights, the main factors for the courts are geographic scope and time. Geographic restrictions must be related to the area where business is being conducted. Yet again, it all depends on what the courts deem a reasonable restriction in light of the facts surrounding the case. One court deemed a limited radius around a business too restrictive while another court upheld a nation-wide restriction. If the agreement prohibits you from tattooing in your city, then the courts may look to whether you work in Manhattan or Back Woods, Wisconsin to determine reasonableness. Reasonableness also factors into time restrictions. One way to determine reasonableness is the amount of time it takes to attract and keep clients. For a machinery maintenance company, a five-year restriction was held to be reasonable but not for an Internet advertising company, where only six months was found to be a fair restriction.

    Whether non-compete agreements get enforced all comes down to fairness, and, as in most things in life, it involves finding the right balance. Beyond time and geographic scope, courts have found it unfair that an employer only enforced a non-compete agreement with one employee but not others who left before him. Non-compete agreements have also been invalidated when an employee was fired without cause, that is without doing anything wrong, or was not reasonably compensated in exchange for signing the non-compete agreement. There’s also the issue of illegal conduct, where courts have refused to enforce the agreement when an employer engaged in misconduct, so as not to reward to unethical behavior. Thus, if the owner of the tattoo shop is inking minors or engaging in tax fraud, their restrictions on an employee’s right to work elsewhere may be null. In this case, a threat of bringing up the illegality in court may even avoid a law suit all together. Or get your nose broken.

    The public policy criterion may not be a big issue for tattooists as opposed to, say, doctors. But you may get a progressive judge who will refuse to enforce a non-compete agreement in an effort to stimulate competition in an area and give the public a greater range of artists to chose from, especially so that one does not hold a monopoly over an area. [And finding a progressive judge for your district can just take a trip to the polls for local elections – but that’s a topic for a different article.]

    After all the criteria have been weighed and it is found that a non-compete agreement is enforceable and that the employee has violated it, what does the employer get? In some cases, lots. The employer tattooist can seek money damages and seek an injunction to stop the ex-employee’s machines from buzzing. If the former employee is working for another studio, that studio may be forced to fire their new tattooist. If the studio does not comply, it may have to pay damages as well.

    The loss can be great to the employee tattooist who violates a non-compete clause, and because of it, some unscrupulous owners of tattoo studios may try to hold their employees to unreasonable and overly broad agreements even when they know the agreements would not hold up in court. In such cases, particularly when the employers knew the contracts were unfair, the courts have made the employers pay the attorney fees of the wronged employee. [I consider awarding attorney fees to be the judicial equivalent of Karma.]

    In tattoo Nirvana, there would be no need for lawyers and their hefty fees. The community feeling would persist throughout the ages and all would reap the rewards. If employers did draft contracts they would be fair, and employees would stick to their word and follow them. But true enlightenment is not so difficult, especially if you keep the following things in mind:

    • Negotiate fairly. If owners of tattoo shops wish to protect their businesses from unfair competition from former employees, then those employees should be properly compensated for giving up their rights, whether it be in cash or training.
    • Remember to keep time and geographic limitations short and reasonable.
    • Decide on how to best handle working the same tattoo conventions. For many tattooists, this is not a big issue, but if it is, set out a fair agreement, such as working alternate years.

    Most importantly, in any instance where you are going to draft or sign an agreement that can substantially affect your livelihood, contact a lawyer first. If you cannot afford one, at least do some research and talk to your state labor office (http://www.dol.gov/esa/contacts/state_of.htm) for free. If not, there’s always California.

    Marisa Kakoulas

    This article was not intended as legal advice. It is intended for only general information purposes. This article does not create any attorney-client relationship.


    Marisa Kakoulas

    Marisa Kakoulas is a New York lawyer, writer, and muse of Daniel DiMattia of Calypso Tattoo, living in Liege, Belgium. She works undercover — or just covered up — as a corporate consultant: proof that tattoos and suits are not mutually exclusive. Her book “Tattoo Law”, an overview of US laws affecting the body modification community, is under way. IAM members can visit Marisa at iam:FREE.

    Copyright © 2004 Marisa Kakoulas. Online presentation copyright © 2004 BMEzine.com LLC. Requests to republish must be confirmed in writing. For bibliographical purposes this article was first published online September 23, 2004 by BMEzine.com LLC in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

  • Dear Abby, Fearmonger Much? [The Publisher’s Ring]

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    Dear Abby,
    Fearmonger Much?


    “A word to the wise ain’t necessary, it’s the stupid ones who need the advice.”

    – Bill Cosby

    In one of her most recent Dear Abby letters, Jeanne Philips (aka “Abby”) received a letter from a certified operating-room nurse regarding the risks of tongue piercing. Philips, adding a better safe than sorry response posted the letter to her column which ran with a large headline proclaiming “tongue rings can lead to heart surgery”.

    Dear Abby is syndicated in over 1,200 papers and has a readership of approximately 95 million people, who all just got collectively stupider because of her largely unquestioning parroting of this misleading nurse’s claims.

    According to the nurse, Karen Murphy from Morten Plant Hospital in Florida, “tongue studs can lead to endocarditis” in “otherwise healthy young people”. Saying that tongue piercing can lead to heart disease is like saying that having a dog can lead to fatal allergic response — yes, it’s true, but you have to have a pre-existing medical condition. In my example, you have to have a pet dander-type allergy, and in Murphy’s tongue piercing example, you have to have already have a valvular heart disease. It is extremely rare for endocarditis to affect someone who doesn’t already suffer from heart disease, and those that are tend to be older with already failing health.

    Endocarditis is usually caused by a staph or strep infection, which admittedly are the types of bacteria common with body piercing infections. If an infection from a piercing has these bacteria enter the bloodstream (which is certainly possible from tongue piercing), those bacteria can lodge in the heart’s lining or valves. If the person has congenital heart defects, problems with the heart musculature such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, valve damage from diseases such as rhematic fever, or artificial heart valves, they are at risk of these infections. Anything that can cause oral injury — even teeth cleaning — requires the individual to first take a course of antibiotics to reduce their risk level. Other injuries (even papercuts) can lead to endocarditis in these individuals. Luckily, according to the American Heart Association (americanheart.org), endocarditis is extremely rare in people who do not suffer from the heart conditions I’ve just mentioned.

    To be very clear, telling normal people that they shouldn’t get tongue piercings because of the risk of heart surgery is like telling them they should stop going to the dentist for the same reason! While it is important to point out that the Dear Abby column did disclaim in their response that they’d been informed by the AHA that only “certain individuals, people with a medical history of rheumatic fever or rheumatic valve disease — or any heart valve disease” are at risk, Jeanne still concluded that all her readers are “better to be safe than sorry”. Given the screaming headline and the page real-estate given to the misleading nurse, it is safe to assume that this will be yet another thing that will make educators, legislators, and parents behave even more ignorantly toward body piercing.

    Estimating from body jewelry sales (straight ¾” and ½” barbells are almost all used for tongue piercing), there are millions of people with tongue piercings, and only a handful of those have had this complication, whereas the rate of infective endocarditis in the general public is between 1.7 and 4 per 100,000 — meaning there is no statistical evidence that tongue piercing leads to health complications in any meaningful numbers.

    I have a letter I think I need to mail in.


    Dear Abby,

    Should I go outside? Every year, approximately one thousand people in the United States are struck by lightning, and about a hundred of them are actually killed! You recently said that “otherwise healthy” people might be “better safe than sorry” and should avoid tongue piercing because of the risk. Given that going outdoors — or using the telephone while it’s raining out — is far, far, far more dangerous, surely you must agree that it would be best if I didn’t go to work today.

    Frank O’Derby

    PS. I’m a little concerned that three hundred people have died from bee stings over the past couple decades. Do you think it would be a good idea to ask my Senator to ban honey?

    There’s one thing the world desperately needs more of, and that’s common sense. It’s one thing to expect without fulfillment that Ms. Dear Abby had the “uncommon common sense and youthful perspective” she claims to have, but entirely another thing to wish that the OR nurses had it as well. If they can’t think clearly about tongue piercing, can we really trust nurses like Karen Murphy to think clearly about our emergency health care?

    Note to self: don’t get hurt in Clearwater, Florida.


    Shannon Larratt
    BME.com