BME: Body Modification Ezine

A tattooed person suspends from hooks, laying flat, one leg higher than the other. Their head is back, and they seem to be smiling, dark hair dangling like an anime character.

Celebrating body modification culture since 1994.

Author: Jordan Ginsberg

  • Full Coverage: Links From All Over (Oct. 20, 2008)

    Written by

    Jordan Ginsberg

    [Joplin Globe] It’s pretty often that we stumble across stories of backwards school boards that have decided students with tattoos and piercings are an affront to the education system and do not even deserve access to the same crippled-by-No-Child-Left-Behind embarrassment programs as all the others, and who cares right? What have stupid kids ever offered society other than scabies and juvenile diabetes? Well, the mavericks on the Joplin R-8 Board of Education in Missouri have turned their discerning eyeballs on the swill merchants who are pushing these ideas of “body” “art” on the little scamps: teachers!

    Joplin R-8 Board of Education members Tuesday night gave administrators the OK to change wording in the district’s employment policy to not allow any part of a tattoo to show.

    The policy previously instructed teachers to wear clothing that “minimizes” tattoos, but it did not prohibit part or all of the tattoo from showing.

    The board also wants to make that policy apply to all district employees, not just teachers.

    Superintendent C.J. Huff said he brought the issue to the board because someone had raised concerns about teachers with tattoos. The board members appeared to be in unanimous agreement about tattoos not being appropriate in a professional and, specifically, a classroom setting.

    […] Joplin resident Maurice Filson encouraged the board to adopt a policy that requires teachers to cover their tattoos. He said refusing to do so would be a statement that might speak louder than the body art itself.

    “You already know the problems our children are facing, so for the sake of our kids, I hope this can be properly addressed,” Filson said.

    Do those problems include low test scores and problems focusing in class? Because I have a feeling that even if the subject matter of these classes isn’t engaging the little ragamuffins, then maybe more interesting individuals at the helm could be of some help. But as I’ve said before, it’s hard to argue with an employer that seeks to enforce a dress code, so … keep up the work, Joplin Board of Education. You are doing a job.

    [Greensburg Daily News] So what with it being election season and all, does anybody know when we cast our ballots for mother of the year? Because, even though it’s only October, I have a feeling it’s going to be tough to beat Indiana’s proudest daughter, Jessica Middleton of St. Paul, who had herself a pretty spectacular twenty-second birthday:

    According to Greensburg Police Chief Brian Heaton, Jessica L. Middleton, 22, was arrested early Saturday morning on charges of neglect of a dependent, a Class D felony. Heaton said at 10:26 p.m. Friday, the department received a call of a 2-year-old in a car unattended in the city parking lot just off the downtown square. Due to a high call volume taxing the on-duty officers he had at the time, Officer Mike McNealy didn’t arrive immediately. When he did, he found a child being cared for by some friendly passers-by.

    […] Heaton said they may not have found Middleton without thew help of a 16-year-old male who said he was friends with the mother. He told officers Middleton, who turned 22 on Oct. 15, went to Somers’ Ink, a new tattoo parlor downtown, for a tattoo at around 9:30 p.m. Afterwards, Heaton said the teenager informed officers she went to the Tiki Bar for a birthday drink. He identified Middleton to officers, who allowed him access to the bar for the purpose of making their arrest.

    Booze and tattoos? Sounds like a pretty sweet birthday to me! Other than the whole borderline-infanticide thing, which really sounds like it was being blown out of proportion. When asked for a comment, Middleton told reporters that she used to babysit herself in the car all the time, eating cigarette butts and strangling herself with the seatbelt, and she turned out pretty well, didn’t she? Middleton then fell down, soiled herself and a rabid coyote ran over and licked her fresh tattoo, thus capping the greatest birthday she or anyone else has ever had.

    [YouTube] No snark here, friends: The video that follows is of a ballet performed by a pair of amputees, one male and one female, and it’s about as beautiful as anything you’ll find on these here Internets:

  • Full Coverage: Links From All Over (Oct. 17, 2008)

    Written by

    Jordan Ginsberg

    No.

    [Union Leader] The last time we checked in with Meghan McCain, the spunky daughter of the Republican presidential nominee, she was overheard mentioning that she wanted a new tattoo, but that she would wait until her father’s campaign for president was over. Thoughtful! But now the truth comes out — she’s waiting until after the election because she has issued an ultimatum to YOU, the voter!

    If Sen. John McCain wins the presidency in a little more than three weeks, his daughter said she’ll tattoo “Live Free or Die” somewhere on her body.

    Of course, he would have to win in New Hampshire, too, said Meghan McCain, who was in Nashua yesterday thanking volunteers at the McCain-Palin campaign office.

    The tattoo, which would probably go on her wrist, would be her way of commemorating her father’s run for the presidency, she said. It was in New Hampshire that McCain revived his faltering presidential bid during the presidential primary in January.

    “New Hampshire is so important to me and my family,” she said.

    Earlier, McCain told a supporter that she would be “extremely depressed” if her dad loses in New Hampshire.

    Sold. It’s up to you now, heroes: If you don’t vote McCain (especially you New Hampshire pinkos), you may as well say that you hate tattoos and that you don’t think anyone (ESPECIALLY FREE-SPIRITED YOUNG WOMEN, YOU SEXISTS) should suffer the indignity of getting one. The choice is yours.

    [Macy Survey Site] Are you a man? Do you have a genital piercing? Do you love surveys? Well hot holy damn, are you ever in luck. Elayne Angel sends in this online survey being conducted by body art researcher Myrna Armstrong: http://www.macysurveysite.com/gpsurveys.htm. Armstrong has been publishing body modification-related articles in medical journals for a few years now and, says Elayne: “I believe she’s more interested in the information than in making judgments.”

    [Chicago Sun Times] Ha ha, now this is a clever scam. North Sider Marcos Paiz posted a Craigslist ad offering Chicago-area tattoo artists a once in a lifetime deal: To tattoo him — get this — for free! Wait, wait, if you’re still reading this and haven’t rushed out the door to find this brave human canvas, here are the details:

    “Essentially, I would really love to have my whole torso covered in tattoos,” said Paiz, a 29-year-old flight attendant from Lake View. “I think it would be good to have free art work.”

    […] He’s thinking some “greenery and flowers” down his back would be nice. But he’s open to an artist’s ideas — as long as they don’t include swastikas, Satanic symbols or “something totally crazy.”

    And free would be nice, he figures.

    The article then quotes Nick Colella, the owner of Chicago Tattoo Company, who gives some claptrap about this being a “disturbing trend fueling the rise of in-home and back-alley tattoo operations” and that the people who think this sort of thing is acceptable probably don’t know the first thing about sterilization or blood-borne pathogens and that you should “pay” for “high-quality work,” but get real. Paiz is a visionary, and God knows he’s got some valuable lessons to pass on. So with this in mind, I’m just throwing it out there, but if there are any chefs who would like to cook me a gourmet meal in exchange for the satisfaction of knowing you have bettered yourself and improved your craft, please e-mail me as soon as possible. It’s almost dinner time.

  • UPDATE: Brain Piercings, Face-Tattoo Hoaxes and a New Article

    Written by

    Jordan Ginsberg


    Ha ha, remember that brain piercing story from the other day that seemed more than a little far-fetched and which Ferg‘s medical connection thoroughly debunked? Well, Master Piercer Elayne Angel (and wife of Buck Angel) wrote in to offer her own input (it’s bogus!), including a link to this site — it’s written in Portuguese (and the translation is mostly just a reiteration of initial blog post on the subject), but it includes this abjectly terrifying Photoshoppery:

    Photo source: Vida Universitaria

    Guhhh. I hate the Internet.

    In other news, astute reader Lynette writes in to touch on the plight of our friends Bambang and Nanang, the victims of a practical joke that led to them tattooing their faces. Lynette … is not sympathetic:

    I know S.E. Asia’s culture and politics well (my extended family are from Malaysia which is next door to Indonesia) and [to be honest] don’t feel in the slightest bit sorry for them …

    Putting aside the beliefs in mystics/ghosts/spirits (something which exists mostly in rural areas of these nations, the urban areas are more high tech than the UK!), these scum were applying for “jobs” that would have involved spying on their own people and reporting back to the Indonesian security forces.

    This could easily result in the village being stormed by cops/soldiers on “suspicion” of drug dealing/smuggling etc. When this happens, it isn’t like the politically correct West where people are [released] on bail and the worst what may happen is they get evicted or ASBOs. When the village is stormed, the menfolk (other than the spies/grass) are separated and executed (if they are lucky they are just shot, if not they are tortured), the women are used for the sex industry/forced breeding (i.e. rape) and the children are sold to rich families and the money taken by the government/soldiers.

    Then the houses are bulldozed or lit on fire and the area cleared for logging or palm oil plantations (the government/soldiers’/cops’ families get the building jobs, etc.). This happens all across S.E. Asia and is rarely reported other than by activist groups and is covered up by the West, as it’s how we get our cheap furniture and “green” biodiesel.

    This wasn’t a joke: it was a way of weeding out grasses/untrustworthy scum, and to deter people from taking these “jobs.”

    Yowza. I can’t personally confirm these allegations, but that’s pretty damning if true. Anybody else from the Indonesia/Malaysia area that can back this up?

    And lastly, we’ve just put up the latest of dreamy Paul King’s piercing history articles — this time, it’s labrets and lip piercings! Clicky below for the piece:

  • Full Coverage: Links From All Over (Oct. 14, 2008)

    Written by

    Jordan Ginsberg


    [Tattooique.com] So, approximately 9,000 people have sent this to me over the last couple of weeks and, even now, I can’t tell whether the original author is legit in his assurance of the efficacy of his plan:

    So they will cut you hair first, then bore in your scull two tiny foramens with a drill, then drag the ring through them with the bent needle. The foramens will be done on your nucha – there is an especially sensitive range of a brain. The ring will easily massage it and keep you in the state of euphoria. The only problem you can face is that you will have to try hard to find a piercer. There are very few persons capable. And the price is $1000 for the whole procedure.

    Hot damn! Where do I sign up? Really though, this seems like the sort of thing my uncle would send in an e-mail. (“Hey, I’ve got a piercing for ya — right through the brain!” Nyuk nyuk nyuk.) Luckily, the ever-industrious Ferg spoke to a doctor friend of his, and came back with the following results:

    I have to say that the anatomical descriptions and descriptions of the procedure are vague and weird. Whoever wrote it would certainly not have my vote of confidence. This is what a nuchal line is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuchal_lines

    As you might have imagined already, the risk of haemorrhage and death are ridiculously high as well as that of contracting meningitis (inflammation of the membranes around the brain): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meninges

    There are three membranes that surround the brain. One is closely attached to the skull itself (the dura), the second – the arachnoid – is full of blood vessels and holds in the cerebrospinal fluid, then the third, the pia mater, is what’s adherent to the brain itself.

    Should one accidentally rip through the membranes, then CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) would leak out and the patient would die within minutes, or, should one rupture a blood vessel accidentally, then the piercee would either haemorrhage out (to death?) or into their skull, thus compressing the brain and resulting in coma, death, seizures, etc., etc.

    I would have thought that foreign bodies rubbing directly on the brain would cause irritation and thus neurological deficits as well as seizures. (Are seizures pleasant?) Anyway, I’m no specialist and I’m sure it’s totally possible to do and survive. Whether their claims are true (euphoria?) needs to be substantiated.

    Well, there you have it. Maybe it’ll work and maybe it won’t, but … please don’t try to pierce your brain.

    [Toronto Star, Niagara Falls Review, Guelph Mercury] There’s a lot to lose for a tattoo/piercing shop owner who doesn’t abide by the regulations outlined by the local board of health. Fines and closures are the obvious disciplinary measures, but standard operating practice in most places also includes the health board itself disseminating information to the shop’s customers, warning them to undergo blood tests, often for HIV and hepatitis. The damage to one’s reputation for actions ranging from poor bookkeeping of spore tests to actually using dirty instruments can be devastating — and for some reason, Southern Ontario has been seeing a lot of these cases lately. Last summer, Oshawa’s Longhorn Custom Bodyart Studio was the subject of a $10 million class-action lawsuit filed by former customers who had been alerted of the fact that the shop had potentially been using improperly sterilized needles:

    Durham Region health authorities warned that possible use of non-sterile equipment could lead to transmission of HIV and hepatitis B and C and sent letters to 2,400 people, urging them to see a doctor and get blood tests. The 530 results that have come back so far were all negative, said spokesperson Glendene Collins.

    More recently, Venom Ink in St. Catharines (and Niagara Falls) and Stigmata Body Art in Guelph faced similar issues. Stigmata Body Art was fined after it “failed to comply with an order issued in July 2007 by Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health to produce the results of spore tests, which check for proper sterilization of equipment,” while Venom Ink’s piercing business was shut down entirely for using non-sterile equipment.

    After talking with the owner of the business, public health officials believe there are 40 customers who received piercings during the three months Venom Ink was in business – two months in St. Catharines and one in Niagara Falls.

    […] Employees working Saturday afternoon said they did not want to discuss the health department’s notice and threatened to charge a reporter with trespassing if he came by again.

    In all cases, it’s still recommended that clients who received work from the aforementioned shops between certain dates seek out HIV and hepatitis tests:

    – Longhorn Custom Bodyart Studio: Nov. 17, 2006-Aug. 1, 2007
    – Stigmata Body Art: February, April and May 2007
    – Venom Ink: It’s recommended that anyone who received a piercing from Venom Ink should seek testing

    [Huffington Post] We’re through the looking glass, people — it’s the dawning of a new era. Writers are now beyond recounting their experiences with tattoos and piercings, and have moved onto the next, Falkner-approved level of body art memoir: Tattoo removal stories. Anya Strzemien over at HuffPo tells her story:

    The first tattoo was a star on my wrist. Not so original nowadays, but we didn’t have Lindsay Lohan and Sienna Miller back then. [Ed. note: Slam fucking dunk.] And, sure, you have to be 18 to legally get a tattoo, but this was in the early days of Giuliani administration in New York, back when we were barely carded for anything (especially alcohol, I was elated to learn).

    The second tattoo came about during my freshman year of college, and this one really marked some silly adolescent judgment on my part. I knew what I wanted it to say (and it’s something so college, so 18, and so earnest that I can’t even bring myself to tell friends what it means anymore, let alone HuffPost readers), but I didn’t want it to be in English. Arabic, Farsi and Hindi looked too linear, Chinese felt too cliché. So, naturally, I settled on Japanese. I could have lived with the star for the rest of my life, but really, Asian character tattoos are a crime of fashion that should be punishable by law. The characters themselves are beautiful, but as a tattoo…especially on a non-Asian body…well, nothing says “I Tried To Rebel In The ’90s” more.

    So when I turned 29 in August, I decided it was time for me and the tattoos to part ways, and schlepped out to New Jersey to see Dr. Mitchell Chasin at the Reflections Center For Skin And Body, where I was told the cost of the removal for an average-sized tattoo like mine would be about $300 or $350 per treatment, and it would take at least four treatments (the number varies depending on the color and type of ink, skin type, and quality of the tattoo). So if the average number of treatments is four to ten, then it costs between $1200 and $3500. Note to 16-year-old self: you were wrong.

    The post also includes some (inexcusably poor) photos, and assorted musings on the oozing, bubbling and general grossness that comes along with tattoo removal. But surely the erudite HuffPo commenters will have worthwhile input, right?

    A tattoo just means you’re dumb enough to let ANYONE stick a needle in ya.

    Oh for God’s sake.

  • The Funniest Practical Joke of All Time

    Written by

    Jordan Ginsberg


    Photo source: Ninemsn.com.au

    Those guys up there? Not happy. Not even a little. And with good reason! Bambang (left) and Nanang (right), two native Indonesians who were looking for government jobs, received word from a local village chief that there was a new requirement to work as an intelligence officer in Jakarta: facial tattoos. The only problem, of course, is that the chief — who received his information via text message — had been lied to, and he passed along some dreadfully poor instructions:

    The official, who said it was a job requirement to have their faces tattooed with dragons, was later discovered to be a hoaxer — but not before Nanang, 30, and Bambang, 40, had already undergone the painful and disfiguring procedure.

    The three men believe the anonymous trickster was a kind of “mystic”, as they didn’t feel in control of their actions when following his strange instructions.

    “I was half conscious when the shop owner tattooed my face, and didn’t think it was a con,” victim Bambang said.

    “I just realized it was a con on Friday night. I was shocked and I cried.”

    A horrified Sawiyono realised he had been tricked when double-checking the bizarre request with a legitimate government representative.

    Yikes. And somehow, this is the third hoax of its kind to go down recently in Jakarta. On the plus side, though? EPIC BURN. Eh? Am I right, fellas? Ashton Kutcher is seething with envy right now. (I’m just kidding, this is horrible.)

    Fooled job seekers stuck with facial tattoos [National Nine News]

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