Maybe we should judge books by their cover?

"A popular admonition goes 'Don't judge a book by its cover.' Yet we do it all the time. We ascribe qualities of character to people based on their physical characteristics. And our language takes shape to reflect that attitude."

– Anu Garg, founder of
wordsmith.org

One of body modification’s core purposes is communication. Humans are of course communicating animals — in some ways the complexity and depth of our methods is our most unique and defining characteristics. So when we permanently inscribe a public message using our bodies, it is the most core and true way in which we can communicate, as we say “I feel so strongly about this that I will become it”.

I don’t think anyone would have any problem agreeing that the way you wear your hair and clothes and so on is a way of communicating who you are to the world. Even if a conscious effort is made “not to succumb to fashion”, that as well broadcasts a message. It’s inescapable. By looking a certain way we invite contact from some people, and also send a “stay away” message to others as we give them a brief but powerful visual introduction to who we are. Every culture in history has ascribed uniforms of style and appearance to themselves as a whole, to their subgroups and castes, and then of course to the individual.

It is impossible to escape this conversation without withdrawing totally from in-person human interaction. Humans are designed for content-rich multi-media communication — to illustrate, think how different it is when you read a movie script versus actually seeing it, where you can watch the way a person presents themselves, how they move, their tone, and so on. Everything we can observe, we interpret.

So when we modify our bodies in a way that’s visible to the public, we are communicating. Like it or not, we are sending a message. It is unavoidable.

The interesting thing about transmitting a message with body modification is that it’s a message that will almost certainly be misinterpreted; how can an unmodified mainstream be expected to understand something that’s totally alien to them? But maybe it’s like abstract art: a subconscious way of communicating? Body modification is the most guttural and carnal way we can communicate, even more so than the primal cries of a fresh baby.

Body modification doesn’t just seize control of the message; it changes the medium of transmission into the message. Marshall McLuhan of course wrote, “the medium is the message”, referring to the subliminal effects of the choice of medium both on the message and as the message. McLuhan believed that mass media would eventually bring us to a “global village” and the “spiritual form of information” would eventually transform all of “the human family [into] a single consciousness”. I have to wonder if the embracing of body modification — where humans transform themselves into the message itself — is a step toward that dream?

If a person walks around in public yelling while holding a sign with a drawing on it, can we reasonably say, “oh, maybe they just liked the way the sign looked and didn’t think about what it meant”? Of course not — I think we all agree that if someone runs around carrying a sign that they don’t understand that the person is being a bit of an idiot… So why should it be any different with body modification, where you become the sign?

There’s nothing wrong with judging a book by its cover when the author actually got to design it — a well designed cover should reflect the content of the book quite accurately. We, the modified, are in the privileged position of being willing to design our own covers, but we must take that privilege seriously. After all, what would you think of a book where the author had just done random scribbles that bore no relevance to the content, or did it poorly — or even worse, just copied the cover of someone else’s book?

The other thing to remember is that we, as books, have only one cover, and we keep it for life. The message we inscribe on it is permanent, so we must be secure in saying what we say today tomorrow and the day after as well. The messages we choose to become must be eternal truths, or at least ones that can be eternally cherished and valued.

Being aware of the above, how should we think about our body modification plans? How can we make our body modifications work for us, not against us?

As I see it, we have five primary considerations that should be taken into account for any body modification decisions:

1. Quality
If you get a tattoo of something you care about, what does it say when you don’t bother going to a qualified artist? After all, you are becoming the tattoo. It’s not just a sticker that you can throw away — it is you. By stating something poorly, even if the message is true, the fact that it’s poorly stated may become the primary message. This world of ours has been populated by a multitude of amazing and beautiful people, but only those that put in effort to speak clearly and eloquently rise and succeed.

2. Interpreted meaning
How others interpret your mod is of course of primary importance since it’s what will open or close minds and doors. At present the modified represent between one and ten percent of the Western population, depending on what demographic you are looking at, so most people seeing your mods will be seeing them as alien to their own existence. The meaning they draw from them is with minimal common ground. If you want to reach the mainstream with your message (to say you don’t is to advocate isolationism and separatism), the interpreted meaning either has to be clear to them, or at least provide a bridge so you can open a productive dialogue and reveal to them the true meaning.

3. True meaning
The actual meaning will only be clear to you and to people who take the time to get to know you well. Depending on how abstract your message is, it may also only be apparent to those who are also modified since there are things one learns on this path that are very difficult to put to words. Either way, it’s important to concisely define your goal, and ensure that you’re working toward it with clarity, and that your mods are expressing that goal — even if you’re simply saying “this is making me happy”.

4. Vibe
While the specifics of a mod define its literal meaning, there is also a larger “vibe” that’s created by both the subtleties and the overall look you’re building. At its simplest, let’s take a classic rose tattoo. What vibe (if any) does it put off when it’s on an ankle? What about a forearm? A shoulder? A neck? In the pubic region, peeking out from just above the belt-line? When a person first comes into the range our senses, our mind automatically “classifies” them. That’s not a bad thing; it’s what allows us to structure ourselves socially. Body modification of course allows you to seize control of that process — use it to your advantage.

5. Endurance
It’s important to ask yourself exactly what message you’ll be sending not just today, but for all time. Will the mod become “dated”? There’s nothing wrong with something screaming “I got this in 1985″, but if a mod is permanent, you must consider both whether the message will continue to carry relevance (maybe you’d have been better off with a N’Sync t-shirt than a tattoo?), and more importantly, will it change in meaning in the future?

Now don’t get me wrong — I believe that the primary consideration in any mod should be:

“Does it make me happy?”

…but as the metaphysical poet John Donne wrote, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main…” Few of us can escape our role in the larger universe where we must productively communicate with the beings around us. So we must always remember that our body modifications, so long as they fall on public skin of course, are not just for us — they are also broadcasting a message to outsiders.

And in return, we should feel free to judge others by the messages (or lack of messages) that they choose to transmit to us. We are the communicators. Complex communication is the tool we use to raise ourselves to being something other than animals. Remember that the next time you transform yourself into a message.

That message can help you achieve your goals, or it can hinder you. While we are to some extent bound by the prejudice and ignorance of the lowest common denominator, ultimately the power rests in our hands.

Good luck and keep on spreading your message,

Shannon Larratt

BMEzine.com

What the Modified can learn from Satan

“I shall tell you a great secret, my friend. Do not wait for the last judgment, it takes place every day.”

– Albert Camus

Anton LaVey, the late founder of the Church of Satan, a modern spiritual movement that preached self-determination and self-empowerment as well as a rejection of societal norms (including mass religion) and embracing individually defined ritual for personal gain, defined the fifth of nine “Satanic sins” that all free individuals should avoid as “Herd Conformity”, writing,

That’s obvious from a Satanic stance. It’s all right to conform to a person’s wishes, if it actually benefits you. But only fools follow along with the herd, letting an impersonal entity dictate to them.

Clearly “the modified” have rejected the herd. Unless massive changes happen in mainstream society, body modification by definition forces the individual to stand outside the herd, whether in secret or in public. Simply by taking that little step of putting a small piece of metal through your navel, or permanently etching a design under your skin, you become something other than faceless.

Not that stepping out of the herd guarantees success. While LaVey did call on his flock to practice discretion when it suited them — or, as my father once told me, “if you’re going to be a sociopath, you can be more effective if you don’t advertise the fact” — he also felt that there were times when it was important to be public about one’s allegiance. When asked how Satanists could achieve mainstream success and world domination, he replied,

We need to do things, not just huddle together like pigs to keep warm. That’s what will destroy Christianity’s stranglehold on evolution and progress. When Satanists make pioneering discoveries and achievements, objective authorities can’t point to Satan as the Father of all that’s worthless and detrimental to society. They can’t say, ‘Gee, I wish we could use this vaccine — it’s too bad you’re a Satanist.’ On the contrary — they will be forced to see and acknowledge the quality, productivity and superiority of Satanic thought.

Many famous people joined the Church of Satan at the time that LaVey wrote those words — Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, the Eagles, Tina Louise, Sammy Davis Jr, and a multitude of others who chose to remain anonymous — and similarly, many well known celebrities and other people of influence are members of BME and body modification enthusiasts. I wish I could list them here in a way that didn’t violate their right to privacy, but unfortunately body modification carries a higher stigma in the 2000′s than Satanism did in the 1970′s. As a result, the vast majority keep their interests a secret, even when they rise to positions of power that would be difficult to erode no matter what they pledged to publicly.

In any case, the modified should learn from that statement and follow its advice. The easiest way to disprove the theory that the modified are degenerate losers that’ll never amount to anything is by not only succeeding in life, but by being better than them at everything. Not only does the modern Western world test truth by measuring success, but more importantly, whoever wins gets to set the rules for the next round of the game… Right now there are many rules in place designed to keep us down; only by asserting ourselves and succeeding can we change those rules — whining isn’t going to change anything.

Satanists are superior people. To gain immortal perspective and power, you must actively practice isolation from the herd. Turn off the television set. It’s meant to program you to think like everyone else. Use it as a device for your own pleasure, but as with fire or electricity, be aware of the danger. Use your difference, your alienation, rather than be used by it. Know that it’s your differences that makes you powerful — you don’t want to lose them, or you lose your power.

Our biggest advantage may be that we, at least for a moment, were able to reject the shackles that enslave and imprison the herd — and if we could do it once, we can do it again. In order to exercise control over the herd and solidify their position the powerful (wealthy families, corporations, banks, governments, and so on) impose a way of living that is detrimental to achieving success and rising through the ranks. So what do we need to do?

1. Reject all things that enslave us. We know we don’t have to look like them… so why do we have to accept the rest of the self-imposed slavery?
2. Once you’ve chosen your path, do it well. Work hard. Do it as well as you can, and win, using those victories as the foundation for more.

But once you’ve achieved some modicum of success, how do you spread that influence universally? LaVey’s Satanism sought not only to liberate its members, but to liberate humanity, and it recognized that to do that it ultimately would be faced with destroying its philosophical nemesis, Christianity.

Choosing not to go to church isn’t enough. It’s not going to stop the brainwashing of millions of other people. There can be no room for this ecumenical attitude of, ‘Well, if God works for them and makes them happy, it won’t hurt me to let them go on believing it.’ But it does hurt you. When there are that many people in positions of authority thinking muddled, incoherent thoughts, it’s going to affect you. To completely overthrow mystically-oriented religions, Satanists choose active opposition. We don’t need to show any tolerance or good fellowship to these sheep now that we’re calling the shots. Have Christians ever shown Satanists any mercy?

In our case, we need to ensure that we do a few important things to get started:

1. If a job rejects us because of mods, or a business treats us badly, we need to stop giving them money, and we need to make sure that everyone we know does the same, and we need to make sure the business knows it. We need to ensure that we aren’t paying to be oppressed, and we need to ensure that our money feeds only those who value us and the freedoms we stand for. Put simply, don’t support those who would destroy you!
2. If someone, be it a parent, a friend, or a stranger reacts negatively to the modified, we should first try and correct their ignorance, but if they choose to embrace their stupidity, blacklist them. Cut them out of your life. Do them no favors, and accept none in return. If they are not willing to accept who you are as a free person, you should not accept them as your passive jailor. Even if they don’t discriminate against you per se (ie. the double standard of telling someone you love them while saying you hate who they are), as long as they support a system that does they are declaring themselves your enemy.
3. If we find ourselves in a position of hiring employees, we should do our best to hire qualified and modified people and ensure they do the job we give them well. Doing so will have a snowball effect; the more modified people the public sees, the more willing they are both to take that step themselves, the more comfortable they are around modified people, and the more likely they will be to hire modified people themselves. We need to make being a free individual “normal” and desirable.
4. The more success we reach personally, the more we should use that success to show the world not just that “Joe is a success”, but that “Joe the modified man is a success”. This is extremely important. We need modified doctors, lawyers, bankers, police, athletes, and more. If you’re modified, and people look up to you, use that to our advantage. When people imagine a stereotype of success, it should include individualistic (rather than conformist) behavior, including body modification.

Because I am a proponent of “friendly isolationism”, people often write me and say, “Shannon, why do you always have to be so ‘us-and-them’… wouldn’t it be better to build bridges instead?”

To me the idea of building a bridge is ludicrous. Why would a free person want to build a bridge to a slave colony? If anyone should be building bridges it’s them — to escape their boring prisons! The only reason to open a dialogue with the unmodified is to allow them the opportunity to take a step in the right direction — toward our way of life, a way of being that doesn’t place fearful boundaries on our bodies as defined by skin… a way of life that provides powerful tools that can guide a person to enlightenment.

Now, don’t get me wrong — I’m very aware that there are many paths up the mountain and that the view from the top is probably the same — certainly there are free and enlightened individuals that choose not to undertake body modification personally. I’m reminded of the scene in Once Were Warriors (a highly recommended movie that addresses the need to bring the values that allowed people to survive oppression and slavery into modern lives) when a facially tattooed Maori asks his younger brother why he doesn’t wear the traditional moko. “I wear mine on the inside”, he replies, and there’s certainly truth to that statement.

But it’s not that easy. Just because a person says “I choose not to be modified” does not mean that they actually made a choice. Hiding under your blankets at night because you are afraid of the dark is very different than loving the light. Their “choice” may well simply mean that they are afraid to step into a self-determined and self-responsible way of living.

Assertion: Body modification is the most accessible and safest “key” to unlocking the doors to personal freedom, individual affirmation, and spiritual enlightenment that I’ve ever seen. We, the modified, need to work hard to succeed in life, and through our actions ensure that this key is protected and can reach as many people as desire it.

Keep fighting,

Shannon Larratt

BMEzine.com

A Modified Man in the Air Force

“Don’t ever go in the army Trey. A black man don’t got no place in the army.”

– Furious Styles, Boyz N the Hood, 1991

As those of you who read the BME newsfeed know, earlier this year the US military amended its dress code regulations to clearly ban certain types of body modification. Specifically, this included banning what it called “mutilation” — implants, split tongues, stretched ears, and so on. For example, the following was added to the Navy’s regulations:

8. Mutilation. Intentional body mutilation, piercing, branding/intentional scarring that are excessive or eccentric are prohibited. Some examples are (1) a split or forked tongue; (2) foreign objects inserted under the skin to create a design or pattern; (3) enlarged or stretched out holes in the ears (other than a normal piercing); and (4) intentional scarring that appears on the neck, face or scalp.

What you may not know is that those regulations were passed as a retaliatory measure against a small number of people in the military who were involved with heavy body modifications on their own time. Even though these activities hurt neither their performance or their commitment to the military or their country, nor did they reflect poorly on the military, these individuals were forced to have dangerous and damaging surgery to “correct” their body modifications.

BME had the opportunity to interview the airman that appears to have been the catalyst in this entire process. I’m keeping his identity anonymous here so as not to further endanger his chosen career. He is an IAM member though and I’d be glad to put other members in touch with him.

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BME: What made you decide to join the military?

As far back as I can remember I either wanted to be in the Army or fly in the Air Force. Around ten my uncle would give me Army stuff from work — he was a Supply Sgt. in the Army National Guard. At around sixteen I learned that my chances of flying were slim to none… That and the fact that I wanted to get out of my parents’ house as fast as I could influenced my decision to join the Army.

Right after my junior year of high school I signed up for the Army Guard and did basic training, and then I did my senior year of high school. That way I could get the discipline — the discipline that I needed to keep my life from going down the drain.

After two years in the Army Guard I decided that I was not far enough from home — I needed more distance from my roots, so I went into the Active Duty Air Force in August of 2000. As it stands now I am preparing to go to Guam and then fifteen months later I will be in Fairford, UK.

And what made you originally decide to get a tongue splitting?

I had always been interested in heavier body modifications, and the research I did about tongue splitting showed me that:

(a) It was a way to move forward spiritually. I believe that all body modifications are an expression of what your mind thinks your body is (or should be)… Something akin to aligning your inner image of yourself with the outer image.

(b) It was a reversible procedure (or so I thought).

(c) It was not against any current military regulations.

(d) There was very little chance of complications and it heals quickly.

(e) It was easily hidden.

How did you actually do the procedure?

The procedure was done three times in total. The first time, March 16th, 2002, it was done by a friend using scalpel. Another friend recut it for me on August 1st, and then again on Christmas Eve of 2002, to cut out the regrowth using a cautery pen.

Did your tongue splitting affect your effectiveness as an airman in any way?

In my opinion I don’t believe that it negatively affected me in any way. I took leave for the procedure. When I went back to work I was talking normally and the people that I work with never had a problem with it.

Was it apparent to others?

Unless I showed you that it was split or if you were looking hard in the right light for the split you couldn’t tell. If you were looking for it, it looked more like a crease in my tongue than a split… Plus at work I didn’t show it off. If someone asked me I would usually tell them that I was not comfortable with that subject in the work environment.

Anyway, most of my fellow airman just wanted to know the usual questions that all modified people get. “Did it hurt?” “Why did you do that?” “How much did that cost?”… Stuff like that. I think we’ve all gotten the same questions at one point or another. Once they got the answers to their questions they seemed to accept it. I’ve never heard a fellow airman that has talked to me complain about it.

How did your CO find out about it?

The day after I got it done I went and talked to a “friend” who was also on leave. I went by his dorm room to pick up some stuff I’d let him borrow. He asked me why I was talking funny, so I showed him and asked him not to tell anyone at work.

I wanted to explain my reasons to work on my own time, but the next day he went out of his way to go in to work and tell my shop chief… Then it was a matter of the news travelling up the chain of command.

How did they respond at first?

The way that the military responds to most things that they cannot figure out… they “up channel it”.

By the time I made it off leave — only five days — it was already at 9th Air Force Legal. I won’t say how far past that it went but it went a lot further than I think anyone thought it would. After about three months of trying to decide out what to do they came down and said that there was no legal recourse that they could find, but the matter was still open.

On January 1st, 2003, a new regulation went into effect, a broad regulation that bans, among other things, tongue splitting.

What options were presented to you?

I really had no options. I was given a direct order by my CO to reverse it. I was given about forty minutes notice of this meeting, and then was told that in five hours I was going in for an evaluation. Then four days later I had another evaluation, and then three days after that I had the surgery. The only options I had were obey, disobey, or fight it via legal, which would have meant losing my orders to Guam.

Why do you feel the military felt so strongly about this?

I think they thought that I was sticking my nose up at that them, like I was daring them to try and do something about it… But that was not my intention at all — I just did it for me.

Why did you choose to reverse the split, rather than say, quitting?

Ever since I joined the Air Force I have wanted to do my twenty years and retire at thirty-seven. I’d have lost everything I’ve worked toward. If I have to bend for some new regulations to fall into line and complete this goal of mine, then so be it.

How was the reversal procedure and the subsequent healing?

The procedure was about an hour long. It was done under general anesthesia so I don’t remember any of it.

They cut all of the skin from the inside of my tongue and stitched it up with twelve stitches. I was out of work for a week with far more extensive pain and swelling than when I had the split done.

Four days after the surgery I noticed that I had a large loss of feeling and taste in the front of my tongue. I brought this up at my first check-up, and was told that it would be weeks before I got feeling back. When I went back for my two-week check-up, I brought it up again. The doctor said that it could be months.

It’s now been two months and while there has been some improvement, there is still a large loss of feeling and taste. I can feel the mass of scar tissue in the front of my tongue. Even though I am classified as “fully healed” I still have problems with it.

That doesn’t sound very nice at all…

I also have a shorter tongue and less movement in the front part. I have throbbing pains that would be best described as “ghost pains”. I also catch myself trying to move it independently as if it was still split, since that’s how it is in my mind.

Not only that, but in my work environment I feel I’ve lost some trust in the system. Normally, whenever there’s a change in a regulation the people that it affects get grandfathered, which is how it was when new tattoo regulation came out — they didn’t force everyone to have emergency tattoo removals. I feel that because I was just a single airman the military didn’t take grandfathering my case seriously.

If you’d known the problems the reversal would cause you, would you still permit them to do the reversal procedure?

It would have made me take a step back and think harder as to whether or not I should fight the ruling or not… I guess it depends on if I get full function out of my tongue back. I am in the process of seeing what legal options I have if full function does not return.

Did anyone appear to “feel bad” about forcing you
to undergo this procedure? What about when they saw the
aftereffects?

As far as the people that out-rank me I’ve not had any sympathy for any of the pain or on the issue of the fairness of the order. I was forced to return to work six days after my surgery when I still had stitches and a substantial amount of pain. I had to just sit at work for three days because I was not allowed on the flight line because I had such a bad speech impediment that I couldn’t use a radio.

When I came in with stitches my supervisors said that it looked really “sick” and told me not to show them again. Now most of my supervisors say you can’t tell that I ever had it done — when I tell them that I can tell on account of having no feeling in my tongue they just dismiss it.

How did your fellow airmen react to the reversal?

Most of the people that know me or of my case thought it was wrong of the military to force me to reverse it. A few have had the attitude of “you should have known that this was coming when you first did this”, but they’re a very small minority.

I’ve also had a few that wanted to help me fight this, going so far as to start writing letters to the Air Force Times. Out of fear of backlash to my fellow airmen I asked them not to do that. Overall most people simply say that the military should have grandfathered me.

What would your advice for “the modified” also interested in a military career be?

I’ve never suggested someone should get into the military. It’s a personal choice. If you want to get into the military and don’t have any tattoos showing on your forearms or above the collarbone, then you’ll be welcomed as any non-modified person would. If you’re into piercings on the other hand, you’ll be ridiculed until you either take the piercings out or learn to deal with the ridicule.

Note that when I say “piercings” I mean those that can’t be seen; piercings below the neck. In the Air Force you can have holes in your lobes. You just can’t wear jewelry on base.

For people into the heavier side of body modifications I’d tell them to stay away from the military. If you get modified after you enter the military then you’ll be in violation of their rules and regulations. If you’re modified before the military they probably won’t let you into the service anyway.

All that said, do you personally support the military’s new regulations on body modifications?

I don’t see how I can support a regulation that was unfairly enforced on me. So personally, no, nor do I support them from a professional point of view. I was not treated fairly.

I believe that these regulations are too broad and too open to interpretation. Now anything that makes you look anything other than, as I say, “Christian Conservative”, can be considered violating a regulation. It’s up to the commander to decide whether or not it’s violation…

Does the military in general consider the bodies of its staff its “property” to surgically alter as it sees fit? That is, does this attitude manifest itself in other ways as well?

The military sees its personnel as government property. They can’t force you to get procedures, but on the other hand, the military is not forced to keep you either, nor are they forced to give you an honorable discharge if you decide not to get a procedure that they want you to get done.

Almost every person in the military is told that if you get a sunburn bad enough to stop you from wearing your uniform that it’s “destruction of government property”.

Do you know if this has affected others in the military?

Yes, it has… I talked to a fellow IAM member that is the Marines about this who had similar issues. Also, the new regulations forced an airman at my base to remove his 000 gauge plugs in his lobes so that they shrink back down. He never wore them on base though. Even though he did not break the regulation he had the same choice as to whether or not to fight as I did… And he made the same choice I did. He now has about a 6 gauge hole. So as to not get into trouble if someone sees him he wears a small mall-bought post in it.

Thank you for talking to us, and good luck in Guam.

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DAY ONE

DAY TWO

DAY SEVEN

DAY EIGHT

DAY 36

“The modified” are a fascinating cultural group. We span all religions and political leanings, and, unlike race, we actively choose this path. While some would argue that we are born into it, just as people are born into a sexual orientation, I would argue that all humans are born with the innate desire to self decorate and explore and enhance themselves and the world through body modification — most people are simply too repressed and afraid. In any case, before I get off track, on many levels we are a distinct cultural group and it’s important that we learn to think and act as such when we need to.

Farrakhan and other minority revolutionary leaders often refer to the military as “the white man’s army”. What I think is meant by that, on a more general level, is that the military exists to defend a certain mainstream status quo, rather than to protect the interests of minority and subcultural groups that don’t have massive representation in the governance of the nation. As such, these leaders hold that when minorities enter the military, they may be fighting to keep empowered a group that does not act in their best interests.

I can’t say whether “a black man has no place in the white man’s army”, but I can tell you with certainly that “a modified man has no place in the unmodified man’s army” — you don’t even have to take my word on it. It’s the law! They’ve illustrated through forcing this involuntary surgery to “make normal” the appearance of their staff that they’re willing to go to extreme lengths to destroy freedom of the body. That says to me that all modified people, and all people who care about the rights of the modified should seriously consider whether it is in their best interests to assist in a military-industrial complex that seeks to destroy us.

“Seeks to destroy us”…

It seems like a crazy statement, doesn’t it? But we’ve just watched one of our friends get a body modification that brought him closer to spiritual fulfillment and enriched his life… Then we watched the government step in and offer him two choices: (a) the end of his life as he knew it, or (b) surgical destruction of something he loved and had enhanced his life.

This isn’t the place for me to be making larger sweeping statements about the military — my pacifist attitudes on that subject are no secret to readers of my IAM page. However, I do need to point out that a nation’s military on some level must represent the will and the face of its people. What message is being sent by these acts and these regulations to the people of America, and, since America imposes its military might — and the culture it espouses — on the world, what message is being sent to the modified people of the world? What freedoms are being protected, and what freedoms are being trampled?

Think about it,

Shannon Larratt
BMEzine.com

Joshua: Transdimensionally Modified

"...angels dressed in the prejudices of the twentieth century; avatars of another plane, speaking to us from truths beyond normal human understanding."

– L. Stanley Davis
A History of Transdimensional Abduction

After posting the pictures and experience of my forehead tattoo a few weeks ago (see “Does this mean I’m not getting that job at McDonalds?” in the tattoo section), I was quite surprised (and of course excited) to receive the following email:

Shannon,
"Long time listener, first time caller"... LOL... just saw your new tattoo and felt I should write you about a similar project I've been working on myself (and our mutual friend Lukas Zpira has been telling me to for ages). I've attached a few pictures and yes I will answer your questions!
Joshua

Suffice it to say that I most definitely had questions. I can’t confirm the validity of any of Joshua’s backstory of course, and he freely admits that it’s difficult to believe, but the mods speak for themselves. That said, while folks such as Katzen and The Enigma (who just released their album, check it out at HumanMarvels.com) are well known, there are many lesser known concept transformations such as the British performance artists who transformed themselves into witches and ghouls in the 1980′s or the “Belgian Furry Collective” who became werecreatures, or the many transformations by artists such as Steve Haworth in America, Emilio Gonzalez in Argentina, and Lukas Zpira in France.

Photos above, left to right: 1. Steve Haworth with Rex (more pictures of Rex and his procedures on Steve’s IAM page and in BME/extreme). 2. Demon (background) at the 2000 NIX tattoo convention (photo: Phil Barbosa). I’m sure I have better pictures of him; if anyone can find the URL please let me know so I can link it. 3. Julie Harrows, one of the British artists that used plastic surgery to permanently alter their appearance into various fairytale creatures.

That said, sometimes what’s more interesting than the modifications themselves are the motivations that brought the person to make such a radical change to their lives.

While he’s asked to remain anonymous for now, he has set up an IAM page at iam:Krill. Following is a transcript from the phone interview we did (Joshua is currently in Japan doing an art installation) along with some additional photos (thanks to Vanilla for transcribing it; as soon as the BMEradio server is up and running again I’ll post the MP3 file).

Shannon/BME: Thanks for talking to us about your remarkable transformation Joshua. Can you tell me a bit about what brought you to this decision?

Joshua: When I was about eleven years old I was living with my parents on the [US military] base near Helsinki, Finland. My father was a radar technician involved in early detection in the case of Soviet attack. One night I was woken up by a loud hum and a thumping noise. When I opened my eyes I saw bright balls of light surrounding me — it was so bright that everything was white.

Suddenly there was a sound like an electrical “pop” and the balls disappeared and when my eyes readjusted three dark figures were standing there. I don’t really know what happened to me, but a few moments later the lights flashed again and I found myself with them in another place, what I now know was their “ship”. I was never afraid; if anything I felt a strong sensation of euphoria the whole time. They told me that it wasn’t safe for me to stay with them — something about my human physiology being incompatible with the speed or way we were travelling at or something like that.

To allow me to be there safely they did a number of procedures; what they did was typical of what other abductees report so I won’t bore you with that; I’ll post the full story and details to my IAM page if people are interested.

My next memory was of waking up in my bed the next morning. The memory of my abduction was vivid, but my father had been telling me bedtime stories about “UFOs” they’d tracked recently (which I never took seriously) and I figured it was just a dream. When I went to the kitchen for breakfast my parents broke some horrible news to me — my Husky puppy Charlie had died that night. Like all kids, I was close to my pet, and to try and make me feel better my mother unveiled early the dirtbike I was to receive for my birthday two weeks early.

When I got back from playing my clothes were dirty and I brought them down to the laundry room where I was suddenly shocked back to reality — standing over the basket that Charlie had slept in was the same Grey creature that had taken me to his ship the night before. He was stroking the blanket that Charlie had been lying on when he died — I didn’t move — I was terrified that he might see me. I didn’t know what to do.

I thought he hadn’t seen me as he ran his hands over everything, and picked up some of Charlie’s hairs and held them between his long slender fingers. He turned his eyes and made contact with me, and suddenly we were one — I was flooded with a terrible feeling of guilt and grief and loss… I could feel what he felt, and we were one. I was him, I’d done this. I mean, I, Joshua, hadn’t done this, but in his attempt to communicate with me the night before, something had fatally injured Charlie.

And in a blink it was over again. I was totally drained emotionally — I reached out and touched the Grey, I guess to try and give him some comfort, but, with a pop and a hum he was replaced with a bright ball that shot through the basement wall and was gone. In a daze I put my clothes in the wash and contemplated the death. “We” weren’t sad so much because Charlie had died, but because we had killed him before he was “supposed” to die if that makes any sense…

Even though that was nearly fifteen years ago now, I’m still remembering new details from it and still learning to understand how it affected my life. Overnight I went from a boy who didn’t take anything very seriously and spent his days playing to a being who felt connected to all life around him…. I don’t think I really knew how to express this love and commitment and connection to the universe I felt.

Shannon: Ok… Wow… I don’t really know what to say. I can’t say that I’ve ever experienced anything with aliens, if that’s what you’re describing, but my experiences with the interconnectedness of all life are what have motivated most of my decisions over the past couple of years.

Joshua: I know — I didn’t write you because your tattoo looks like crop circles, I wrote you because I thought you’d be able to relate to the message that was shared with me.

Shannon: Did you tell anyone? What did your parents think? Your father must have been receptive at least?

Joshua: Oh no! It turns out he really was just joking when he told me those UFO stories… When I told them they assured me it had all been a dream. If it wasn’t so real, I’d believe them… But how do you prove an experience like this? For all I know there’s some kind of X-Files implant buried away in me somewhere, but it’s not like anyone’s going looking for stuff like that so I really have no idea. It was clear no one was about to believe me so I just bottled it up until, as is obvious, I couldn’t keep it inside any more.

Joshua with his cousin in front of the amateur radio telescope array his father had built in their back yard as a hobby project.

A day of hiking near their home in Finland, several months after Joshua’s “alien abduction”.

At home with his father enjoying Groscht, a Finnish desert similar to an America ice cream soda float, but made with whipped goat yogurt.

Shannon: Yes — let’s talk about how this experience actually made you want to start modifying your body.

Joshua: I never had another “encounter” or “abduction” since that day, but I feel like in the joining I had imprinted the Grey’s identity on myself on some level — much like how many Native Americans describe their relationship with their totem animal. When I thought of myself, I never was able to picture just Joshua again… I mean, I was still Joshua of course, but I was also that Grey being at the same time.

I think people have an “internal image” of who they are… When you close your eyes, you know where your arms are, where your heart is, where your mind is, what you look like, and all that. I had that, but it was overlaid with the Grey. Since that encounter I’ve not been able to think of myself as just human any more.

I know all of this must sound crazy, but what really drove me crazy was that what I saw in the mirror just wasn’t what I felt like inside… I had the wisdom to understand that it didn’t really matter, but it was just making me bonkers to be one person on the inside and another on the outside. I tried to lose as much weight as possible and tried not to exercise and did get my build as close as I could to the Grey’s, and it helped a lot, but I knew it was just a start.

Oh, at this point I was about eighteen and, other than a few tattooed buddies of my father’s, I had no contact with “body modification” or had any concept that this type of transformation was possible outside doctors. My father was transferred to Fort MacDill in Florida, which eventually brought me to enrolling in USF’s …

Shannon: Sorry — what’s USF?

Joshua: University of South Florida — I was accepted at their fine arts program, and to make a long story short I ended up in their art history exchange program in Paris [France] and met the amazing Lukas Zpira… I know he’s started to become quite well known in America at this point so I’m sure listeners know who I mean.

Anyway, after meeting Lukas and seeing the amazing work he’d done on others like the Brazillian Monkey Boy and Pierre [ed: Joshua is referring to a well known French full-body concept transformation client of Lukas’s that has been slowly “cyberneticizing” himself into robot form] who introduced us, I told him what I wanted him to do to me — although I have to admit that I never told him why. I hope he’s not too shocked when he listens to this. He told me he wasn’t really comfortable doing something this radical without a proper explanation, but after three years of calling him every two weeks, I guess he knew I was serious and wasn’t just asking him on a whim.

He told me he respected my individualism and we began to seriously plan the work and he helped me work with both him and a tattoo artist at a studio he owned at the time (I think he’s sold it since) to achieve what you’re seeing in the photos and what you’ll see in person this year when I visit you for ModCon.

I’ll continue with Joshua’s interview shortly, but since Lukas is on IAM as well, it was easy to do a brief interview about Joshua’s procedures with him. I’d like to include that now; Joshua and I didn’t really get too deep into the technical aspects.

Shannon: Thanks so much for talking to us again Lukas. Can you tell us about the day that Joshua first contacted you?

Lukas Zpira: Everyone always asks me when they see Joshua’s photos in my portfolio what I was thinking accepting him as a client, I mean, who wants to transform themselves into an alien, you know? But he is an artist, I understand what he seeks.

Shannon: How did he approach you?

Lukas: He knew Pierre. Pierre made the introduction and Joshua presented to me drawings he had made — the alien pictures like you see on the X-Files and what else. I had not done anything quite that extreme on an American (it’s not so uncommon here in France). But, a few years passed, and I understood he was serious so I accepted the task.

Shannon: Could you give me a run-down of the procedures?

Lukas: Some of what he wanted was not possible… changes to the orbit of the eyes, his jaw work reshaping… I used a mix of implants and surgical works to shift the shape of his face, and then with tattooing to pull it all together. The tattoos were not done by me personally.

On his mouth, he wanted it to be small and fine. I did this in two stages — I must say these aren’t things I’d offer to just anyone when I tour. All work such as this I do only in France with a plastic surgeon associate I met through Les Tour d’Avril [ed: A French implant manufacturing company that’s friendly to body artists]. First we excised triangular strips along the lip and pulled it “in” toward the mouth’s inside. The effect was thinned lips to almost nothing, and no “divet” under his nose. In the second part we cut away the edge skin of his mouth and stitched it together. There was scarring but we knew we would tattoo over it.

Shannon: Did this have any detrimental effects?

Lukas: It did change his voice, but only a small amount… But yes, it did. Before the surgery we super-glued his mouth edges shut to see what it would sound like. He is harder to understand. He accepted that. The musculature has not changed — we knew we could reverse it should he desire.

Shannon: And his ears?

Lukas: I cut them off. It was not hard.

Shannon: Um… OK. Simple enough I guess! Tell me about what you did to his nose.

Lukas: I am proud of what we did. I had done a similar mouth procedure on another customer, but at the time the nose work was the first. If you look at anatomy, you will see the nose is a jigsaw puzzle of cartilage with skin stretched over. We used Jesse’s [ed: Jesse Jarrel, a 3D implant designer that most will know better for his work with Steve Haworth of HTC, another pioneer of this type of transformation] 3D scanner at school to capture Joshua’s nasal structure and designed the piece on his computer system.

The whole thing is in my portfolio. If Joshua permits it you may post the pictures to BME. We pulled out all of the cartilage in his nose through an incision under the upper lip. This left us with some loose skin in the shape of a nose but with no structure, no support. Then we inserted the implant which we had made on the school’s polymer printer and pulled the skin tight over it.

It sounds mad, I know, but nose job surgery is so common that we had much to go by and it healed well. You can see this in his pictures… Also, we put in a few Teflon implants — that was first — and then tattooed over all of it in a light grey to unify and hide scarring.

Shannon: Wow… Is he the most modified individual you’ve ever worked on?

Lukas: I have travelled the world and done and seen many amazing transformations. I have done four other “alien” transformations (I think Melise has put some of them on our website), where the people wanted to be made into grey creatures, but it is true, Joshua is farther than anyone… But I am currently transforming a young woman into a Grey as well, very exactly the same. I have promised Joshua I will introduce them when he meets with me in Japan [ed: Lukas will be working in Japan shortly; check his IAM page for full tour details] — he is quite excited! I will take many photos of them both. I will also be in New York soon, and I can show people in my portfolio.

Shannon: Thanks for talking to us about this Lukas, and I hope we can have you back again soon to do a full interview about everything you’ve been doing these past years.

Lukas performing Joshua’s first procedure (the forehead augmentation procedure). Sorry about the pixelation — Joshua does not want his pre-surgery mouth or nose shown here, and the other folks in the procedure room need to be kept private. The full set will be added as soon as Lukas is able to scan them.

And now back to Joshua…

Shannon: Do you have more work planned for the future?

Joshua: There are a few things I’m not happy with; I’m not happy with my eyes. I want them to be bigger, and I want the orbits to be less pronounced… I do wear special scleral contacts to give it that illusion, and I hope one day to find an osteopathic surgeon who can help me with that… But I also don’t want to cripple myself in the process. I’m trying to make myself happy and complete, and if I’m “broken” in the process it sort of defeats the whole purpose.

I’m not a big fan of my jaw either… I want it to be more triangular. I’ve talked to a few oral surgeons and they’ve told me that there’s no way they could restructure my jaw and keep the dentition functional. So to do that I’d have to pull all my teeth and switch to custom dentures. As extreme as I may seem, I’m not crazy — that would be going too far I think.

Other than that I’d really like to lengthen my fingers… I fantasise about doing that trick they use to make models’ legs longer — they did it in that movie Gattaca as well. Basically you break the bones in numerous places, and set them slightly stretched. It’s very painful, but you end up with longer bones. I’ve been fiddling with a stretching apparatus, and I found a vet that said he’d help me with it, but in all honesty I’m really nervous about it. I don’t want to screw up my hands. [ed: BMEnews recently featured a link on this subject, click here to read it now]

Shannon: Maybe someone on IAM will have direct experience for you… I’ll be sure to include your IAM name with this interview so people can anonymously get in touch with you. I have to ask you though — why did you keep your hair? I’m sorry if this sounds insulting, but aren’t aliens supposed to be bald?

Joshua: (laughs) You’re not the first person to ask me that — I don’t “think I’m an alien” or anything goofy like that. I’m half way; a spiritual hybrid perhaps is the best way to put it. Anyway, I’ve had all kinds of different hairstyles over my life. I never really thought of my hair as being a part of me. More like a hat that’s glued to my head, you know?

I will admit though that I also think it’s a bit of a safety blanket… One day I’ll probably shave it all off. I did it once, but I just couldn’t go anywhere without people freaking out!

Shannon: Yeah, that’s true… I guess a hairdo is more of a fashion thing that “who you are” for most people. Let me ask you now, what’s life like as an alien?

Joshua: I’m not going to tell you it’s easy. Obviously I can’t — and don’t — go out in public very often, and when I do I usually cover up. I’m proud of what I look like, but you have to understand that I did it for me, not for anyone else and it makes me sad when people turn me into someone to laugh at.

Shannon: I’m sorry… and I know what you mean.

Joshua: The amazing thing though is that when I first had this experience I didn’t really know if I was alone or crazy, or if it was aliens, or if I’d met God, or what… and you have to admit, it’s hard to take alien conspiracy crap seriously. But then I started meeting people; I don’t know how we found each other, but I now have a small network of about forty people who’ve all had similar experiences and all were driven to change their bodies in similar — albeit less extreme ways… And now Lukas tells me he’s working on a young woman to an extent similar to my own. I’m very much looking forward to meeting her.

I’ve learned that the world is a very big place, and when you’re special, it’s very easy to feel alone… But the truth of it is that even though it may not always seem like it, this world is also full of special people, and with open hearts we can and do find each other. I have faith that with Love we can all live joyful lives and serve the universe in the way we’re meant to.

Shannon: Were your body modifications instrumental in your understanding of who you are?

Joshua: Yes, I think so. I’m not going to tell you there aren’t other ways I could have gone about this, but being able to tackle it all hands on and really live it, I was able to find my place in the world and as a result I feel both closer to myself, closer to the life around me, and of course closer to the Grey that started me on it all.

I know I’ve identified in my own internal rationalisation as an alien, but to be blunt, I really can’t tell you if that’s just a projection of having grown up around science fiction. It would be arrogant for me to say that we are the first generation to have this happen to us…. If I had been born four hundred years ago, would I have perceived him as an angel? I really don’t know… I know he was good.

I often try and explain it by quoting Barbarella: “An angel doesn’t make love… and angel is love.”

Shannon: Thank you so much for talking with us, and I look forward to seeing you in a few months. Is there any last message you’d like to leave for the readers of BME?

Joshua: Love each other. That’s all you have to do in life.

A drawing Joshua did of the “Grey” who he met as a child.

Well there you have it. I’m not sure if there’s really any commentary I can add to this… I feel like anything I write would pale next to both Joshua’s message and his remarkable transformation. Thanks again to Joshua for speaking to us, and thank you to Lukas Zpira for filling in the details.

When the interview is posted to BMEradio I’ll add the updated link here and mention it on my IAM page as well. Until next week, be good.

Shannon Larratt
BMEzine.com

When does modification become mutilation?

"Every good artist paints what he is ... The strangeness will wear off and I think we will discover the deeper meanings in modern art."

– Jackson Pollock

I recently got the following question from a reporter in Seattle; variations on it are asked fairly regularly, and I think people tend to assume that their perception of “mutilation” (and just about everything else as well) is objective when it is in fact subjective. Anyway, the question:

Is there any point at which you would draw the line in body modification? To clarify, is there a line you wouldn’t cross and don’t feel others should either? A point at which you would say “Okay, that’s not modification. That’s mutilation.”

To me, the question seems strange. Let’s play Greek philosopher for a moment and imagine a dialogue between two people, Gerald and Charles, as they walk through an art gallery. They are in the abstract wing, looking at a series of Jackson Pollock paintings.

Gerald, the first man, points at The Key.

Gerald: Is that art?

Charles: Yes, I think so. It invokes feelings in me and has meaning. I like looking at it… But that one, Number 8, it’s just scribbling. It does nothing for me. It’s not art, and I’d never hang something like that in my home.

Gerald: Perhaps you simply are unable to understand it due to your own shortcomings and life experiences. I see meaning in it, and I enjoy looking at it. It is art, and I’d be honoured to have it decorating my living room.

Charles: If you believe it is art, and I believe it is not, and each of us can experientially confirm our belief, then who is right?

Gerald: We both are.

Some things may really be defined only in the eye of the beholder. After all, some people don’t like chocolate. Some people do. Does that mean that we can definitively answer the question of “does chocolate taste good?” with a yes or a no? Of course not — the clear answer is “it depends on who’s eating it.”

Looking at it coldly, almost any change made to the body, even simple earrings, is mutilation. It is also modification. In this context the words mean effectively the same thing, one simply appends a condemnation of the act. Given that the interpretation of the modification (that is, “does it make me happy? has it improved my life?”) is up to the subject, I feel it is unreasonable for anyone to attach the label “mutilation” as long as they can answer those two questions affirmatively.

I posted this same question to the members of the iam.bmezine.com community, and on the whole the answer was an overwhelming “whatever makes you happy”:

“I think it all comes down to intent. If somebody wants to modify their body in a certain way and that’s what they want, who is to say that it is wrong? I don’t think it would be considered mutilation if they want it.”

– communist

“The only line is the one that the individual draws personally. Hopefully anyone getting serious, extensive modifications has thought deeply about it and reflected within themselves. If they don’t feel the line has been crossed personally, there is no line. Hopefully, my line is not someone else’s line.“

– mal

“One man’s treasure is another man’s junk! As long as you are making decisions for yourself and not forcing them on others, anything goes. Everyone needs to follow their own hearts and minds in their pursuits, but one also needs to accept responsibility for one’s actions, and the consequences, positive or otherwise.”

– biggbiceps

“To give an example, I would never consider amputation for myself, but I admire people who see that as a form of art and expression. I can appreciate their reasons behind it, and I don’t consider it to be mutilation for them, even though it would be if I did it.”

– flightless_faerie

“I think the line is different for every person. I’m sure that I’ve done and continue to do a lot of things that most people would never do, but at the same time I wouldn’t cut my foot off… But mabye Joe would — that’s up to him and if he wants to do it, more power to him. It’s just not something I would do. Draw your own damn lines!”

– kenduddly

“If what you do benefits you in positive manner spiritually and mentally and you are prepared for the implications, there isn’t a line. When I am branded, I am spiritually and mentally affected in a positive manner — I feel this within myself. Whatever others might think of my decision is unrelated to that truth. I do not feel I can draw lines for others, but I know my own personal limits. Knowing what is positive and negative for me; that is what matters.”

– Elysiat

That said, a number of people did point out that it was possible for a person to hurt themselves; that sometimes, even when a person desires something, their reasoning may be ultimately self destructive — that is, sacrificing one’s life to defend one’s family might be “good”, but sacrificing one’s life because someone called you “ugly” is not. Many readers recounted their own experiences with self-harm.

“I have ‘mods’ (scars) that were a result of what, at the time, was definitely mutilation… But, since then, I have begun to experiment with scarification and branding as a form of art and beauty, not as something to express all my hurt. I think it’s all highly personal, and up to each individual to decide… not for someone else to impose upon another person.”

– flightless_faerie

“It depends entirely on your motivation. If you are cutting yourself out of self-hate or loathing then it’s clearly harmful. If the motivations are positive then it’s a different story. Everyone has their own ‘line’ and we have no right to judge others based on what their line might be. Just because an act is physically harmful, doesn’t mean the result is.”

– punkass

“When I was younger I was a self-cutter, and by no means was I attempting to modify my body. I was dealing with anger and frustration in the only way I knew how. Now I have many different mods that were painful to get, but were in no way related to emotional problems.”

– siogrrrl

“It’s mutilation when the modification is done by an individual not in a sound state of mind… That is, incapable of understanding the full physical and/or social implications of the modification.”

– newaddict

A couple people pointed out that the line between self-harm and self-improvement may not lie only in the self. If a person chooses modifications that cripple them, even if the mods themselves make them happy, they may still place a burden on society. For example, does a self-amputee have the right to demand that their community pays for their prosthetics? Does a person who tattoos their face have the right to demand that if they are no longer “hireable” that the state provide them financial assistance?

“I think once they burden society around them it is going too far, but I don’t think it is ‘burdening society’ if some people just don’t like it.”

– outsider

“I draw the line with whatever won’t get me fired from work.”

– gorelord

My feeling is that if a modification is going to change the way you interact with society, that should of course be taken into consideration. We have the right to put extra burdens on ourselves, but not on others. Just because you like a body modification doesn’t mean that you have the right to take more from society than you put in.

All that said, I think Tankgirl gave perhaps the most relevant response:

I think a better question would be why do people in society in general think some of what we do is mutilation rather then modification?

It’s true — one really does have to wonder why some people are unable or unwilling to believe that different people might have different desires. After all, unless one takes the hardline stance that all mods are wrong (earrings and circumcision included), the hypocrisy should be clear. The pathology that goes into that closed-mindedness would be far more fascinating a study!

In any case, I hope it’s obvious that everyone has the right to define their own line and their own limits. How do you know for yourself when you’ve gone “far enough”? Since I keep bringing him up, I will use Jackson Pollock one last time. When he was asked how he knew when a painting was complete (they took a long time, sometimes years, to complete), he answered,

"How do you know when you're finished making love?"

My official answer to the initial question? “If a body modification activity makes the person who gets it happy, or it empowers or improves their life in some way, I will do everything I can to both help facilitate that process and defend their rights to enjoy life with it. That said, body modification is a serious and permanent act, and should not be taken lightly. The easiest way to be ‘mutilated’ is by acting without foresight. A person who enters body modification with a clear head and a clear heart will never be mutilated.”

So try not to mutilate yourself,

Shannon Larratt

BMEzine.com

PS. Shout-out to York University, Class of ’95 Bachelor of Fine Arts program… of course, I dropped out after a year to do my own thing!