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.

Category: Features

  • NASTY, NASTY CLIENTS [The Publisher’s Ring]

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt



    Nasty, Nasty Clients!


    “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”


    – Bill Gates

    I recently interviewed a couple hundred piercers about the low points of their career. You know how they say “the customer is always right”? Well, these piercers might not agree with that claim. Their stories break down into the four sections of this article:

    1. The customer is always right stinky

      Stories about piercing clients with serious lapses in personal hygiene.


      While I think most piercers have ran across the occasional hedge that needs to be trimmed, or butt-crack that needs a good washing, the worst hygiene problem I’ve encountered was a session during a hood piercing. Once she was on the table and went to go spread her legs, I got a blast of a smell that nearly floored me, but the visual was the worst part. This stringy white and yellow shit was all over her cooter, and as she spread her legs, it stretched like a spider web. It was nasty. Stinky crotch goo.


    2. The customer is always right perverted

      If you get aroused by this section, stick to self piercing.


      I had a guy once while getting his frenum pierced start sticking his finger in his own anus and sort of masturbating it, just moving it in and out of his anus. I asked “Um… what are you doing?” And he replied, as if nothing was wrong, “oh when I feel pain this makes it better.” I told him he couldn’t do that in here and he agreed but continued to do it. I just very quickly finished with the piercing and told him not to touch anything on his way out.

    3. The customer is always right suicidal

      A compendium of some of the insane things people do to themselves when the piercer isn’t there to help.


      I saw a kid that tried to stretch his own tongue with the latch from an outdoor gate (the hook in eye-bolt kind). He came in because once he got the hook through the hole he couldn’t get it to move. So for a day he was walking around with a patio latch hanging out of his mouth. That procedure required cutting the material out of the tongue.

    4. The customer is always right angry

      Encounters with violent and deranged clients are far too common.


      A guy came in ready to kill us for piercing his underage daughter. We tried to find out who it was — he even said she would have used a fake ID, but we didn’t even the name of the fake ID on record so we told him we didn’t do it. This just made him even more upset. He was like well she told me she got it at blah blah blah shop, and we where like “uhh… sir, this isn’t even that shop!” He looked at us all dumbfounded and turned and walked away… he later came back to get a tattoo.

    Reconsidering taking on a glamorous life as a piercer? As one of the piercers I talked to put it, “and people seem to think I have a fucking dream job.”

    Next time you go and get a piercing, please, at least have a shower first.


    Shannon Larratt
    BME.com

    Illustrations by Jason Craig (iam:jasonthe29th).

  • Missing Parts [Guest Column – Stepping Back]

    Written by

    BME

    Missing Parts

    “One sees clearly only with the heart.
    Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”

    -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Petit Prince

    When your physical appearance changes against your will, like scarring or losing a limb, is it considered body modification? I’m not just talking about accidentally slicing your finger open while cutting a watermelon, or burning your arm on a stove rack, but rather, severe circumstances like what happened to Ella Earp-Lynch (IAM:ella), who was burned by a pot of boiling water at age four, or to Amina Munster (IAM:Amina Munster) who had her leg amputated and the tips of her fingers fall off as a consequence of nearly drowning before the age of two.

    Ella, who has scarring on nearly a third of her entire body, says that she absolutely considers what has happened to her as body modification. And why? “The disingenuous answer would be to say, ‘because my body is modified from the way it originally was, it’s different from the way it was at birth’.



    Amina and Ella

    But I can also say that I first started thinking of my scars as body modification when I began to see the beauty in them, and to feel that having them made me more, rather than less attractive.”

    These women interpret their experiences in very different ways. Ella showcases her modifications, and even highlights them with Dremel and scalpel scarification and branding. This decision was easy for her, and began when her friend, “a scarificationist, mentioned that he thought that the small scar on my left shoulder looked like a bird, specifically, like a Chinese phoenix, and said that he would like to try and “bring it out” with a technique he had been experimenting with using a Dremel tool to
    abrade the skin. This started me thinking, and I realized that herein lay the solution to my problem — I had always wanted further mods but had had a hard time figuring out how to incorporate tattoos with my extensive scars.”

    “Another part of what I like about my current project (of modifying/outlining my existing scars and eventually mirroring their outlines on the other side of my body with more conventional scarifications) is that I feel it reflects my attitude towards my scars more accurately to the average person, and makes it easier for them to see what I see.”

    Amina, on the other hand, hides her “modifications” both in real life and online, where she is an active and popular Suicide Girl.

    She debuted on SuicideGirls.com in late December 2002, and she has never shown her missing leg or fingers in any of her photos. She’s fairly heavily tattooed, has a gold tooth and breast implants, all of which she considers mods, but does not consider her “missing parts” body modification. She believes that in order to classify something as body modification, it needs to be an intentional act.

    Why the gray area? Intentional amputations happen, accidental amputations certainly happen more often — but when is it considered body modification? Is it simply in the eye of the beholder?

    I decided to interview Amina to find out what it is exactly that stops her from classifying the accidental changes to her body as “body modification.”


    Amina Munster
    BME:
    		 What happened to your leg and your fingers?

    AMINA:
    		 When I was seventeen month old I was left home with a babysitter because I had a fever. Instead of the babysitter watching over me and my five year old sister, she decided to call her friends and invite them over for a pool party. Believing that I could swim, I left the playroom, went outside, stacked up laundry baskets to climb over the pool gate and jumped in the spa that the babysitter had been heating up for her friends. The babysitter never found me, my next door neighbor heard my sister screaming at the spa. It was the neighbor who took me out of the water and called the paramedics.

    My leg was lost due to loss of circulation and oxygen. My right leg was amputated below the knee. My fingers were left to fall off by themselves. When I was sent home, the tips of my fingers were black and dead. The tips gradually fell off by themselves. Resulting from this accident I am missing a quarter of my right leg, the tips of all five fingers on my right hand and half of my right lung.
    BME:
    		 Did anything happen to the babysitter? Was she charged with any criminal acts?

    AMINA:
    		 My parent’s home owners insurance paid for the hospital bills and a hefty settlement. My parents decided not to sue anyone. When I turned eighteen, I was told by my parents that I had the option to sue anyone I wanted including my parents, the babysitter, the hospital, or the babysitter’s parents considering that she was seventeen at the time of the accident. I decided to not sue anyone; the accident happened so long ago, isn’t the expression let dead dogs lie?


    Amina’s black fingertips before they eventually fell off, and her amputated leg.

    BME:
    		 Why did you become a Suicide Girl?

    AMINA:
    		 Honestly, I have loved models and modeling since I can remember. I grew up looking at the Varga girls and 50’s style pin ups. Suicide Girls was like a breath of fresh air to me. I thought that it was amazing to find a place where girls were considered beautiful and had piercings and tattoos. I became a Suicide Girl just to try something different and I will never regret it.
    BME:
    		 Why did you decide not to show your leg or your fingers in your photographs?

    AMINA:
    		 When I had originally applied to Suicide Girls years ago I decided to keep the leg, or lack there of, a secret. I felt that SG would not accept me to be a model if they knew I was an amputee. Throughout the years it has gotten difficult to keep coming up with creative ways to cover my prosthetic leg, however, I still have not been able to shoot the mermaid set that I have dreamt about.
    BME:
    		 Who takes your photos for SG?

    AMINA:
    		 Currently all of the sets that I have up on Suicide Girls were shot by a friend and Missy, the owner of SG. However, recently I was able to shoot two sets with Steve Prue, who I greatly adore.
    BME:
    		 Did your photographers try to convince you to show your leg?

    AMINA:
    		 I have worked with many photographers and I have never felt pressured to show my leg. I did recently take a series of photos displaying the temporary prosthetic leg, but that was at my request. I love this leg because you can see the insides, it looks bionic.

    Her leg and fingers are always hidden in her pictures for Suicide Girls
    BME:
    		 Are you planning on showing the online public that you have amputations?

    AMINA:
    		 Right now I am wearing a temporary prosthetic leg. My other leg is currently getting airbrushed at the Hart and Huntington Tattoo studio in the Palms Hotel and Casino, they have an A&E show called “Inked” that covers the daily activities of the tattoo shop. My leg and I will be featured on that show. I honestly do not know what the artist is airbrushing on the leg other than a big Virgin Mary on the calf. After I have received the completed leg and have finished filming for ‘Inked’ I will be shooting a set for Suicide Girls exposing the airbrushed prosthesis. It will be the first time that it will be shown on Suicide Girls that I am an amputee. Should be interesting.
    BME:
    		 Is the airbrushing just for the photo shoot or will the paint stay on the leg permanently?

    AMINA:
    		 The leg is getting airbrushed to look like traditional tattoo work. The paint will permanently stay on the leg and I think I may mount it in a glass box when I am no longer able to wear it. I’ve had plans for many months now to expose the leg on Suicide Girls, I just thought it would be cool to show it looking tattooed. The artist and I both decided on traditional art work, very Sailor Jerry…but with no swallows or flames. I left the majority up to him.
    BME:
    		 Do you have any fears about the people’s reactions?

    AMINA:
    		 To tell you the truth, the general public on SG may not know about my prosthesis, but it is certainly not a secret. Rumors fly over that website all the time, people like to talk. Even many girls whom I consider to be good friends still feel the need to tell members or anyone interested in SG that I am an amputee. It is truly funny that when peoples own lives stop being interesting that they choose to talk about someone else.

    When it is finally shown to the SG community that I am an amputee, I really expect for most people to be shocked. I hope that it will show them that people with missing parts are beautiful too. I really don’t expect outrage, but I’m sure I will get the occasional ‘that’s gross’ comment.

    It’s very hard to offend me, as I’ve heard it all before.
    BME:
    		 So far, what has been the feedback on your presence on SG?

    AMINA:
    		 I have met many girls off of SG who are now some of my best friends. I even met one of my tattoo artists off of SG, he agreed to tattoo me in exchange for three of my baby prosthetics. Naturally I am considerably popular on Suicide Girls due to my many tattoos and the fact that I show my boobies. But I am unsure if
    that will all change when my amputations are exposed.
    BME:
    		 What brought you to
    BME?

    AMINA:
    		 A friend and fellow Suicide Girl, Twwly told me about BME, I checked it out and fell in love.
    BME:
    		 How long have you been tattooed?

    AMINA:
    		 My first tattoo, if I remember correctly, would have to be the Winnie the Pooh outline on the inside of my left ankle. This tattoo was done when I was 15 in my bedroom by my first boyfriend. Of course at such a young age we did not have a tattoo machine and instead used a safety pin. This tattoo has been left untouched all these years as a reminder of my first love.

    Since then I have been tattooed by many talented artists including Eric Maaske, Tim Kern, Tim Hendricks, Jim Miner and Chummy. I started getting real artwork by established artists when I was seventeen. I walked into Classic Tattoo in Fullerton, CA with my court papers proving that I was an emancipated teen and Eric Maaske agreed to work on me. My first tattoo on my arm was a pirate girl with a peg leg, some think it to be a self portrait.
    BME:
    		 Is it actually a self-portrait?
    AMINA:
    		 Technically it isn’t, but I did have her peg leg be on the right side to match mine.

    Chest Piece by Tim Kern
    BME:
    		 Does being an amputee impact your decision to get tattoos? Do you have any tattoos relating to your amputations?
    AMINA:
    		 The only tattoo that I currently have directly relating to my amputations is the Pirate girl by Eric Maaske on my right arm. But I do have future plans for more. When I began getting tattoos on my arm I placed all of them on my left arm thinking that it would take attention away from the right side of my body. It would be a sham if I didn’t admit that. It worked, and when I shook hands with someone they would be so preoccupied with the tattoos covering my left arm that they wouldn’t notice the missing fingers on the hand that they were shaking. Since then I have moved on to tattoo my left arm and chest, and I am no longer trying to cover up my disability with tattoos.

    I have found that other people with ‘missing parts’ tried to do the same, so it is not uncommon.
    BME:
    		 Do you consider your amputations as “body modification” as they weren’t intentional?

    AMINA:
    		 Since my missing parts were not intentional I do not consider them ‘body modification.’

    I think modification would have to do with the direct and intentional act of modifying something. Ha, I didn’t intentionally modify my leg, it just kind of fell off. I would, however, consider my white gold tooth as a modification. Although I did not intentionally knock it out, I did choose to replace it with white gold and not a replica of the latter, and unlike most people, I do consider my breast implants to be a modification.
    BME:
    		 How did you loose your tooth?
    AMINA:
    		 I blame losing that fucker on the leg. I have such bad balance. I was very intoxicated in San Francisco back in April of 2004 I drank some liquor that I will refer to as ‘the devil’ at the Budda Bar. As soon as last call hit, I traveled out onto the street and attempted to walk off of a curb. My attempt was ill fated. I fell flat on my face busting my lip and eye, and knocking out my front #10 tooth at the gum line.

    BME:
    		 Why did you choose to replace it with white gold?

    AMINA:
    		 The second that I was informed by three different dentists that the tooth replacement was going to set me back a whopping $3,000 bucks I knew that I wasn’t going to get a replica of what I had just knocked out. It turns out that if you knock out just one tooth at the gum line that you have no other alternative than to get a single dental implant, so I got the white gold as a treat to myself. Plus I find frontal gold teeth on men very, very sexy; I just don’t know more than one guy who has them. Bring on the men with gold teeth!
    BME:
    		 Any specific or unique reason why you wanted breast implants?

    AMINA:
    		 Not to be too blunt, but I love boobies and I love breast implants. Add that to the fact that I was as flat as a twelve year old boy. I got them June 4th of 1999, and still no regrets.

    Unintentional vs the Intentional
    BME:
    		 What kind of feedback have you gotten from IAM members?

    AMINA:
    		 I have had nothing but pleasant encounters with fellow BME members. I do get a lot of questions about how I lost my leg and fingers, but that’s just natural curiosity. I guess I should have an explanation somewhere on my page, but I don’t want my missing parts to define who I am. I don’t want someone to visit my page and just see information about my leg, there is much more to me than that.
    BME:
    		 Do you find real life people more accepting than online people, or vice versa?

    AMINA:
    		 The only place that I have shown my prosthesis online is on BME. Since I usually wear pants and never have my leg exposed in real life, I do not really know what the general public’s reactions would be. Other than some people noticing that I may be limping a little one particular day, it is rare that any one would ever think that I have one leg. I have never had a problem finding lovers, most men just don’t care. Although I do have that ‘Deuce Bigelow’ fear of not telling a man beforehand that my leg is a prosthesis and then watching it fall off in his hands. Now that I think about it, my friends and I have played many jokes similar to that one on unsuspecting targets.
    BME:
    		 Why do you keep it a secret?
    AMINA:
    		 If you’ve done something for so many years it just becomes routine. I would be delusional if I ever thought that my lack of a right leg could ever be considered a secret. My story seems to be something that people like to tell at cocktail parties. More often than not, when I meet someone that knows anyone that I do, they already know of my amputations. I kept it a secret on Suicide Girls possibility to be accepted or just to be one of the girls. Instead of Amina the amputee, I am just Amina. I wear pants daily because it is simply less of a hassle. Although online I could write a story and paste it on my profile that will hinder repetitive questions, I cannot walk around daily with the story taped to my chest. I will be showing it soon on Suicide Girls because I can no longer remember any reason to keep it hidden. It is what I am and ultimately makes me who I am.
    BME:
    		 What do you think of people who intentionally amputate their fingers or other body parts?

    AMINA:
    		 I will not ever say that it is disgusting or gross or that I do not understand it. Since I was a child I have wanted to amputate one of my toes, not because I would like how it looks but for more aesthetic purposes. I’ve always hated that my toes touch, as everybody’s toes do. I just always figured that by eliminating that one toe between my middle toe and my pinkie toe that the problem would be resolved. So I myself have considered voluntary amputation. I’m sure most people do it for different reasons, like cutting the bad parts out or eliminating something you prefer to be without. I know someone that voluntarily amputated a body part and to this day I still do not know the reasons that person had. But it was their choice, not a common or accepted choice, but a choice that person is very happy with.

    If I had two legs would I prefer to have one amputated? No, never. I would never wish that upon someone who did not wish it upon themselves. Why? Simply because it is a hard existence. Not just because of the jokes, ridicule, stares or innocent questions, as that could not possibly be any less of
    a concern for me. But the physical technicalities are so hard and unending.

    I’ve had to learn to walk fourteen times in my life, my prosthesis cost up to $20,000, and if I decided to drop some weight for health reasons, I have to get another leg. The shape of the stump changes with every couple pounds I lose. Since May of 2002 I have lost twenty-one pounds. However, I have only had two legs in that time. Some days my leg will be black and blue from walking, some days I can’t walk. Sometimes I wish that I could walk for more than eight minutes without giving my leg a rest. My knee is half the size as my other knee due to atrophy, very similar to the Chinese women who wrap their feet, and my knee never had the chance to grow beyond a juvenile’s size. Sometimes I envision my bone growing through the end of my stump as it did twice when I was younger. Also, because I am currently without health insurance, and if it were not for my Prosthetist being a good friend of mine, I’m sure that right now I would be without a prosthesis.

    I have heard the saying “God only gives you what he thinks you can handle” many times. And if I believed in God I think I could find some peace in that.

    * * *

    Certainly, if I break a fingernail or get a bruise on my leg, I would not consider it body modification nor body art. I guess, ultimately, it’s up to the people who have unintentionally injured their bodies to classify any changes as “body modification” or not. Regardless of whether it’s by choice or accident, these girls’ bodies are different than what they’re supposed to be. Everything after that is left up to interpretation. Who really needs the labels anyway?

    – Gillian Hyde
    typealice

    Gillian Hyde (iam:typealice) is a vagabond, though her roots run deep into Nova Scotian soil. She’s lived and worked on three continents since 2001, and has never lived anywhere for longer than eight months since the age of 16. She loves fonts, puns, being barefoot, and office supplies. “Calm” to her is the roar of the ocean.

    Online presentation copyright © 2005 BMEzine.com LLC. Picture of Ella by Warren Baird. Front page picture of Amina taken by Steve Prue. Requests to republish must be confirmed in writing. For bibliographical purposes this article was first published online February 9th, 2005 by BMEzine.com LLC from La Paz, Mexico.

  • Lizardman Q&A #9 [The Lizardman]

    Written by

    BME

    Lizardman Q&A #9

    Number nine… number nine… number nine… number nine… number nine

    It never ends.

    Since it was a Shannon inspired question that made me do it this month, let’s start with him.

    If you were called on to do a USO show in Iraq, would you go, and since I assume you would), what kind of show would you like to do?

    If the USO wanted a show from me, I would do it in a heartbeat. I think something like that is a great opportunity and I would simply do my regular show. The reason being, that regardless of anything ideological or political that I may feel about this particular conflict or war in general, the USO stage is not the time or place for it. My only interest would be to give as much entertainment as possible to people who are in danger for their lives. Preaching at people who are actively being shot at is misdirected effort and by the same token I would not go for cheap ‘pops’ by saluting everyone and making propaganda style jokes about the other side. I would simply do my show and hope that I could be good enough to make someone in such a horrific situation laugh or smile for a moment.

    How do you deal with overly aggressive fans that start to border on stalkers, or try to put emotional demands on you?

    Fortunately, I haven’t had too much of this thus far but when it does happen it can really shake you up. What I mostly get are people who seem to mistake general politeness and kindness on my part as an establishment of a deep friendship that somehow obligates me to them. Sadly, this seems to arise out of many people just not being used to having someone show any interest or simple decency towards them. I do my best to try and explain that just because I will listen and make some simple effort to help you (like providing information) that doesn’t make us best friends, I do the same for most everyone. I really am a misanthrope but I am optimistic enough that I try and golden rule my way through most situations in hopes of reciprocity.

    And to get it out of the way since someone always asks:
    “What are the spiritual elements of your modifications”

    Repetition is one of the cornerstones of marketing and education (think about that), so it can’t hurt to say it again:


    The Lizardman is an atheist who firmly believes that any and all spirituality is a mental construct at best and ultimately a crutch which must be discarded as false and limiting!!!!!

    There is nothing spiritual about me or my modifications nor can there be.

    As a person who makes their living based in part on the mystique and fantasy of their persona, do you ever worry that being “too real” or “too accessible” could negatively affect your career? Do you ever feel that maybe you should “act more like a celebrity”?

    Oh to act more like a “celebrity” — and get away with it. Isn’t that the dream? If being “real” or “accessible” is what puts someone off, then is losing them really much of a loss? I do try to act like some celebrities, but I am selective about it. I look at people like Kerry King and some of the others I have worked with and see them as good models for handling people with respect and openness regardless of any celebrity status.

    Is your wife going to be a Lizard Woman? Cuz that would rock.

    My wife (IAM:Meghan) is not going to be Lizard Woman. She does have her own very interesting theme going though, all based around urban legends.

    This may have been asked before but: Even though you started these modifications for yourself was there ever a point in time where you got such negative feedback that you questioned going any further with the transformation?

    I had plenty of moments of doubt early on, which is why I took so long to get going with it but once I got started each piece made it more and more right. I have never gotten any feedback that made me question doing it; it was only ever a matter of getting past my own reservations. I am the only one that can make me worry or regret and in terms of my modifications I am past that. The wonderful thing about doing something for yourself is that while you can consider other people’s opinions, they are mostly irrelevant.

    Did you ever receive a “special treatment” when crossing international borders (at airport controls etc). If so, were the security guards interested in getting to know you or did they perceive you as some kind of weirdo, that might be a security risk?

    You seem to say it in a bad way but I do get special treatment now and then but almost always in a nice way. I am a very obvious non threat to most security personnel and as such I often pass by fairly easily. They are often curious though and will ask me lots of questions, even going so far as to take me out of lines and such to do so — but often this means I get expedited through the rest of the process, which is an advantage. Many security personnel remember me, especially at airports due to my frequent travel and I get greeted politely and treated better than average — which can often annoy the straight-laced businessman fumbling with his shoes while being patted down since I just stroll by.

    How do you want your children educated?

    Will they have body mods?

    Are you scared of Israel because what they show on TV and do you think that one day you will come here?

    I don’t want children, so I don’t want them educated. The children may be the future but today belongs to me!! (The Simpsons)… Since they will have no bodies, modification is non-applicable.

    Israel doesn’t scare me in the least. I would gladly go there given the opportunity. Seeing some of the historical sites of the Middle East and walking on the great wall remain two of my very few unfulfilled travel ambitions.

    I have the Treo 650. You have the 600.
    How will you handle your wife eventually leaving you because I have the better phone?

    PS: You was STILL the bomb on xfiles, yo!

    My wife will actually mock you even more so than she does me. You having the 650 actually helps me divert attention from what she sees as my gadget fetish and overindulgence in technology. If there is one thing I can count on, it is Meghan not leaving me for anyone with a phone that isn’t some sleek tiny silver flip model that is only a phone, instead of the promethean gift which is TREO.

    And yeah, I was damn good on X-files. Did you see how well I played the role of ThEnigma? Wardrobe did fantastic with the color change.

    If you were getting your tongue split now, would you still go to Dr. Busino?
    I’m sure that you get lots of messages asking about where one can go for a tongue splitting. Do you suggest doctors, or people in the community?

    Historical revision questions are hard because lots of the option now only exist because of what was made known to be possible as a result of Busino and others. If I was just a person now looking to get my tongue split I would likely still go to a doctor but if I was me with the people I know I might opt for a cutter due to personal trust and knowledge of their work. I always recommend doctors first because they are better trained and equipped for emergencies (at least any doctor I would trust) and it helps avoid legal issues and potential community fallout in the event of problems.

    If you could start over with another transformation theme, even if it involved mods that currently don’t exist or are unsafe but potentially possible, what would you choose and what would it involve?

    The only other theme that has really stayed with me as something that would have been great to do is the full body maze tattoo, but really I don’t have any interest in a different theme just improving on this design as I can.

    Are there any hobbies that you’d like to do but can’t or that you do but not to the level that you’d like to because you simply don’t have enough time to dedicate to them?

    Plenty, although most are probably due more to laziness than true lack of time. It’s almost always lack of effort rather than time. I would really like to be better at computer programming. My juggling could use plenty of advancing beyond the simple three object patterns I can do now. I’d like to be a better unicyclist. And there is always the dream of professional pc gaming, but my skills are not on that level – yet.

    I am sure people have or have tried to touch you without asking permission but has anyone ever caught you in the wrong mood and things got ugly.

    The worst I can think of is me shouting at someone in a mall. Things rarely get any uglier than me getting loud as most people will back down at the sight of an angry Lizardman. If I recall right, someone grabbed at my arm while I was eating and I responded with something along the lines of a very loud, “Do not fucking touch me.”

    Do you really think you can beat me in a freak off?

    I mean seriously, I’d freak you under the table.

    seriously.

    Are you still here? Seriously.

    I hear you do good work under tables though…

    Orbax is Canadian for wet/dry vac.

    Seriously.

    Why do you still use AOL? I’m not too into computers, but even I know AOL sucks… Why do you continue to stick with it? FREAK THE WORLD!!

    In the mid to late 90’s AOL was the game in town — especially for people who traveled and wanted to be able to dial up from anywhere. Having established addresses there years ago, it is still used by many traveling performers and corollary professionals (tour managers, etc). AOL sucks and as a user I know it sucks much more than most. But all I use it for is mail and since they have recently opened up their servers so I can use other programs to access it, I hardly ever run their software. That said, I am currently looking at other options and will likely make a gradual transition to a new address over the course of this year. This is not something I or anyone else who lots of business takes lightly since I still remember how many missed and delayed messages happened when I last switched addresses.

    warum warum ist die banane krumm?

    Um… yeah. Perhaps I should have babelfished this one..

    If you chose not to be `The Lizardman` what would you of been…was there an alternate species that was viable..or would of been something like Mr. Sprague, attorney at law?

    Most likely possibilities would have been educator, something I did do. Or a more traditional media artist.

    When you die, what do you want done with your body : burial, cremation, embalming, mummification?

    Burial or other rites are done for the living not the dead. I don’t much care but I will try and leave funds so as not to burden loved ones with expenses. Might be nice to die knowing that my ashes or remains baked into a cream pie would be thrown into the face of someone appropriate though.

  • Have Mursi! Lip Plates Have Reached the West

    Written by

    Jordan Ginsberg

    “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”
    – Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul

    Things have a funny way of inserting themselves into our culture. Ideas, ways of doing things, processes that might have seemed foreign, bizarre, or implausible at one point in history invariably find their ways into our lives; it happens every day. Vaccinations. Hot dogs. Guitars with distortion. Reality Television.

    But hey, we adapt. We evolve. We roll with the punches.

    Hell, google is a verb now. A verb! Those are important!

    But we’re speaking on too grand a scale. Before global change takes place, these little steps occur within each one of us on a microcosmic level. We take our observations, we draw our conclusions, and we make our decisions — though sometimes, not even consciously.

    “I had no idea that I ever would have taken my lip this far,” says Jesse. “My parents weren’t too fond of piercings, but I remember saying a long time ago, when my brother first started stretching his ears, that the first piercing they let me have I would stretch it so big that I could stick my fingers through it — and possibly my fist! I didn’t even know that was possible back then!” Things have a way of working out. While a fist-sized hole may be a ways off yet, he’s currently sporting an impressive 3/4″ labret with custom-made Teflon jewelry by Karl Lorenz.

    Jesse goes on: “I figured stretching my lip wouldn’t be that bad; one day in class I went from 14 gauge to 8 gauge [with a taper] and then a 6 gauge. It didn’t feel too great, but that was the first time.” Since then, he has abandoned tapers (“I didn’t like the feeling or the weight,” he says) and now relies on good old-fashioned lube and elbow grease for stretching purposes. What’s remarkable about Jesse’s lip is not the size, though — while large, there are certainly bigger ones in the community — but rather the manner in which he presents it: He is among the first in Western culture to wear his lip piercing down, in much the same way that tribal peoples out of Africa and South America have done — in other words, as a lip plate.


    Upsy
    Downsy

    The current applications of this style are more an amalgam of several tribal styles than anything else; the hugely-stretched lips of Ethiopia’s Mursi tribe and the outwardly-projected piercings of Brazil’s Suya are often combined. However, due to the similarities in the original styles it’s near-impossible to narrow down the tribe that these Western examples have most fashioned themselves after.

    “The Suya/Mursi thing isn’t all that important,” explains Swirly (and yes, that is his real name), “Loads of African [and other] tribes wear big lip plates — those are just the prime examples, the most recognized if you will.”

    With a labret at just under one inch in diameter, Swirly has one of the larger lips out there — the product of 30 months of persistent stretching — and, as with Jesse, this gives him the ability to wear the jewelry in it down. It’s not something that’s done all the time, though; Swirly maintains that he likes to constantly alternate his jewelry but that his lip will usually flop down on its own when relaxed, while Jesse explains that he’ll wear his lip down on occasion to ease the muscles in the area and to give his teeth and gums a break from the pressure of the jewelry. Both agree that the lip plate style is more soothing, and it certainly seems that when lip piercings get to a certain point, it’s almost the more natural choice.

    However, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and a large, heavy piercing in the middle of one’s face is, of course, not without its drawbacks and challenges. The problems Swirly has encountered, he says, have much to do with the weight: “Running up and down stairs is quite hazardous. Speaking takes some getting used to at first. Drinking leaves you rather moist for a while until you learn to drink past your plug. That sort of thing.” Beyond everyday hurdles though, he has also experienced physical issues related to the stretching, including his lower jaw actually changing shape and his teeth beginning to arch backwards as opposed to the normal “U”-shape of the lower jaw.


    Swirly’s Teeth Begin To Arch Backwards As His Jaw Changes Shape

    In a culture where the mainstream is still in its infancy as far as its support and acceptance of more heavily and visibly modified people, when the envelope is pushed as it is being pushed right now, it can seem that there’s almost a “one step forward, two steps back” effect taking place. Forging ahead and breaking new ground before the current path has been steadied and secured will almost invariably result in backlash of some sort, but at the same time — it’s also almost always worth it. It’s obviously not always the case, but hard and heavy can be far more effective than passivity and subtlety on occasion, and if bludgeoning the public for the sake of progress is the only recourse, so be it. “The public’s response to my lip is generally a long stream of profanity.” Swirly claims. “So what do I do? I pop out the plug and stick my split tongue through the hole to add to the shock! And then I’ll get ‘There’s something very wrong with you’ or ‘Why would you do that?’ But really, my response is if you don’t like it, don’t look at it.”

    “Everyone stares,” Jesse adds. “It’s not something you see every day. Few actually build up the courage to ask about it though, except for ‘Is it really that big?’ or ‘Did that hurt?’, but I do get compliments now and then — usually from the older crowd! My dad always tells them to stop encouraging me though, and we all laugh about it. But definitely more stares than comments for me.”


    Bart Gets His Lip “Disked” In Africa

    Regardless of acceptance, the public’s interest has been piqued, and that of course is the first step. “There’s no telling what the next generation will do,” says Jesse. “A lot of younger people have confronted me about my lip, and I’ve helped lots of people with questions about lip stretching — a lot of them say they would do it if they could, but it’s a small case of fear holding them back, which is understandable.” But will hugely stretched lips, especially in this style, reach the popularity and acceptance level of, say, stretched ears?

    “The difference between big ears and big lips is the fact that big ears don’t really affect everyday activities like eating, drinking, speaking, and so on,” Swirly offers. And that is important to consider; while stretched ears may have seemed too freaky for anybody’s good at one point, having exposed “wet” tissue is entirely different than large dangling lobes. But people love to complain, and often find something not to like about things that they either don’t understand or feel a warped sense of ownership about, such as a small contingent’s claims of cultural misappropriation against Western suspension practices and really, much of body modification in general. Though, because this “new” lip plating is so directly inspired by tribal and indigenous practices, will accusations of cultural misappropriation and theft be a concern?

    “I’d turn around and ask them why stretching my lip is any different from the small tattoo they have — you know, ‘because it’s cool’,” says Swirly. “Because tattooing wasn’t originally a Western ‘thing’ either, so surely tattooing anything non-tribal oriented in the true sense of the word is also ‘cultural misappropriation’, and the same goes for piercing. There’s barely anything we do these days [regarding body modification] that hasn’t been done before by tribesmen, and it has all become progressively more acceptable, so why should my lip be any different?”

    Jesse isn’t phased by naysayers. For him, the entire process has been a tremendous learning experience. “You could consider it a rite of passage,” he says, “considering that I made it through high school with my lip stretched and passed all of the judgment — I mean, when it came down to it, all I really had for a while was myself. People are forced to mature when put in high-pressure positions from others.”

    Jesse, Swirly, and a few others have truly taken the next step. It is people such as them that add creativity into the body modification equation; anybody can jab him — or herself with a needle, but that doesn’t make it art. At a time when piercing seemed to be at a lull of sorts while scarification and implant technology flourished, a movement like this truly brands those involved as pioneers. Did they invent the idea? Hardly. That’s not what this is about. The gravity of the situation lies in the fact that this form of body decoration may be among the first of its kind in Western civilization, and this is very important to acknowledge. It’s this kind of lateral thinking and willingness to experiment and branch out that, in the end, will make all of us look good. Will the anthropology and sociology textbooks 200 years from now be more concerned with the impact that Nick and Jessica’s Variety Hour had on society, or will they be examining the major paradigm shifts and cultural revolutions that came out of communities such as ours?

    There was a time when an eyebrow piercing was about as edgy as one could get. There was a time when people in this community could not get behind large-gauge lobe piercings. This may seem very different right now, but things have a way of reaching a sense of normalcy and acceptance.

    Now that I think about it, maybe the future generations won’t read about things like this in textbooks; they’ll just google it instead.

    Now that still sounds weird to me.

    Please consider buying a membership to BME so we can continue bringing you articles like this one.



  • Do Piercing Guns Suck? BME REVIEWS THE STUDEX SYSTEM 75 [The Publisher’s Ring]

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt



    Do Piercing Guns Suck?


    BME REVIEWS THE STUDEX SYSTEM 75™


    "A tool is but the extension of a man's hand, and a machine is but a complex tool. And he that invents a machine augments the power of a man and the well-being of mankind"


    – Henry Ward Beecher

    As you probably know, BME doesn’t generally cover piercing guns. It’s not because of safety issues (see BME/Risks) – BME discusses many activities that are equally or even more dangerous and ill-advised. It’s a cultural issue. Piercing gun “culture”, if you can call it that, is distinct from BME’s focus on atypical body modification and is not particularly relevant to our core mission. However, piercing gun manufacturers like Studex are slowly starting to create tools that are capable of untrained piercing of not just ears and noses, but many other body parts as well. When navel piercing guns start being used at mall kiosks, how will piercers in fully equipped studios be affected?

    Earlier designs of piercing guns were simple spring-loaded devices into which an ear piercing stud and backing could be loaded, held around the ear lobe, and then fired through.


    studex system 75 promotional materials
    “Piercing as easy as 1-2-3”
    …or so the brochure claims.

    Not only was the system physically inadequate for anything but basic ear piercing, but the plastic gun was effectively impossible to keep sterile or even clean properly, and the system was linked to the spread of hepatitis and other diseases, as well as damage to cartilage resulting in infection and collapse of the ear’s structure. While these apparently primitive and destructive systems are still a dominant force in the industry, recently a number of companies have released “cartridge based” piercing systems which attempt to address the majority of these problems.

    Cartridge based systems improve on the spring-loaded guns in two main ways. First, they tend to use a “pusher” system which forces the piercing stud through the tissue by squeezing a handle which drives the stud, rather than aggressively firing it with spring action. In theory this causes less trauma to the tissue (no more shattered cartilage), as well as reducing the potential for blood spray which could contaminate the gun. Second, the cartridge which contains the stud as well as some of the gun’s mechanism is disposable, immensely reducing the potential for transfer of microbes from client to client even if the mechanism is exposed to the client’s fluids.

    Rachel and I were able to meet with Ken Gardner, Studex’s Canadian distributor, who was kind enough to offer us their latest product for review – the “System 75(TM)”. While he did later characterize us as”tattooed from asshole to head” and with “ears big enough to put a tennis ball through”, he was likable and helpful, defended us against their main branch’s fears, and we walked away with a bag full of product for review as well as some literature on the devices.




    A two gun System (TM) kit from Studex including a marking pen,
    cleaning solution and wipes, two plastic guns, and a sample cartridge.

    I was surprised Ken was so helpful – Studex’s reputation is far less friendly, largely due to lawyer Fred Safford’s notoriety for threatening anyone involved in body piercing who speaks out negatively against piercing guns. Even though medical journals have documented and published numerous articles showing everything from Hepatitis transferred by ear piercing studs, to physical damage to the ear, it can be very difficult to speak publicly about these surprisingly common problems – many professionals inside the industry urged me not to write this article for fear of BME being hit with a nuisance suit. In any case, Ken assured me that these problems had not only been addressed in the new System 75™ design, but that according to Fred, the doctors had universally recanted their claims about even the older style guns (which Studex continues to market today). Ken didn’t have the information on these studies, but Fred offered to send me information about these doctors’ retractions. Below is the entirety of the letter which I received from Fred:


    This wasn’t particularly convincing (and implied the risk remained in the older style guns they continued to market alongside the System 75), so I did a few searches through MEDLINE and other services. Hundreds of articles discussing the risks of piercing guns and warnings to avoid them were returned, and I wasn’t able to find a single one describing either benefits over studio piercing or mentioning a retraction of previous claims. A great many focused on dermatitis and metal allergies due to the apparently low grade of materials used in some of the jewelry, but many others were directly related to complications due to the design of the gun or the stud itself.

    Complications included marked increases of hepatitis infections among people with piercings done with a piercing gun, several with apparent direct links (where they were able to pinpoint the point of infection directly, rather than circumstantially), as well as problems such as embedded earrings, viremia and liver disease resulting from infections contracted from piercing guns, pseudomonas aeruginosa and other acute psudomonas chrondritis secondary to ear piercing, ear deformity, pseudolymphoma, sarcoidal tissue reactions, auricular chondritis, toxic shock syndrome, perichondrial abscesses, post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis, cytotoxicity due to corrosion of the jewelry, and a wide variety of other complications. I was able to find studies from the 1970′s up until today, and during most of that period, no significant changes were made by the ear piercing industry to correct the problem. However, now that piercing studios have significantly threatened their market dominance, they’ve finally been forced to respond – apparently not for ethical reasons or because of caring about their customers, but for survival. Thus the System 75™ from Studex and other analogous products from other companies such as Inverness have hit the market. However, even knowing these risks (and presumably acknowledging them by addressing them with the new designs), they have not taken earlier designs off the market.

    In all fairness, it must be noted that a great deal of care has gone into the design of the System 75™, which really does represent an enormous leap over the older guns (which the above mentioned studies primarily refer to) which were easier to link to serious health problems.



    The “pusher” system is the only part of the     System 75(TM) which is used more than once; all other components are disposable. In theory none of this plastic body ever comes in contact with the customer.



    The cartridges come in sealed sterile packaging, which can presumably be handled freely without putting the contents at risk.



    Opening the package does not involve touching the cartridge or jewelry, which is at the opposite end of the package from the part that is peeled off.



    The cartridge is then picked up using the gun. The part that is exposed when the packaging is peeled open is the part that interfaces with the gun, so the easiest way to use the unit is also the safest.


    The packaging is then discarded, leaving the jewelry exposed. Unlike some of the other systems on the market, it is very easy to see where the jewelry point is and the system is simple to co-ordinate and line up with one’s marks.



    The trigger is depressed, pushing the jewelry through the tissue and latching the stud into its backing. The gun’s design does not allow crushing the tissue, and different length studs are available for different sized lobes. When the trigger is released, the part of the cartridge that held the stud opens like a flower and releases the jewelry.

    After piercing, every part of the gun that came in contact with the client – the cartridge – is discarded. Unlike a spring loaded system which is almost entirely reused between clients, the perfect-world potential for contamination using the System 75(TM) as directed is extremely minimal. Even if the pusher unit itself became contaminated – which to me seems inevitable – the odds of transferring that contamination between clients seems very, very low. A large number of designs of jewelry are available in these sterile packs, so there should be no need to switch the jewelry after piercing as was sometimes done in the past.



    Above right you can see the child-sized “practice ear” with recommended placements. In the past, upper ear placements were strongly frowned upon due to the damage that could be done to cartilage by forcibly firing a dull stud through it, but the slow-push method in the new systems is thought to address this. In order to try it out we had a little “piercing gun party” and added studs to myself and a number of friends. Ear placements were simple and largely uneventful.

    The only problem we had is that the cartridge’s release system (the part that’s supposed to open up and let go of the jewelry after the piercing) failed on a few of our test piercings, resulting in us needing to use our hands to physically force it open to release – which of course instantly eliminated most of the benefits of the new system and put both the operator and the client at unnecessary risk. A number of the cartridges actually fell apart entirely as we were using them. Because of this it seems important that anyone using this gun wear gloves in case they need to handle the jewelry or tissue directly.

    The interesting thing about the System 75(TM) though, and the real reason I’m reviewing it, is that it’s designed to bridge gun technology into much more than just ear or nose piercing – it’s designed to be able to pierce nipples, navels, eyebrows, and more. When I talked to Studex, this was not yet approved in the US or in most of Canada, but Ken told me that in Quebec, parts of Europe, and most of all Japan, the gun was being used for full-on body piercing. Even the US-distributed catalog, which is primarily ear oriented, shows jewelry that while labeled as being for “ear piercing” appears to be more appropriate for body piercing due to its length and gauge (although some of it is tagged as being “Europe only”).



    Ken was able to provide us with a number of the Japanese developed body piercing cartridges. They appeared to be 14 gauge, and came as both straight and curved barbells. The basic idea was the same as the ear piercing studs, although much more physical contact was needed to use them. The cartridge sits on its side in the packaging, requiring one to take it out by hand, rather than handling it exclusively with the pusher. In addition, after forcing the stud through the tissue being pierced, the bead has to be screwed on. Many of the benefits of the System 75(TM) were lost.




    This is one of the body piercing gun barbells.

    As you can see, it is not very sharp, and contains a very steep bevel, making piercing both painful and difficult. This is additionally complicated by external threading which tears up the piercing as it passes through the freshly made hole.

    Still, we attempted several piercings using this system. The first and somewhat bizarre problem we discovered, on our navel piercing attempt, was that the curved barbell was facing out in a concave fashion. This meant that it was being held in the exact opposite way required to do this or any other piercing, and was extremely difficult to coordinate – but BME photographer and guinea pig Phil Barbosa bravely allowed us to attempt it anyway. Using all of her strength, Rachel forced the stud into his belly as he grimaced in pain. The dull point managed to penetrate the first layer of skin, and then eventually ground to a halt as the external threading tore up Phil’s navel and wouldn’t allow us to get it all the way through no matter how hard any of us squeezed the unit’s handle, which eventually fell apart in protest. Extracting the stud wasn’t very fun either, as we had to pull the threading back through the fresh injury.



    Every cartridge we used for body piercing disintegrated during use, and while the rate of failure was much lower when we used the smaller gauge ear studs, it was still unacceptably high. Also in this photo are one of the standard ear piercing studs with a butterfly backing, as well as a barbell bead, and a nostril piercing stud (about 14ga, but flaring out to 12ga to hold it in place).

    We did a second test piercing on Badur through his hand web. It took an incredible amount of force to drive the stud through – probably about the same as it would take to drive a nail into soft wood using only your hand, was excessively painful, and the unit failed to release the stud, causing it to be partially pulled back into the wound and forcing us to dismantle the unit by hand to abort the piercing. People stopped volunteering so we tried piercing pieces of cloth, which also broke the cartridges. Finally we tried simply piercing the air, and continued to have the same failures. While it might be possible to modify it, I do not believe that this element of the System 75(TM) is a mature product yet, and I am somewhat disturbed that there are people using it on unsuspecting clients.

    Even if the issue of the cartridges falling apart can be addressed or somehow explained away as a freak batch, I’m not convinced that performing commercial body piercings (rather than small gauge ear piercings) is a viable option with this design. It might be possible to build a unit that used a cutting bevel to place the jewelry, but even with that fix, it would be difficult to address the contamination issues in a way that made them sufficiently “idiot-proof” to be used by largely untrained staff. In addition, once the design reaches this level of complexity, it seems to me that it would be less complicated – and far less expensive – to simply use a traditional piercing studio.

    In terms of ear piercing, if the System 75(TM) had not fallen apart so consistently in my testing I’d actually be giving it a thumbs up – in theory it is a well designed unit that really does address nearly every one of the physical problems that existed with earlier spring-loaded ear piercing systems. However, at least the units that I was given to test were not reliable and forced us to use our hands directly in enough cases to offset these corrections. If Studex is able to fix the release system then this is a safe unit for small gauge ear piercing, including cartilage piercing, in my opinion, although one must consider that the people using the guns are relatively untrained, have minimal access to contamination control devices and chemicals, and the possibility for misuse resulting in injury is very real. Studex also sells a smaller system of a similar design for single-use home piercing – the Medisept(TM) – and of the guns they make I’d select that one over the others.

    In conclusion, Studex’s System 75(TM) does make significant improvements over traditional piercing gun systems, although I find it distasteful that these systems do not appear to have been developed until recently (and still have not been made exclusive), given that the problems have been documented and understood since at least the seventies. Additionally, given the failure rates we experienced, I can not in good conscience recommend them, especially since piercing studios equipped with contamination control knowledge and supplies – and autoclaves – offer ear piercing services within a few dollars of the same price. That said, if you’re going to get pierced with a gun and you don’t want to do it yourself, this is the right system to choose and offers immense advantages over a primitive spring loaded non-cartridge system. Finally, piercers have nothing to worry about in terms of the navel or nipple market being captured by this device or a similar one, as it is neither safe nor functional for general body piercing at this point, at least in our testing.


    Shannon Larratt
    BME.com


    System 75, Medisept, and Studex are trademarks of STUDEX, Inc.
    Thank you to Bagatelle Marketing for providing product samples and information.

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

    Written by

    BME

    Suspensions & Tensions:
    Today, Part I

    TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCES:

    TRIP TO HEAVEN, HELL OR SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN OR BEYOND

    In my last column I wrote about the history and origins of flesh suspensions and energy pulls, about some of the customs and rituals of other cultures from which we are just now rediscovering a special kind of magic. I wrote of a boy in South Dakota who was “set on fire” when he first learned of these body rites. Now I continue the path of discovery of that specific boy. Me.

    In societies where suspensions by piercings are part of a spiritual tradition, these intense acts are intended to lead one to a transformative experience – an ecstatic state, a dissociation from the body where consciousness is free to explore unseen dimensions of life. It is at the same time a release into one’s own private heaven or hell, then if you are lucky, an escape from that limited state to a special kind of consciousness beyond ego. A universal spacetime shared by all. Suspension by piercings is not a toy. It is not a plaything. As some contemporary suspendees have already learned, when it is attempted as an act of bravado or show of stoicism, it can often lead to a very unpleasant and unrewarding experience. The unseen worlds do not open up. All that’s left when it’s finished are scars and a few rolls of film. For some with an impoverished ego, that may be enough. No problem. But for me it has to be more.

    By the time I was ready to try a serious, long-lasting O-Kee-Pa style suspension, I had already learned to dissociate from my body and had experienced leaving it consciously (see “Against the Coal Bin Wall” in Body Play Number 4). By a series of increasingly intense and prolonged body rituals over a twenty year period, the “boy” had prepared himself for a truly significant inner experience.

    FAKIR’S JOURNEY TO THE WHITE LIGHT

    It began in 1962. I was thirty-two. Fate had allowed me to visit Japan. A very unlikely place for this journey to begin since my roots were on the plains of South Dakota where the mysteries of the O-Kee-Pa suspension had actually taken place a hundred years prior. In the Kanda bookseller’s section of Tokyo, I found a lost book that very few people had seen for nearly a hundred years: George Catlins’s original volume, “O-KEE-PA, A Religious Ceremony of the Mandans“. I opened the red Morocco leather and gold gilded cover. This was a rare original book published in London by Trubner & Co., Paternoster Row in 1867!! I held it in my hands and leafed through its pages. My heart pounded and my whole body began to shake. There it was, Catlin’s color lithos of young Mandan boys suspended by two piercings. How had this treasure gotten to Japan? Perhaps as a gift to some Japanese dignitary by the British, or in a missionary’s trunk? Who knows? My chances of finding this rarity were one-in-a-million, probably more. That day some force greater than myself seems to have directed me to my path up the mountain. My path to the Mandan’s White Light!

    The bookseller, not knowing the rarity of this book, sold it to me for thirty dollars. Now I had an ancient guide to my destination and I lived with it constantly for the next year. The descriptions of the ceremony and the crude but vivid Catlin drawings sketched on-the-spot etched themselves into my consciousness. Only one thing mattered: I had to do the O-Kee-Pa!! But there were no living humans I knew who could show me the way. To the best of my knowledge, none of the few remaining Mandan (ninety five percent of them had been wiped out by a smallpox epidemic, a gift from the white man, in the winter of 1832) had ever done this rite in my lifetime. And I had lived among them. I was on my own and my sole guide had to be the same larger force that had mysteriously drawn me to that book on a hot August day in Tokyo, Japan.

    By July 1963, I was ready for my first attempt. In the attic room of a small house in Palo Alto, California, I screwed up my courage and began the piercings. I was not prepared to pierce myself in quite the style of the Mandans – cutting deep incisions in my chest and inserting plugs. So I was guided to make deep piercings through my entire breast area, in as much flesh as I could gather up. I used some wire clamps I had made to hold the gathered-up skin in place. The piercings themselves were made by slowly screwing a long 1/16″ thick stainless wire through each breast with yet another home made device, a screw piercer (see photo). As the blunt wire tip slowly forced it’s way through my body (it took several hours to make each piercing), I went into a light trance. At this point I was glad I had fasted for two days, made other physical and mental preparations, and had opted for slow piercing.

    Left: For my first O-Kee-Pa suspension in 1963 I slowly screwed long wires deep through each breast with the homemade piercing device resting on my lap in this photo. Wires were made into loops for the hanging. Right:
    In my 1963 attempt, I lowered myself from a stack of books until I hung free for several minutes. I proved my living flesh was strong enough to be safely suspended by wires.

    The sensation of the slow piercing was intense but bearable. Then, not having anyone to help me, I stood on a pile of books beneath a suspension frame I had made in advance. I gradually let my weight (140 pounds then) be “taken” by the piercings. I had to be very cautious. As the Mandans had learned, and Catlin mentioned in his O-Kee-Pa book, one can only hang by two piercings in the chest for about twenty minutes. After that, strangulation begins and one can quickly die!

    Somehow suspension from dual piercings in the back does not cause the same physical effect and one can hang for much longer periods.

    Over the next thirty minutes I managed to kick one after another of the books from under my feet. At last I was standing on tiptoes with about 80% of my weight on the piercings. My breathing was shallow and forced. The pain was intense to the point where I didn’t think I could continue. I had “gone out of my mind” and all that existed in the universe was the glowing fire in my heart center. At that moment, I tripped my remote camera, stepped off the last book almost unconsciously and swung free. The pain stopped and I started to drift off. I knew I had to come back pronto or I would be gone forever. So I struggled mightily to get my feet back on a solid surface. I had done it, even if for only three or four minutes! I was glowing, radiant and absolutely obsessed to try again.

    My next attempt was a year later, in March 1964. I went through even more demanding preparations this time – I knew what to expect. I pierced my chest again with the same kind of wires which had proven, in 1963, to be large enough to support seventy pounds each without damage or tearing. In 1963 I learned a lesson about how tough living skin really is: it proved to be ten time stronger than dead skin (leather) and extremely plastic. This time I took even longer putting my entire weight on the piercings, perhaps an hour or more. I really wasn’t aware of time when I did these suspensions. This time I was prepared for the intense fire that would burn in my chest when I stepped free. And I was determined to hang as long as I felt I could stay conscious and regain control. I really didn’t want to die… yet!

    I desperately longed for a Ka-See-Ka (physical and psychic guide of the Mandans), someone to help me and watch over me so I could totally let go and not be responsible for anything including my life. Finally I did swing free for a second time. I did manage to trip my remote camera again (see photo below). And again start to drift into that pleasant warm space I had experienced when I was lashed against the coal bin wall some twelve years before. This time I hung suspended for about ten minutes and don’t really remember how I got down, or who was watching over me to keep me from harm’s way. But some how I did escape and was more determined than ever to try again with a Ka-See-Ka. And then hang for as long as it would take to enter the unseen worlds and it’s potential transformations.

    The next year, 1965, I met merchant seaman and tattoo artist Davy Jones who eventually put the large blackwork tattoo I had always wanted on my back and hips. He had lived among tribal people in the Pacific; he had been ritually tattooed in Western Samoa. We developed a close friendship and spiritual connection while making my “magic mark”. I developed a deep trust in his integrity and he expressed an interest in fulfilling the role or protector and Ka-See-Ka in my next O-Kee-pa suspension. But I had to wait another two years because in 1966 I mistakenly married a woman who really didn’t understand my spiritual quest or support my unusual explorations. She preferred not to be around during body rituals.

    By April 1967, I was aching to accept Davy Jones’ offer to help in an “all out”; chest suspension. Nothing would stand in my way. So I gave my wife my car keys, a credit card, and $300; she drove to Palm Springs for the weekend. Again, I spent several days preparing myself for the ordeal to follow, the total “letting go” I desired. I signed a letter to Davy Jones releasing him from all liability and responsibility in case something happened (like serious injury or death). He liked that. The evening before the suspension, he arrived along with Joe, a sympathetic friend who agreed to make an 8mm movie as documentation. No still photos would be taken. I stayed up all night fasting in tight constrictions and other deprivations. I wanted to start a light trance and dissociation from my body before the piercing.

    By 6:00 AM the next morning I was ready. In a calm and deliberate way I pierced my own chest for a third time. The energy from Davy and his friend watching was supportive and comforting as I rather quickly screwed the wire rods through my breasts. There was no real pain this time; my body wanted the penetration. The flesh just seemed to part on its own and let the wires pass through. Beautiful. I felt empowered by this. We made loops in the wires, bound the ends and attached a short rope between them. Then I told Davy I was ready for my suspension. Single file we went out into the bright, crisp morning light in the yard and then into the dark and empty garage building prepared for the ritual. The interior atmosphere was similar to a reconstructed Mandan lodge I had visited in North Dakota years before.

    I stood on a tall black box in the center of the large room. Davy connected the rope between my piercings to another one dangling from the beams above. Both Davy and Joe gently pulled slack from the suspension rope. I felt increasing pressure in my chest. I was slightly on tiptoe when they stopped. A wonderful feeling swept through me – waves of tingling. This was different than the last time. I relaxed into the feeling. For a long time I stood very still in the silence and darkness. My mind was letting go. My attention focused on feelings and sensations. As we had prearranged, I was to say “UP” whenever I was ready to continue. I said “UP“. Ropes creaked and slipped sending vibrations into my piercings. I threw my head back, felt myself being inched upward until I was on my toes again.

    Fire came into my heart center as I let myself sag down onto the piercings. I struggled for breath. But I soon relaxed into some comfortable shallow breathing, small pants. More stillness and adjusting. I started to drift away. I was a little blob of consciousness now, just observing body sensations no matter how intense. And the observer was somewhere remote from the body. I said “UP” again to see what would happen. Instantly I zoomed back to full awareness of body sensations, pain. More stillness, patience and adjusting until I was again safely detached. On the fourth “UP” I reached my limits. With almost all of my body weight on the piercings, I had to make my last conscious decision: give up or swing free!

    Photos made from 8mm movie frames exposed during my 1967 journey to the White Light. No still pictures were taken. Hand in top photo belongs to Davy Jones who slowly rotated my body during the twenty-minute suspension.

    I hadn’t come this far to give up. I plunged off the cliff and swung clear of the box which was immediately taken away so I couldn’t change my mind. I was floating in a vast sea of vibrations and vibrant colors. Uncaring with no identity, no memories, no body. Since my head was back when I swung free, I was looking up. And there it was at the end of a short dark tunnel, a great shimmering ball of white light!! It radiated intense waves of love like I’d never felt before. This incredible love was directed at me – personal and totally non-judgmental, unconditional, accepting. I passionately wanted to be swallowed up by that Light. In rapid telepathic communication, the Light spoke. It said: “Hello. I’m you and you are Me. And I’m as close to God as you’ll ever be. I am the One who made you and I am the One who will take you back. I brought you here. Remember the book? I am always here to guide you regardless of the form in which you see me“.

    I asked the Light, “Do you always appear like this?” “No,” it replied, “I appear in any form you think I can appear“. Again I asked a question, “Is there only one of you?” The Light shimmered again and answered. “Of course not. Everyone has a White Light, but all of us are One. And One of us is powerful enough to create or destroy a world or universe. Let me show you“. I cannot describe what happened then. I was led on a fantastic tour of things made and not made and music that accompanies it all into a Divine Order.

    I pleaded with the Light to embrace me. It said no, do not come closer. If I was embraced, I could not go back. The Light told me I had to return to my body and work through it until my task was finished. What task? The next thing I knew, I was back in the darkened garage laying on the floor with Davy Jones and Joe by my side. They said I had hung deathlike for twenty minutes. The experience was truly “transformative”. My life was markedly different from that day forward. I was a battery on “Full Charge” and didn’t have to sleep for the next 72 hours. My mind was ultra clear and all my physical functions seemed to have been enhanced.

    Left: In my solo 1964 suspension, I hung by dual piercings for ten minutes.

    Right: For my fifth O-Kee-Pa suspension in 1976, I hung from permanent deep chest piercings I had made several years prior. Iron hooks are 3/8″ thick.

  • The Lizardman goes to Am-Jam [The Lizardman]

    Written by

    BME


    The Lizardman
    goes to Am-Jam

     


    "I am having so much fun performing, I feel almost guilty. I think, my God, I hope no one comes and busts me for this."

    – David Crosby

     

    When I moved to Texas in late 2001, one of the fringe benefits I was greatly looking forward to was no longer having to shovel snow or de-ice my car. Why is it then that every January when NY is doing its best imitation of an icebox have I since traveled up north, back into the snow and cold?

    To be part of the Am-Jam Tattoo Expo.

     

    My connection with Am-Jam goes back six years now. It began in 1998 when an announcement for the upcoming 1999 edition of event was posted online in rec.arts.bodyart. At the time I was a regular reader and contributor to r.a.b. and having recently decided to get back into performance as a full time venture I contacted the poster – none other than then VP and now head poobah Jeannie aka “Mom”. Being so close to the actual date, things were pretty well locked down in terms of entertainment and budget but being that is was only a few miles from my apartment in Albany to the armory in Schenectady where the event was being held we struck a deal that I would come out and do a few things during the breaks in onstage activity and she would give myself and a friend or two passes into the show and some drinks. It wouldn’t be the first or last time I worked for free beer and good time.

    I was accompanied out to the show by Scott, who has since gone on to become The Amazing Dr. Grift and an indispensable part of my show and business. Within moments of arriving we made fast friends with everyone there and Jeannie was soon calling us her “sons”. Throughout the day I would get onstage and do an act or two – a bed of nails, sew buttons to my arms, lift things with piercings, the blockhead, etc. It went incredibly well and the crowd loved it. This was also the source of one of my favorite all time crowd comments: “Man, that is fucked up!” The comment isn’t particularly notable in and of itself and I hear it a lot but when I heard it that day from a Hell’s Angel it meant a lot more. I was reaching people with a generally higher than average tolerance for the weird and unusual. We returned each day and did a little something every time – including a stint as the walkway for the leather fashion show with each model stepping on me on the bed of nails as they took the stage. In those three days we made lifelong friends and probably got overpaid in terms our drinking. Throughout the year we would do the same at other Am-Jam events. BME still contains galleries of some of the pictures I took, which also show a pre-implants and facial tattooing version of me:

    Am-Jam would be a regular part of my schedule and integral part of the development of my show for the future.

    Things continued on in much the same way for 2000, 2001, and 2002. These were years of great growth for myself and my show and every time we returned to Am-Jam it was like a homecoming and we did just a bit more. Am-Jam became the event where I brought media coverage to see me in action. Over the years I have been filmed and photographed there for numerous print publications including many industry magazines as well as German TV and print, National Geographic, and more. This year was no exception as I was joined and covered by a Hong Kong based magazine.

    In 2003, I took on a new role – albeit briefly – as co-MC for the expo. This was also the year I met Spider Webb who was exhibiting a number of paintings and other pieces at the event. The meeting was fortuitous and resulted in not only a new friend but also a new tattoo as I became part of his “X” work by receiving an “x” tattoo under my eye. The experience I wrote for BME about the tattoo can be found here. That was the first and last year I would MC at the event and also the last year it would be held in Schenectady.

    Liverpool, NY became the new home of the Am-Jam tattoo expo in 2004. And then, as before and as I am sure I will again I got in my car and drove from the warmth of Texas into the blizzards of western NY. The change of venue meant some very positive new things for the event. It was now partnered with a strong local radio station (105 The Dog) and there was a new hotel with much more space – and a full stage for competitions and performances. This was also the year that I would get my lips tattooed while there, by Miss Vicke. You can read about that here.

    And that brings us to this year’s event.

    The 2005 Am-Jam would be the first event in a two week run on the road for me and the show. I had hoped that we were well prepared for the trip north by our first gig of the year in Anchorage, Alaska a week prior but it was to no avail. New York proved to be colder than Alaska – by several degrees – during the time we were in each state respectively. Nonetheless, we made it through – mostly by staying indoors. We arrived on the Thursday evening prior to the event and said hello to all the family before getting some much needed rest after 30 in a rental car. Technically, it was split between two rental cars because around Cleveland our first car got a flat tire due a random chunk of metal in the road. As the show must go on, so must the car. We exchanged cars at the Cleveland airport and were back on our way.

    A brief nap would be all we got before awaking to visit Scorch on the morning radio promo for the event. Before leaving for the radio station there was some local news to shoot for as well. I did an excellent job of disturbing the reporter and apparently the studio editor as my antics were mostly cut from the piece that ended up running throughout the day – still it did the job. We got back a bit before noon and had another nap before setting up the booth and opening up with the event at 6 PM on Friday night.

    As might be expected for our sixth year, we had tons of familiar faces stop by and visit our booth. The snow held off for Friday but on Saturday we were effectively snowed in. It always snows during Am-Jam, but this just means you know where the party is and it’s not going to go anywhere. Saturday was also our performance day and we had a great time with equal response as always.

    Sunday we made the decision to stay in the hotel through Monday which relieved of our usual need to pack up and rush goodbyes before getting on the road. We took things leisurely and enjoyed a successful show and weekend of business at the booth. That night, after shutting down it was a trip to the hot tub and strategizing for the upcoming bar show in Albany, NY and then another convention in Ohio.

    There are always variables in life, especially that of a traveling performer, and sometimes the start of a new year can seem daunting but I feel assured that I can count on being at a lot more Am-Jams and every one sending me off better than the last into the rest of the year. My sincere thanks to the Am-Jam family and all friends old and new from the event that have helped make my show what it is.

    Erik Sprague

     

    because the world NEEDS freaks…

    Former doctoral candidate and philosophy degree holder Erik Sprague, the Lizardman (iam), is known around the world for his amazing transformation from man to lizard as well as his modern sideshow performance art. Need I say more?

    Copyright © 2005 BMEzine.com LLC and Erik Sprague / The Lizardman. Requests to republish must be confirmed in writing. For bibliographical purposes this article was first published January 13th, 2005 by BMEzine.com LLC in La Paz, BCS, Mexico.

     

     

     

  • Can I touch you? [The Lizardman]

    Written by

    BME

    Can I touch you?


    "The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment." />

    – Warren Bennis


    When I last took suggestions and then polled IAM members as to what annoying oft repeated question I should next address in a column I was more than a little surprised at the response:

    “Can I touch you?“

    My surprise was accompanied by a somewhat vexing block in terms of writing the column. This was exacerbated by a national tour and other concerns, but I did not simply walk away from the challenge. In fact, I regularly polled myself and some others as to the nature of this particular quandary.

    I have touched upon the issue of touching before, notably in my column on confronting rudeness. However, that was primarily the case of unwanted contact and in particular, unexpected, unwanted contact. As we all probably know from experience, and perhaps are even guilty of ourselves, human beings are very tactile by nature. Touching may well be an instinctual response. We often find ourselves admonishing children to look with their eyes and not their hands but more than a few adults could use a refresher course on this subject. The sight of interesting and unusual modifications can often turn otherwise reasonable polite adults into children. A simple “can I look at your tattoos or piercings?” may be quickly followed by their grubby hands pawing away at you.

    But what if they do ask (and wait for a response) to touch your tattoo, piercing, implant, or whatever? Now, it may be my paranoia acting up again but I think there is something potentially insidious at play here. Asking first is the polite thing to do but when refused it sets them up to play the victim and cast the modified person badly. How could you, the modified person, refuse such a polite request?

    Actually, it’s quite simple. You don’t want to be touched. Touching someone is only rarely really appropriate behavior. Asking politely to do something inappropriate does not make it acceptable.

    You might turn it around and ask them if you could touch them back, but this hardly amounts to anything unless every single modified person they ever meet does the same – even to the point of initiating the request. They will not know what it means to have strange people regularly trying to grab at them, and thus they will not appreciate the situation. They will go on thinking that it’s somehow different when there is body modification involved. The implication becomes one similar to the accusation of attention seeking. That people who modify their bodies are asking to be asked to be touched.

    While not as desperately serious as saying a woman in a skimpy outfit wanted “it” after a rape, this is basically the same argument and it is as rampant as it is offensive and logically bankrupt. I only bring up such an abhorrent example as rape in hopes that it might be enough to wake some people up. Touching someone’s tattoo without consent is an assault; the constant requests to touch are harassment.

    But of course, this is a foggy minefield to walk through since everyone has their own comfort level for physical contact and requests. At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite, I often let people touch my tattoos, implants, and piercings. However, I reserve the right to refuse anyone at anytime regardless of past acceptance on my part.

    The fact that enough people suggested and voted on this to make it the overwhelming choice for a column tells me that many people are not having trouble. My initial reaction was along the lines of, “well, at least they are asking instead of just grabbing,” but I see now that misses something.









    Erik Sprague

    because the world NEEDS freaks…

    Former doctoral candidate and philosophy degree holder Erik Sprague, the Lizardman (iam), is known around the world for his amazing transformation from man to lizard as well as his modern sideshow performance art. Need I say more?

    Copyright © 2005 BMEzine.com LLC and Erik Sprague / The Lizardman. Requests to republish must be confirmed in writing. For bibliographical purposes this article was first published January 13th, 2005 by BMEzine.com LLC in La Paz, BCS, Mexico.

  • The Lizardman’s 2004 Year in Review [The Lizardman]

    Written by

    BME

    The Lizardman’s

    2004 Year in Review

    Let the egoism continue! Once again, here is a review of the past year from the perspective of The Lizardman. Now, I’m not trying to apologize for my shameless self-involvement but this time around I have tried to include some more general references of note as well. Enjoy the linkfest.

    * * *


    January
          
    Some things never seem to change (substantially). When I was writing the 2003 version of this column a year ago I had a small stack of books and pc games I was working through surrounding me.

    As I sit here doing this one, I have a similar Christmas booty in front of me. January 2004 saw me off to a good start on the year. Shannon was kind enough to make my IAM page more open to the general public. I began a series of sideshow personality interviews beginning with my good friend The Amazing Blazing Tyler Fyre. I was filmed by MTV and National Geographic. I got one of now favorite and most beloved gadgets – the Treo 600. And perhaps most notably from a performance body modification perspective I once again worked at the AMJAM Tattoo Expo during which I had my lips tattooed.


    February
          
    This was the month of the nipple piercing – thank you Miss Jackson! When I get to nipple on broadcast TV and a pierced nipple at that, I simply cannot contain myself. My feelings became expressed in a BME column, of course, and not surprisingly were far more enthusiastic than those of the popular press. February also saw this story on magnetic implants, a good month for modification. For my own mods I experimented with Kaos’s new silicone eyelets to stretch my septum. The results were positive except that after stretching with their eyelets I got my septum to a size where the only jewelry I could wear were the eyelets since non-squish-able jewelry over half an inch won’t fit up my nostril to be inserted into the piercing. Ultimately, I went back to a half inch for the jewelry options. Show wise, I made an appearance at Godsmack’s Grammy Party in LA, did a three day run in El Paso and Las Cruces (selling out and setting an attendance record for one of the rooms), and confirmed our spot on the Spring Jager Tour with Slipknot.

    March
          
    I moved to Texas but I didn’t escape the cold. March saw me drawn back up north for a small show at the bar in Albany where I used to work (now under new management and ownership) and a trip to Stratton, VT for the US Snowboard Open as an award presenter for Sobe. I also made a trip out to San Francisco to appear on Unscrewed. Back home in Austin, my wife became one of the new Satan’s Cheerleaders.

    At the end of the month I left for the Spring Jagermeister Music Tour but not before getting
    my fingertips tattooed.


    April
          

    All of this month and half of May were spent on the road as the host of the Jagermeister Music Tour. This was one of the best tours I have ever had the honor of being part of and stands out as one of the great experiences of my life.


    May
          
    After returning from tour I took easy for a couple weeks before heading up to Detroit for the Inkslinger’s Convention. More noteworthy for the month were the ocular modifications appearing on BME like the stories on eyelid piercing and eye implants.

    June
          
    Ronald Reagan died this month; my feelings about him are pretty well summed up in the Ramones’ song: Bonzo goes to Bitburg. It was good month for promotion. A number of TV shows I shot for were aired and I received the first shipment of Jagermeister sponsored gear: shot glasses & lighters. This was also the month that I celebrated my 32nd birthday and got my ears tattooed.

    July
          
    Start of a month with BMEfest and its pretty much all downhill from there. That is, unless you are buying a house. This was the month that Meghan and I found and put in our offer on what would become our home.

    August
          
    Things got busy fast in August. Meghan and I closed on our new house, which meant moving. All the while I was spending 4 days or more a week in Dallas as a guest performer with the Brothers Grim Sideshow. I also went out to the Navajo Nation and performed at Window Rock fest. I believe I may have set a record this month, as well, when I pulled my car with my stretched earlobes for an audition tape – I didn’t get the part though, for being too extreme.

    September
          
    I continued to split my time for the first half of the month between Dallas at the sideshow and home in Austin. While home there was moving, unpacking, and renovations to be done. In Dallas we not only performed but also filmed with Discovery – a series of vignettes for a number of programs that should air in 2005. I also got a little tattoo work done. A short trip north was made for the Boston Tattoo Convention during which MTV finally decided to air our wedding (without letting us know).

    October
          
    The month for me began with a new round of debating and interviewing over tongue splitting legislation. This time it was in New York. It behooves us all to stay abreast of what is being done legislatively – even in states other than our own. I got a little more green fill done this month but the mod I remember most, if you want to call it that, was a serious ear cleaning. I had a sudden wax buildup that nearly deafened me and needed to be removed by a doctor. With the Fall Jagermeister Tour not starting till the end of the month I only had one show to do (Theo’s in Corpus Christi) and passed the rest of the time mostly relaxing at home and learning to program
    pocketc.

    November
          
    Another national tour! We hit the road with Jagermeister once again. While on tour Meghan and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary.

    December
          
    I didn’t get back from the jager tour with Slayer till over half way through the month and then it was all holidays. While not much happened modification-wise for me personally, there was this story on BME about pierced eyeglasses and, of course, the ten year mark for BME.

    * * *

    There you have it. I promise some more substantive columns soon but for those looking for more year end nostalgia why not try here.




    Erik Sprague

    because the world NEEDS freaks…

    Former doctoral candidate and philosophy degree holder Erik Sprague, the Lizardman (iam), is known around the world for his amazing transformation from man to lizard as well as his modern sideshow performance art. Need I say more?

    Copyright © 2005 BMEzine.com LLC and Erik Sprague / The Lizardman. Requests to republish must be confirmed in writing. For bibliographical purposes this article was first published January 13th, 2005 by BMEzine.com LLC in La Paz, BCS, Mexico.


  • If you want something done right, go to a professional [The Publisher’s Ring]

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt


    If you want it done right,
    go to a professional


    “I perch on the edge of the bed afterwards, my eyes searching the floor for my purse, my cigarettes, my pager that won’t stop going off. He reaches up and runs his hand down my spine, over the new tattoo that adorns it. He mumbles, ‘This is beautiful. It compliments your curves so well.’”


    – “Shannon”, Confessions of a modified call-girl

    It’s no secret that a very large number of people find tattoos and piercings sexy. I suspect this site would be much smaller if the sexual overtones didn’t exist — but that doesn’t mean that getting tattooed is some kind of instant elixir of passion or that it’ll magically make you irresistible. It’s like an amplifier — the wrong modifications can emphasize the parts of you that are unattractive, but the right ones can emphasize your best features. If you want something done right, see a professional, right? Someone with extensive hands-on knowledge of the subject?

    Escorts aren’t living blow up dolls — their magic and business depends on them really understanding what makes men and women tick sexually. Especially for those working in the intimate companion or GFE (“girlfriend experience”) market, a large part of the job is a head game that depends on them being able to play off people’s fantasies and true desires — the ones that even their partners haven’t figured out. Recently BME had the chance to sit down with a number of tattooed and pierced “adult service providers,” all highly rated by their clients and good at their work.


    Azaria    		    
    Michelle    		    
    Kayce

    We’re joined by Azaria, a single mother and bubbly companion from Springfield, Missouri, Michelle, a heavily tattooed traveling entertainer, Kayce, a 24 year old professional escort and actress from Washington DC, and Shannon, a young escort who got into the industry by accident and now loves the rush, although she’s careful to point out that it’s far from glamorous work. Finally, we’re also joined by Justyne, now working in the corporate sector but willing to talk about her experiences as an escort twelve years ago.


    Michelle’s large traditional Japanese tattoo
    by Andre Green (tattooasylum.com)

    BME:  Thank you for agreeing to talk to me; let’s first go around the table and if you don’t mind, introduce yourself and tell me a little about yourself.
    AZARIA:  I’m a single mother of one, and I love body art and piercing, and anything adventurous. I love to travel, and just got back from Australia where I got my latest tattoo, on my back left shoulder. I’ll probably try anything once as long as it doesn’t freak me out!
    MICHELLE:  I am a lady, refined, educated, and a master of many of the fine arts of life — I know which fork to use, and how to hold the chopsticks! Whether it’s just the two of us having drinks on the balcony, or meeting colleagues at a cocktail party, you’ll be delighted with my wit, my intelligence and my gentle laugh. I make small talk easily, but get the big picture.

    My interests are eclectic and wide ranging. In college, I double majored in science and the liberal arts. While I’ve lived mostly in California, I’ve traveled extensively though the United States and Asia. I am passionate about art and literature, the outdoors, new places and new people. I paint, and my paintings have sold all over the world. In addition, I have more than thirteen years martial arts training, including work with a Navy Seal trainer. I now live near the ocean in Santa Monica and love the sound of the waves crashing against the beach as I go to sleep.
    BME:  I know what you mean, I love the ocean…
    MICHELLE:  Behind the scenes, there’s more though — this lady can be a tramp, your tramp, your fantasy. I love to dress up, and to dress down… I love to do plain and I love to do fancy. Most of all, I love to please.
    KAYCE:  I work in Washington D.C. as a professional escort and I love my job! I love 911 Cabriolet Porsches, alternative music, Medieval dress — and a lot of people don’t know this, but I’m very shy! I have multiple personalities, and when I work my most erotic and decadent persona comes out — and I love her! She allows me to be what I would never be in my plain vanilla life.

           

    Kayce’s alternate personality comes out to play
    SHANNON:  I’m fairly well known on IAM so I’d like to remain mostly anonymous, but I will say that I grew up in fairly strange sexual circumstances. My mother was married to my father for twenty-six years, and as long as I can remember she had extramarital affairs. I am also pretty convinced that she got “paid” for sexual acts. Later on in my teenage years (after my parents divorced), she worked openly as a massage therapist and was arrested when she was set up by the cops, and an undercover cop offered her money for “more” during a massage. Of course, I didn’t find out about this until years later.

    I tell you this because the idea of getting paid for sex never seemed like a “wrong” thing. In fact, many years ago I was vacationing with my now ex-husband in Vegas and he won about $900 on slots. We went to our room and I told him that it would cost him $200 for a blowjob. He obliged. It was not uncomfortable for him, nor did it make me uncomfortable.

    When I was married to him I had several affairs, none of which he was aware of, and all of them with wealthy men who bought things for me and gave me cash on a regular basis. I never got caught, but I always thought that I would. It finally occurred to me that I could get the cash and have no strings attached. Don’t get me wrong — I love sex! Actually, I love the rush of sex with a new person. I’m addicted to it. So not only do I get paid to have sex, I get to feed my only addiction at the same time.
    JUSTYNE:  It’s been twelve years since I worked as an escort — I’m in the corporate sector now. The escort agency I worked for was what I would consider a mid-range agency as far as “quality” and cost. My level of formal education is quite low (grade ten high school, with some university credits as a mature student), but I have reached where I am in my career through a lot of my own studying and a bit of luck.
    BME:  If you don’t mind I’ll get right to the heart of what we’re talking about — how have your piercings and tattoos affected the way your clients treat you? Justyne, when you were working, tattoos and piercings were still very rare…
    JUSTYNE: 

    And I was far from heavily pierced or tattooed at the time, but I guess it was enough to make me “different” from the rest of the girls that I worked with at the escort agency. I was the only one who had tattoos and piercings outside of standard lobe piercings. Back then most girls didn’t have more than maybe two lobe piercings on each ear. Everyone there was pretty mainstream-looking. I hate to even use the word “mainstream” but I think you know what I am getting at.
    BME:  What reaction did you get?
    JUSTYNE:  It was always interesting to see — some really seemed to be turned on by what they considered the “bad girl” image. The ones that did like that were usually quite conservative in appearance. First-timers seemed to be slightly intimidated by me… I could never tell if it was because of my appearance or if they were just nervous.

    Some clients didn’t seem to like the tattoos and piercings and wanted “the girl next door”. But they didn’t really complain or treat it as a negative. Occasionally I would receive the usual questions of, “why would a pretty girl like you do that to yourself?” — the sort of bullshit that I’m sure every modified girl hears so often in her lifetime. There was one client who really (and I stress, really!) did not like tattoos or piercings on girls, and because of that nothing happened. We talked for a few minutes, and then he said he was sorry, but he just couldn’t get past those things and sent me on my way. Fair enough, different strokes for different folks. It really didn’t bother me.

    Having said that, the majority of my clients really didn’t care one way or the other.
    BME:  And those of you that are currently working — Michelle, you’re very heavily tattooed, am I right in guessing that people seek you for your tattoos?
    MICHELLE:  Yes, my clients do seek me out for them — but mainly because I’m such a smart ass! I had no idea I was getting famous until I had this girl do a double take, and then a triple take, and then she introduced herself to me and had that glassy look in her eye. I have to give up my addiction to Taco Bell!

       

    Who do you think would win in a fight… Michelle or Barbie?
    SHANNON:  Most of my clients have been pleasantly shocked by my mods. I also work full time as a manager of a nationwide company and keep a professional appearance. I don’t warn clients ahead of time about my mods. One of my first clients, after I stripped for him, stood there with a gaping mouth — he touched the CBR in my nipple and my tattoos on my pubic bone. I got on my knees and began giving him what he was paying for, and he flipped me in several positions. I like to think he was taking me in. He wanted every view of me — of my tattoos.

    Afterwards, I asked him about my mods. He said they were fascinating for him, as he was an older gentleman and had never been with a modified woman before. I was thrilled that I could be of pleasure to him, and that I could give him a new experience (and I could feed my family for another week).

    I have never been turned away when people found out about the mods, although I did get many men who did not like nipple piercings. The client I just mentioned was well connected through business and church (yes, I said church), and as time went by he referred me and my services to many other older, influential men in our area. I would say that ninety percent of the time the clients were fascinated by my tattoos, but not the nipples. Mine were fairly large — 8 gauge — and I am not sure if girls with smaller, more petite piercings would get the same reaction. They complained about the feel in their mouths and so on.

    I did end up taking my nipple rings out because I now have a very wealthy older man who is my main client who doesn’t like them, and I wanted to oblige him. As far as the way they perceive me, I think they adore it. I think it adds to the mystery. Most of my clients have never been with a woman with tattoos and piercings. It’s exotic to them.
    AZARIA:  I make sure on my site that my tats and piercing are plenty visible so that people who don’t like them don’t contact me. I would hate nothing more than to meet someone and hear them bitch about all my tats, which did happen once. I love my body art; I didn’t get it to please anyone else but me. I’m sure I miss out sometimes by having all these tats, but it doesn’t bother me one bit.

       

    Azaria
    BME:  And do the mods actually make clients “behave differently” toward you, or make different requests you think?
    AZARIA:  Almost everyone comments on them in some way or another. I have one on my lower back that seems to drive men wild. I don’t get much on my piercing; I did have one guy ask me to take it out. But other than that there’s not much affect at all.
    KAYCE:  My clients usually don’t say too much, but I can tell they think I’m some kind of goth-girl or a party type, which I’m not. Some are taken aback a little, but that’s normal for vanilla types I guess — usually they really want to be more nasty with me… They feel if I have some tats and a few piercings, then I’m pretty liberal and they want to push my boundaries. I will accommodate their fantasies though, but only because I really enjoy having my alternate personality come out… which I love of course!
    JUSTYNE:  I found that the ones that were turned on by it enjoyed themselves immensely… almost as if tattoos and piercings were a bit of a fetish for them. Or like Kayce said, they were excited by being with a “bad girl”. Other than that, it really didn’t affect anyone else’s behavior or mine. Honestly, for me it was just a job for money and not something that I actually enjoyed doing — though there were always “good” clients that I didn’t mind being with because they were extremely nice, funny, considerate, had good hygiene practices, and didn’t treat me like a whore. They were respectful.
    MICHELLE:  After I got my nipples pierced it was a wonderful thing. Not only did it bring increased sensitivity to my nipples, but suddenly there was this air of reverence, mystery and greater worship of my breasts. No more tugging or nibbling, just gentle caressing which of course really sends me over the edge. I would recommend every naturally large breasted woman get her nips pierced. It’s like having a boob job. I never wear a bra anymore, and they look so frisky and perky: I love them!
    SHANNON:  I’ve had men run their hands over my tattoos. I’ve gotten tons of compliments, and since I have a large back piece I get flipped over doggie-style quite a bit. I think most of these men love it because there is no way to mistake me for their wives!

    As far as my behavior, piercings throw you off during sex sometimes, and you have to fight that. You don’t ever want the client to think you are uncomfortable. But I have been hit in a sore conch piercing and had to keep a straight face! I’ve had my horizontal hood sucked too hard I don’t know how many times. I think that my clients automatically think that I am into pain because of my mods, and that is not the case with me at all. I think I get smacked and bitten more often and without warning than an unmodded call girl.
    BME:  Do the tattoos help you keep clients as regulars?
    SHANNON:  I had one regular client that lived by himself in a huge house in a wealthy neighborhood. He was a large man who always begged me to spend the night. I never did. He loved my tattoos. His eyes would light up when he realized I had new work done. I never knew what he loved more: getting a blowjob from me or lying in his bed until the early hours of the morning drilling me about my tattoos, my piercings and the procedures. Every time I would go see him again I would expect to see him adorned with a tattoo. But he never did. I think he lived vicariously through me.
    BME:  Now let me ask a little in reverse — do you get many (or any) clients with piercings and tattoos or even other modifications?
    SHANNON:  My clients are mostly older married business men. I honestly don’t think I have been with any clients with modifications. It’s actually kind of funny, but I never saw an uncircumsized man until I started doing this!

    I would really enjoy having a few clients with mods, but they have just not been presented to me. My theory on this is that modified men have healthier sexual relationships with their significant others (that’s just a theory).
    BME:  Ha ha, well, I hope your theory is correct!
    KAYCE:  I think it is — clients with piercings seem a little more laid back and somewhat more open to try new things and see a different view than my “straight” clients. Straight clients come, do their thing, and go, but with my pierced and tat clients we tend to talk about more mystical topics and spiritual emotions, which I love to do. They seem more into everything while the straight clients are more into just themselves.
    MICHELLE:  It doesn’t make much difference to me whether a person is modified, but I do find the ones that are tattooed are much more accepting of their bodies and seem more in tune with themselves.
    BME:  Azaria — no offense intended to Missouri, but I’m guessing you don’t get a lot of clients with body modifications?
    AZARIA:  Most of the people I see are pretty straight laced. No tattoos and no piercings — maybe they come to me because I’m different from what they have at home. I do see someone who has four tattoos, each with their own story and that’s what I like. I haven’t had a client with a piercing yet — I’m waiting for someone to come along that has a PA… I’d really like to be with a guy with a PA and have even asked boyfriends to get it done but can’t find anyone with enough balls to do it.
    BME:  That’s funny; I hope you don’t get too flooded with email after this goes up on BME, a lot of our readers have PAs!
    KAYCE:  The cock piercings are my favorite because I like playing with them! One guy had his tongue split, and that was freaky, but then he went down on me and it was really erotic. I had a girlfriend who had both nipples pierced, and I led her around all night with a chain through her nipple rings… that was hot, and everyone loved the show!
    BME:  Did you get to see much in the way of tattoos or piercings back when you were working, Justyne?
    JUSTYNE:  I occasionally saw guys with the odd tattoo, but nothing really memorable. Sometimes talking to them about where they got their work done was a source of conversation to either kill time or help us get more comfortable though… I think if there had been more heavily modified clients I’d have enjoyed the work more because we would have had something in common.
    MICHELLE:  I had one client that had half of his body tattooed, on the same side of his body as mine. We has a very hot session and I felt a deep bond with him. I have never had a session with a man that has a pierced penis. Pity. The ones that have ink love my ink and the revealing of the tattoos is an integral aspect of foreplay.

       

    Michelle
    BME:  Any advice for men or women who want to positively make piercings or tattoos a part of their sexual lives and identities?
    KAYCE:  Make sure you really want them! I had my tongue pierced and I didn’t like it that much, but it was easy to remove, as are most piercings. Tattoos are more of a permanent thing and are gonna be there forever, so choose wisely what you put on your skin!

    My fiancé gets hard just looking at my tattoos, and when he does me doggie-style or anally from behind, it’s such a turn on for him. A lot of other guys feel that way as well and I feed off of that too! Both sides of my clit hood are pierced and it feels good to be stretched and played with, so I love it as well. Just use your body the way you want it used, and you will love your new piercings and tattoos!



    Kayce enjoying her work
    BME:  Shannon, you’d said your marriage didn’t survive — did your modifications play a role in that?
    SHANNON:  Yes, you have to be with a partner who is also into modifications, and that is why my first marriage failed. As I became more and more involved with being modified and in this community, the farther we grew apart. It was a huge part of my life that he could not share. But besides, that the most important thing is for your partner to remember and take care not to disturb healing mods! I’ve had more piercings flare up from a knock during sex than any other event.
    MICHELLE:  Getting tattooed is a very intense and personal experience. For me it was a spiritual act of reclaiming my body as mine after a very horrifying event that traumatized me, and probably will continue to for the rest of my life — a fire in my apartment. I have PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Getting tattooed as an artist is an artistic expression, a public or private extension of myself. I feel more like the real true me. I love my body now that I am tattooed. I would recommend that if you get a tattoo, save up and just get one, a really big one. Just don’t get a name! Nooooo!
    JUSTYNE:  My advice would be that people have to get their piercings and tattoos for themselves and not for anyone else. I’ve heard too many stories of people getting modified to please their partners only. I think if you are happy with yourself emotionally, physically, and sexually, then modifications will find a way to fit into your life positively. If the modifications are primarily for sexual reasons, then you need to practice and learn what you like and be vocal about it to your partner.
    AZARIA:  Get them in sexy places of course… guys seem to really love the lower back tats on women. A tat that I like to see on men are the ones across the top of the back, and I also like sleeves on men. Guys, if you are thinking of a PA, get it — it may hurt at first but it’s just so awesome!
    BME:  You really are looking forward to a PA, aren’t you? Justyne, did leaving the escort business make any difference in the modifications you got?
    JUSTYNE:  I had actually thought about this while I was still in the business. I hesitated getting more tattoos at that time because I thought it would be a hindrance. While I have no plans to get back into the business, escorting is always in the back of my mind as my financial backup plan. I am much more modified than I was before, and I do wonder if it would affect me negatively if I chose to escort again. It’s easy to hide things and cover up while sitting at a desk in a corporate job, but not so easy when you’re buck naked!
    BME:  And those of you who are still working — is it restricting you at all?
    SHANNON:  Unfortunately it has. I won’t get any more piercings until I am totally out of the business. Also, I wouldn’t want to be in contact with a client who is healing a tattoo (for safety reasons), and I give that same respect to them. When I am working I only get tattooed right before a vacation.
    KAYCE:  It hasn’t affected me at all. I do my own thing, and if people like it, fine, and if not then they can move on! I really want some more tattoos so I’ll get them this year probably, and I’ll still be in the escort business. I’ll keep on getting them!
    MICHELLE:  I am definitely getting more! Guess what I spend all my money on? Not clothes and drugs, silly.
    BME:  Azaria, you’re working more as a companion — does that make any difference in this question?
    AZARIA:  I have become more self conscious about my body… I have learned to like my breasts more, and a lot of men actually tell me they like natural better than fake. I hate to say it, but having a kid was hell on my skin so I do have stretch marks, and have an appointment to get them covered real soon. Tattoos are an addiction for me — I will continue to get more no matter what, and as far as piercings I would like to have my hood done. Right now I just have my lip pierced.
    BME:  What about when you were dancing? How did it affect that?
    AZARIA:  My boss had tried to get me to cover up all my tats, especially the one on my tit. He said that I would make more money if I covered them up, I guess because guys are not so used to seeing girls with so many tats. Oh course I said “HELL NO!” and danced anyways. Like I said, if people don’t like them, they don’t have to look at me. I know I get stares from people a lot, having five tattoos on my arms. It seems to me that people haven’t quite accepted girls having a lot of tats.
    BME:  Have any of you made any modification decisions that you regret?
    AZARIA:  I let a non-professional do tats on me twice. Just being young and stupid… I had a professional cover the one on my left breast, but I still don’t like it, and then I have one on my ankle and I’m having a very hard time trying to find someone who can actually say they can cover it up.

    So remember: Don’t get homemade tats — stick with the professionals! Other than that, choose what best fits your personality, and don’t be in a rush to pick one either. If you have an imagination that’s even better. Start out small… I like big tats but they are not for me.
    KAYCE:  And never do an impulse tattoo!
    BME:  What’s the biggest misconception people have regarding piercings and tattoos?
    SHANNON:  People on the street (not clients) make the mistake of thinking that just because I have a beautiful back piece that they can touch it. This makes me angrier than anything. Also, I was just told by a coworker today at my day job that people find me “intimidating” when they meet me. I think they think my tattoos make me “tough” or “bitchy,” all of which aren’t true… I’m just not one to open up to everyone immediately.
    JUSTYNE:  I think in terms of mine, people have made class-based assumptions, like that I’m low class or uneducated.
    MICHELLE:  I don’t think their misconceptions are wrong! We are dangerous, deviant, and defiant! That’s exactly why we are so cool and they can’t get their eyes off us.
    BME:  Thank you all so much for being so open and talking to me about this.
    SHANNON:  I hope it was helpful — I don’t glamorize what I do. It really isn’t a glamorous thing, at least for me. It is a way to get the things I want and not have to worry about bills or money. And it’s not easy either. I have to keep in great shape for clients. I spend about an hour a day at the gym, and am always on a strict diet. It is tiring working a forty-plus hour week at a day job, and then spend two or three nights per week with clients. But it is a lot less tiring than worrying about how I’m going to pay the rent!

       

    Shibari (Japanese Rope Bondage)

    Thank you again to all these women for taking the time to talk candidly about their work and their bodies. If you’d like to visit them online (or in real life), Kayce can be found at xxxoticxxxposure.com, Michelle can be found at netmichelle.com, and Azaria is online at azariaforu.com (the others have asked to stay anonymous). If you decide to contact them for any reason, please do so with respect.

    To those of you who think that BME shouldn’t be talking to escorts for ethical reasons, well, screw you. These are all intelligent, independent, and capable women perfectly able to make their own decisions about their own lives. They were a lot of fun to engage for this interview and I wish them the best of luck wherever they choose to take themselves.


    Shannon Larratt
    BMEzine.com

    Photos courtesy and copyright the interviewees. Michelle’s cover photo and most others in this article are by Patrick Bastien (pbastien.com), and the Shibari photos are by CharlyB.

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