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: ModBlog

  • The more you know

    Written by

    Rob

    We spend a lot of time on ModBlog talking about the image galleries, and the wide variety of images contained within them.  In addition to the galleries, the stories, and ModBlog, BMEzine is host to it’s own Wiki.  It’s a great resource to get information regarding all sorts of topics that cover the entire spectrum of the body modification world.

    Today I wanted to share with you an article about an unusual form of scar that at one point was extremely popular in certain parts of the world.

    dueling_scar-11

    What you’re seeing here is what is known as a dueling scar or Renommierschmiss.  I’ll let the Wiki explain.

    At the turn of the 20th century, the dueling scar (or bragging scar, or Renommierschmiss) was popularized by upper-class Austrians and Germans who saw it as a mark of their class and honor, due to the social importance of dueling societies at Austrian universities at the time. If you were a doctor, lawyer, or professor, the dueling scar was a tattoo that signified your inclusion in an elite social rank, and visitors to university cafes would expect to see young men with bandaged faces.

    The sport at the time was very different from modern fencing. The men used heavy sabers, and took turns chopping at each other five times apiece repeatedly. While padding was worn, the goal was to be injured. Kevin McAleer (author of Dueling: The Cult of Honor in Fin-de-Siecle Germany) writes,

    The idea was to stand your man and show courage—not to inflict a wound, but to be wounded. That’s the very strange part of it—the true winner was he who walked away with a nice juicy scar, to show that he’d stood the test. The point was not to get the other guy, but to show that you could take it. You’d get these guys who looked like they’d walked into a propeller. It was pretty gnarly, but the guys were damn proud to look that way.

    The scars showed you had courage and education, and were good husband material. A lot of these kids were rather good-looking, and you didn’t have to ruin your whole face in dueling. The scars usually accumulated on the left side of the face, so from the right profile, he still looked good. And even if it was an ugly, knotted scar, women were attracted by everything it implied, and the pride with which the wearer bore it.

    The main thing we’ve learned from this, is that no matter the culture or the era, chicks dig scars.

    But seriously, it seems that while the practice of dueling for scars seems to have faded over time, the practice of intentional scarification has definitely carried on.  Now I haven’t had the pleasure of getting a gnarly, unintentional scar, but I’m sure some of you have.  Anyone have a “I got this scar when…” story to share?

  • Dance your cares away

    Written by

    Rob

    Fragglegirl uploaded this image, and I just had to share it.  While I loved the Muppet Show growing up, I only really was able to watch re-runs.  Now Fraggle Rock?  I was five when it first hit the air, so I was pretty much the target audience.  I was also shocked to learn that Fraggle Rock only aired on HBO in the US.  So while we (Canucks) got the Fraggles every week courtesy the CBC, if you lived below the 49th parallel you needed your parents to shell out for cable in order to see it.

    fraggle

    If you head over to the cartoon tattoo galleries, you can see which Fraggle resides in her other armpit.

    So, who/what was your favorite Muppet?

  • ,

    El Arte de la Muerta

    Written by

    Rob

    As many ModBlog readers know, I like to showcase events that contribute to a charity in some form or another.  It also helps if they are related to the mod community in some fashion.  I received the following in my inbox over the weekend and I thought it would be good to share.

    artshowaddwithdate-copy

    We are excited to inform you of our upcoming art show, El Arte de la Muerta (Art of the Dead). Held in the growing community of midtown Toronto, this show will be a gathering of some of the most talented tattoo artists Canada wide and tattoo enthusiasts in the nation. While celebrating the rich culture and vibrancy of the Day of the Dead, we also challenge the tattoo community at large in an effort to raise money for Art City St. James, a program dedicated to bringing art into the lives of underprivileged and troubled youth.

    I know that when these guys host an art show, it’s not something to be missed.  As it stands, they’re still looking for donations of artworks, so if you’re a tattoo artist interested in creating something to help out a good cause, get in touch with George at Seven Crowns Tattoo in Toronto (416 – 322 – 7696).

  • In other news, water is wet

    Written by

    Rob

    Every day I get a large number of news stories in my inbox.  Some from ModBlog readers (Botexty, Quinnchick and Nexizydrate, I’m looking at you), but mostly from google news alerts.  The problem with google news alerts is sometimes I’ll get stories that are unrelated to mods completely.  To give a quick example, every day, for the past few months, I’ve gotten at least one story regarding the casting choices for the American remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  While the original films are fantastic, I just want the US ones made so I don’t have to hear the latest Hollywood casting gossip.

    While I do get unrelated stories all the time, I do get quite a few stories that are relevant, and some that are ModBlog worthy.  Then, every once in a while, I get a story that makes my eyes roll.  This is one of them.

    Tongue piercing was a ritual tradition of the Maya and the Aztecs, ancient and — apparently — gap-toothed peoples. Now the dental cause and effect has been established: Those who choose to pierce their tongues run the risk of developing a gap between their teeth, says a report from the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine.

    Lets just stop right there for a moment.  A study was conducted to find out if someone put a piece of metal in their mouth, and over the course of several years of constantly pressing it against ones teeth, it would cause dental problems.

    The case study, led by Sawsan Tabbaa, an assistant professor of orthodontics at the UB School of Dental Medicine, involved a 26-year-old female patient who had developed a large space between her upper front teeth. She’d had a barbell-shaped tongue stud inserted seven years earlier.

    The patient reported “playing” on a daily basis with her stud  — a term commonly used by people with tongue piercings to describe the habit of pushing the metal stud up against and between their upper front teeth. Over time, the patient’s front teeth separated, creating a gap large enough to permit her stud to push through.

    The article basically goes on to pretty much state the obvious.  It’s almost as if these people had never thought that metal + pressure = tooth movement.  I wonder if they could invent something that could move the teeth to fix them.  Like a metal bracing or something to slowly adjust the teeth over time.

    Unfortunately this article will probably be cited repeatedly by people condemning oral piercings, not realizing that with proper care and awareness, the chance of a problem diminishes greatly.

    We here at ModBlog feel much differently about piercings.  Well, today is state the obvious day right?  Anyway, here’s an recent addition to the tongue piercing galleries.  The uploader is “9jlt-ajaaah”, and it was submitted to us from Tallinn, Estonia.  I think the image sums up how I feel about people who think reporting the obvious can count as news.

    tongue

  • Just a little old fashioned flaying

    Written by

    Rob

    “Mr. Burton, if you have an influence over your youthful friend, you better exert it now. Otherwise I will send both of you to the hell where people are skinned alive! It’s that simple, understand?” – David Lo Pan (Big Trouble in Little China)

    arm

    The idea of removing large sections of a person’s skin is hardly a new idea.  It’s been used as a form of torture for thousands of years.  But rarely does it look this clean.  I really like the little veins mixed in with the muscle and it makes me want to go and watch that episode of Buffy where the guy is flayed alive.

    That or Big Trouble in Little China, simply because Jack Burton is about 15 different shades of badass.

    Justinstattoos uploaded this image the other day, along with a collection of similar images you can see in the tattoo galleries.

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