“You will never be successful in the professional world.”
Yup, you guessed it, those are the words of my father after I told him I was planning on getting a second ear piercing. I don’t tend to revisit this memory too often, but today, on the eve of my third foray into the piercing world, some reflection seemed appropriate. And yes, that is third, because despite my father’s protests, I went ahead and got that second piercing, and loved every sanitized second of it…so much so that I’m going back to do it again IN THE BONE (cartilage).
At this point you’re probably not questioning my judgement too much, nor pondering why I would like to have someone stick a needle through my flesh and tack a rock in there against the “better judgement” of my fam. You’re most likely not examining my motivation for intentionally setting myself up for weeks of vigorous cotton swabbing in order to remove the inevitable accumulation of green gunk with a consistency that most closely resembles leftover pea soup. We don’t ask these questions because piercings are normal. Super casual, the usual, “the thing to do.” But I’m going to pull a Carrie Bradshaw and ask the hard-hitting question here: why do we all like piercings so much?
Like anything else, there’s definitely a cultural component in play. And I’m not just talking about culture in the sense of what you might read about in your Anthro textbook. All of my own Jersey-Italian aunts and uncles stop at Piercing Pagoda practically on their way home from the hospital to have my newborn female cousins staple gunned. Doubtlessly in attempt to bring some beauty to their red smushy just-born baby faces… or maybe they just want to make sure no one confuses them for boys. Who really knows? Regardless, whether it’s done at this ripe age or any time after, piercing is a momentous occasion; almost a rite of passage, if you will. Before your first time, you’ve been anticipating it for months, even years, and cannot wait to punch this surefire ticket to social acceptance in your Hilary Duff-worshiping 5th grade clan. After you’ve earned it fair and square by getting all A’s or not screaming at your sister for a few weeks, you go to Claire’s in the mall with your mom and maybe your cool aunt, and then it’s done! You’re a woman! Slightly less momentous are your second, third, fourth and fifth piercings, which come after you turn 18 and are done simply because there are really no other perks of being 18 besides being able to buy cigarettes.
Culture aside, the most salient motivation that I have unearthed so far, and to which any twelve-year-old will attest, is that piercings are just cool. What that twelve-year-old probably wouldn’t be able to answer, though, is why.
It seems to make sense in the context of body bedazzlement. Everybody loves to bedazzle! Bedazzled things are cool, because everything just looks better sparkly rather than not sparkly. Why stop at your jeans when you can bedazzle your face?! More importantly, however, I’m inclined to think that we believe having piercings suggests something about a person’s character. It’s not crazy to think we might see piercings as proof of courage, or fearlessness, since needles are obviously extremely aggressive instruments that come with a certain degree of risk. Maybe we admire this person for their lack of fear of blood, or permanence. Perhaps making this independent, liberated decision to be pierced implies you have control over your body and life in general. Subconsciously we may think that if you’re willing to have your body pierced, you would also be willing to do even riskier, crazy things, like skydive, or major in literary arts.
I have certainly not done enough research to discover the whole truth on this question of piercing. However, I have done enough to find some people who might have taken it a smidge too far, and you may reference these images below for your enjoyment.
I don’t know about the cultural factor, but if you have a gauge in your cheek you might want to start asking yourself if the coolness to food-falling-out-of-your-mouth ratio is really making it worthwhile.
As for me, I await my next piercing experience with unanswered questions, but also boundless glee. And since I’ve already ruined my chances of making it in the professional world, maybe I’ll just go all out and get some nape studs.
Image via, via, via and via.