When I see piercings, my first thought is not rebellion, it is “Look at me!!” Even the simple act of getting ears pierced and wearing pierced-ear jewelry is a mini cry for attention.
Nose piercing, eyebrow piercing and even tongue piercing don’t have the same :eek: factor for me any more, and some can even look nice. But the multi-piercers are the ones that I don’t understand.
Now THAT’S comedy…
Joe
[QUOTE=Frylock]
Oh god, I’m trapped in an infinite regress. Strap some electrodes to me and brace for the gs as my rebellion against not rebelling creates infinite and free energy. Goodbye buttered cat, hello surgical steel. I deserve a nobel prize.
What are you rebelling against? Ans: Natural good looks!
That shit is a dime a dozen out where I live. It’s nearly more rebellious for someone in their early 20’s not to have a facial piercing or a tattoo. I guess it’s because nose and brow piercings started to become popular in Coastal California over twenty years ago with the punk rockers and then the goths that makes it so you won’t even get a second look with them here.
To answer the OP, most people here see it as a common fashion trend. They may not like how it looks and it’s still not considered acceptable in a formal business setting but no one would blink an eye to see them on restaurant wait staff or even a receptionist at an office.
I have a theory…
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
These people were joking with you. Piercings haven’t been rebellious in years, but it’s fun to act like the piercee is so badass because they’ve managed to rebel the same way everyone else managed to rebel.
People with facefuls of piercing have told me they think my non-piercedness is actually really great.
I bet that you’re not so far from the truth at all. You’re being mocked, Forumbot.
Wow. This thread has been a real eye-opener. For the most part, the attitudes seen displayed here are common where I live (in east Texas). However, I’m a little surprised to witness them on the Dope because I always assume the prevailing attitudes here are vastly different / contrary to that of most other places. Who knew?
faithfool, I’m very, very surprised by what I’m seeing here.
This stuff is so not a big deal, I really hadn’t thought people had a beef with it.
My Mom started getting tatoos when she was about 40-41. What’s that about? I dunno.
I had a stud in my tongue when I was 22. It was mostly a about making out more interesting. I took it out and it sealed up when I was in the service.
I got my ears done late last winter. I was 29 at the time. Just wanted to change my look I can’t do much with my partially thinning and otherwise unmanagable hair, and my clothing changes only once a year when I have some spare cash to but something new.
[shrug] Whatever.
I am such a naif that I had no idea that tongue piercings in women are thought of as completely fellatio oriented to men. Seriously, men think the only reason a woman-or man come to think of it-would get their tongue pierced is to give head.
Every time I say, No, it’s just fashion, I get these pitying looks, and patted on the head.
So folks, if you’re thinking about getting your tongue done, be aware.
I just gotta laugh at it, now, really. Way back in 77, Wilmington, NC, I asked a regular ear piercing place to give me a third piercing on my left ear, just wanted to do that. The pierce lady was aghast, and asked me over and over if I really wanted to do that, and finally relented, still shaking her head about it all. High school, created a stir, a Third Ear Pierce, horrors. By an Honors student. I gotta lotta crap from it then, but, it wasn’t rebellion for me, just interestingly decorative. I loved earrings, and would play with the third one as a not a match. The heavy duty apparatus now seen were not available to me then.
So now, just gotta laugh. I’ve had several employees with multiple piercings, tongue studs, lip rings, etc. Yeah, fine, just tone it down when working upfront with the public. I love the fact that these intelligent gals I get to work with are going for way more in the decorative piercing aspect than I ever thought to do. And, the tattoos are great, too! I don’t see any problem with it, at 46. When I tell the younger gals about the crap I got from a simple third ear pierce back in the day, we all laugh.
Should say, too, that when young, loved to wear earrings, fun to play with, but now, don’t at all everyday. The third one is very rarely used. Been there, etc, etc…
Me too. I’d never think about getting one myself, but I’m surprised people around here have such strong feelings about them. Particularly in light of general opinions voiced in clothing threads (dressing up is stupid, people shouldn’t be judged by their clothes, etc).
Personally I don’t think excessive piercings are attractive, but if it makes you feel attracticve, then that’s cool.
I know, right? I’m used to this sort of thing from the people around where I live, but I kind of figured them to be the sort of folks that like things to remain the same and that elsewhere, most everyone had a more philosophical approach. I just didn’t realize there was quite so much judging going on (and on a related note, I’m having the same cognitive dissonance from reading the thread about acrylic nails – trashy??! – and just for the record, I don’t wear anything on my hands) and instead, want my Dope to remain more “live and happily let live.”
Regardless, as a 40 year old female who has had her tongue and eyebrow pierced (I don’t anymore – the former was annoying everyone with the constant clacking and the latter kept obscuring my line of vision) before and yet still retains the stud in my nose, I can assure anyone interested that I only did them because I like the look. Period. I don’t think I have anything left to rebel against at this age. 
That said, when someone explains that is why they’ve done this, I don’t understand why there are others who refuse to believe them. Does this make any sense? Or are we not supposed to know our own minds?
Pith of the day.
I have my lobes pierced with both 0 and 6 gauge, I have orbitals through my cartilage with 12 gauge CBRs, and I have my septum pierced at 6 gauge.
I’m really not into the eyebrow piercing or surface piercings in general, because I’ve been led to believe that they migrate out. Also, because I wear glasses, the eyebrow thing probably wouldn’t work for me.
And I’m not crazy about oral piercings because I understand they aren’t healthy for your gum tissue and tooth enamel.
But generally, piercings on men or women don’t register as anything but an aesthetic choice. I would say I sometimes find the smaller gauges unattractive in a “dude, you’re not really trying” kind of way.
Dr. Drew on Loveline used to theorize that people with “aggressive” piercings and tattoos were abused or neglected at a very young age. (Not saying I necessarly agree, just throwing it out there.)
Even though I encounter pierced people every day, every once in a while they can catch me off-guard. Yesterday I was shopping, and looked up to see a very pretty (but sullen) young woman with a huge spiky bar through her lower lip. I’m pretty sure I gave the same unconscious flinch I might have given if I’d looked up and seen an encephalitic or a burn victim. I tried to play it off, but felt very uncool for being capable of that kind of reaction in 2008.
I’m glad to see the last few posts have been people like me who just see a simple fashion choice about as shocking as a hemp necklace or a tramp stamp. Still, it is rather eye-opening to see how strong opinions run on something I never gave a lot of thought to. I knew that many people didn’t think personally like the aesthetic or would never do it themselves, but I honestly had no idea people would be formulating judgments on my worth as a person.
Speaking as a relatively advanced student of Psychology–whatever that’s worth–while there may or may not be some truth in that, the Freudian arrested development school of psychoanalysis doesn’t carry a lot of water in modern psychology. It’s simply too difficult to test to have any real scientific validity.
I must admit to being put off by the ugliness of this particular fashion. I do not doubt that some wear it because they think it looks good, and it is certainly popular enough, but to me it does nothing but detract from looks that are already there - that is, a beautiful person with lots of facial piecings may still be beautiful, but that will be in spite of the piercings and not because of them. An average person with lots of piercings is more likely to look unattractive, and an unattractive person to look hideous.
As to why people do it - why does anything become a marker of fashion or cool? I would imagine at first it marks the user out of the common herd, and eventually becomes a mark of the common herd. Piercings are no different from any other fashion statement in this respect, except in their relative permanence (and ugliness).
I eagerly await the return of footbinding and Mayan forehead flattening. 
Really? That seems naive in the extreme. Of course people (not all people, but some people) will formulate judgments on your worth as a person based on how you choose to present yourself to the outside world. And it really doesn’t make any difference if they look at your nose ring and eyebrow piercing and say “irresponsible” or the two caret diamond ring on a manicured hand with big hair and say “Texas Republican Trophy Wife.” Its what human beings do.
I sat in a a medical conference about body piercings once, and the most surprising thing I heard is that 5 or more body piercings is considered self-mutilation. How that number was chosen as a tipping point I have no idea.