Then if it doesn’t bother you, why are you getting so bent out of shape when someone asks you what you’re rebelling against?
And this makes it sound like you were going for rebellion to me.
Sorry, but are you under the impression that piercings are permanent? Because you know you can just take them out. And then they heal. And you don’t have them anymore.
My stereotypes? It is to laugh. I haven’t given my opinion at all on whether conformity is good or bad or the relative attractiveness of piercings.
You want to talk about lame? I wear a goatee. There is some conformity for you. I think it looks stupid and played out as hell. Several months ago I got some stitches in my chin and couldn’t shave so I grew it. My girlfriend loves the way it looks and doesn’t want me to shave it off. Whatever. I don’t have to look at the thing. I am sure that people look at me every day and internally roll their eyes at another 40 something with a goatee…and they’d be right.
My single piercing on my left ear lobe must have healed long ago but what about the kids who stretch those huge holes in their ears, Googling tells me that it’s called gauging, like this guy.
Perhaps I just don’t share everyone else’s definition of “rebellion.” I’m not making a statement, I’m not protesting anything, I’m not challenging anyone’s way of thinking about the world with a stupid piece of metal in my face. I’m not crying “you’re not the boss of me!” or reacting against someone who says I can’t do something.
It seems to me that you can’t be “rebelling” if you’ve fully well accepted that what you’re doing is neither unique nor carries any personal significance.
I suppose I feel like my 220lb friend Jessica does when people tell her that all fat people are just lazy, even though she follows the strictest diet I’ve ever seen (vegan atkins) and hits the gym five days a week. We’ve both accepted who we are, but it does hurt a little when people force an identity on us that’s not ours.
ForumBot, I hear you. It seems to me that your frustration stems more from people not listening to what you’re actually saying, than anything else.
If you’d like, you’re more than welcome to vent a little with us in the pit. 
Oh, and haj, I don’t care how played out goatees are. I hope somehow they stick around forever.
OK, then can you please explain what this means…
Not all piercings do heal. Leave them in long enough, or use a large enough bolt and it won’t heal. My grandmother hasn’t worn earrings in 20 years (can’t see well enough to get them in) but the holes created from a lifetime of large earrings are still visible. Moreover, if there is an infection, there can be a nasty scar even with a short term piercing.
Nothing at all. Nothing wrong with conforming. I do it all the time. Most of the times, I’m happy to do so.
But your question was whether or not your piercing was rebellious. And to me, it is almost exactly the opposite. Getting pierced is being exactly like every body else (or enough bodies else that it isn’t worth noting). Piercing utterly fails as a sign of rebellion.
I’m going to go with attention seeking. That is always my first thought. On some people I find it attractive on some people I find it hideous, but I always see an attention seeker.
At the same time, I am indifferent really. I don’t care what you do to your face, it’s yours do what you feel.
But let’s not pretend that there is nothing about appearance that speaks to others. There is probably a guy in your town walking around with a parrot on his shoulder. Certainly his right, it’s a free country. And I could care, knock yourself out buddy. But lets not kid ourselves here. Whenever we see that guy we know he’s an attention whore, his personal freedoms notwithstanding.
If you’re going to display your need for attention front and centre for everyone to see, then suck it up, when it draws comment. I’m sure we all knew petulant teenagers dressed in the latest extreme fashion out glaring at people in public and challenging them with the ever popular, “What are you looking at?”.
We’re looking at you because that’s what your fashion choice screams, “look at me, look at me!”
Teenagers usually grow out of this phase and tone down their fashion choices when their need for attention gets sated.
I stand corrected. I just checked and it hasn’t healed at all. I got it pierced in 1984 and haven’t worn an earring in over ten years.
I like piercings - I don’t think I’d get anymore (my ears are pierced, once apiece, and I just wore earrings this weekend for the first time in probably five years), but I find them attractive, and yes, sexy. There’s a very attractive lady on the kimono forum I’m on who has her lip pierced. You’d think it’d be weird, but she looks really really nice in kimono.
A friend of mine got harrassed at camp because she got her tongue pierced. The ONLY reason the camp director could think of was sexual. I don’t get that. People get pierced because they want to. And I don’t think it’s attention-seeking either, otherwise why would people get their navels pierced, or other, even more private bits?
Most specifically, my question was do other people think a piercing is “rebellious.” I’m with you–I know what I think, but apparently a lot of other people think differently.
Absolutely. HEY LOOK AT ME, SPARKLE SPARKLE. I have no problem admitting that I style my appearance almost entirely on the attention I receive from it. Some people prefer to not be noticed and dress accordingly, others prefer to be the center of attention. That’s sort of the point of fashion, isn’t it?
Justin_Bailey, this should answer your question as well. If it doesn’t, well tough titties, “psychoanalyze ForumBot time” has passed. I’m not trying to seem rebellious but send across a message that there’s more to me than meets the eye* in a relatively safe way that I’m comfortable with. There’s certainly enough personality to sustain that image, but when you look fourteen years old and greet everyone with a big grin and a “howdy!”, it helps to have something that says “I’m might look like I’m in middle school, but I’m a kinky bastard.”
*Robots in disguise. transformeeeerrs
“Absolutely. HEY LOOK AT ME, SPARKLE SPARKLE. I have no problem admitting that I style my appearance almost entirely on the attention I receive from it.”
I find this kind of honesty very refreshing, good on you.
But you must understand that when you seek attention you don’t get to say what kind of attention it might be. Because, “What are you rebelling against?” is, indeed, attention.
Good point. The impression I want might not be the one I get. I’m seriously considering taking it out.
Just the mental imagery of what you wrote had me laughing out loud!
Let’s just hope you haven’t, inadvertently, started a trend. Because if I run into a woman with a chicken stapled to her face I’m going to be mighty angry at you…
Okay, a totally serious question here: Are you, in fact, a kinky bastard?
Because if you aren’t, but are just tired of being mistaken for someone younger than your age, I will respectfully suggest that funky/kinky piercings are not going to help if your personality doesn’t back it up. Worse, you’ll run the risk of looking like a youngster trying too hard to look edgy, which I assume is the image you are trying to avoid.
There may not be much you can do to fix a baby face, but certainly you can change your behavior. Not that you shouldn’t be friendly any more, but try something other than a big grin and “howdy!” (Btw, that one word can really set the tone.) Smile with your eyes instead of with your teeth. Say, “hi, how are you?” in an even tone of voice.
Mannerisms do a lot to distinguish adults from kids - work on those instead of just fashion accessories. With some practice, you’ll carry yourself in a whole different way, one that I bet will be a lot more effective in conveying the image you really want to have.
Roaster or fryer?
Now I saw someone get dollar bills stapled to his face, but that was a performance.
Wait, I’m losing track of what people are actually calling “attention seeking.” Is it any piercing, including the “standard” both lobes pierced on women? Is it anything outside the ear? Is it anything that includes stretching? Because I haven’t really seen a whole lot of people distinguishing their distaste for piercings from any other accessory.
Boyo Jim clairified upthread that he didn’t really have a problem with the way they looked, only that poking holes in oneself seemed odd.
Dangerosa points out some areas she finds attractive, and others that seem odd. She also raises a point which I agree with, which is that the piercing/jewelry alone does not make you sexy/more attractive. When you’re calling attention to your stomach, and you’re not exactly as young as you used to be, it does seem to be attention-seeking to me. But it’s not quite as much the jewelry alone that does this. I’d feel the same way if I saw a grandma wearing a tube top (unless it was, y’know, a young grandma).
noctilucent’s point seems to be about anything you do to your body “to leave less than desirable physical effects down the road.” I’m not sure if that means anything that can lead to damages/physical pain in later years, as 4" spiked heels might, or if it’s anything permanently “disfiguring.” And someone else in the thread mentioned infections. To be honest, I had no idea that once a piercing had healed, that further infections were likely, even after the jewelry is removed. It certainly hasn’t been the case with my piercing (I have only one: an outer conch piercing). I could see that the bellybutton has more chance of infection, but this thread certainly isn’t discussing bellybutton piercings alone.
So could people please clarify their views on how piercings line up with other accessories? Is it really just the hole you have to punch to do it? Or do the people who find them to be “attention-seeking” find a necklace other than a gold chain (or a cross or whatever you consider standard), or a goatee, or close-cropped hair on women, or any of a thousand other ways we present ourselves to the world to be attention-seeking? How can people have the attitude that on one hand piercings are so common that they are boring and conformist, and on the other hand still think that piercees are looking to be noticed?
I guess there’s always a line people walk between conformity and pushing the envelope of fashion and societal standards. Don’t get me wrong, I think that there are things you can do with piercing that DO in fact seem to be attention seeking. Think of how many people stretch their earlobes out so much that you can fit 2 bits through them. Not so many-- and as a result, you’re going to stand out when you do it. I suppose I was just surprised to find the attitude on this board which frankly seems a little dated, that any piercing outside both lobes pierced on women is strange and therefore the person must be looking to be noticed. To me, many piercings seem to have come into mainstream society, and I would no more accuse a woman with her ears pierced thrice of looking for attention than I would of a guy with a loud tie. Less, in fact.
Good post above Bell Rung. And is it “attention seeking”, or “signifying”? I’ll ask my wonderful employee tomorrow, who is a smart daughter of a neuropharmocologist, pierced and tatooed. She has the most beautiful tattoo I’ve ever seen; a whole fantastic bird skeleton along her back, gorgeous. I shrink from it pain sense, but, visually, it’s amazing.
In editing, gotta say, it’s just a body. Who cares why you amend it in any way if it ain’t yours?