BODY MODIFICATION

BODY MODIFICATIONS WORLDWIDE – PARENTAL ADVISORY – IF YOU CAN’T HANDLE IT DON’T LOOK

Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or human physical appearance. It is often done for aesthetics, sexual enhancement, rites of passage, religious beliefs, to display group membership or affiliation, to create body art, for shock value, and as self-expression, among other reasons. In its broadest definition it includes plastic surgery, socially acceptable decoration (e.g., common ear piercing in many societies), and religious rites of passage (e.g., circumcision in a number of cultures), as well as the modern primitive movement.

READ ABOUT BODY MODIFICATION AND BELOW ARE SOME GRAPHIC PICTURES

Explicit ornaments

Body piercing – permanent placement of jewelry through an artificial fistula; sometimes further modified by stretching
Ear piercing – the most common type of body modification
Pearling – also known as genital beading
Neck ring– multiple neck rings or spiral are worn to stretch the neck (in reality lowering of the shoulders)
Scrotal implants
Tattooing – injection of a pigment under the skin
Eyeball tattooing – injection of a pigment into the sclera
Extraocular implant (eyeball jewelry) – the implantation of jewelry in the outer layer of the eye
Surface piercing – a piercing where the entrance and exit holes are pierced through the same flat area of skin
Micro dermal implants

Trans dermal implant – implantation of an object below the dermis, but which exits the skin at one or more points

Surgical augmentation

In contrast to the explicit ornaments, the following procedures are primarily not meant to be exposed per se, but rather function to augment another part of the body, like the skin in a subdermal implant.

Breast implants – insertion of silicone bags filled with silicone gel or saline solution into the breasts to increase their size, or to restore a more normal appearance after surgery
Silicone injection
Sub dermal implant – implantation of an object that resides entirely below the dermis, including horn implants

Removal or split

Female genital cutting:

Labiaplasty – removal of the labia minora
Clitoral hood reduction – removal of the clitoral hood

Male genital cutting:

Circumcision – the partial or full removal of the foreskin, sometimes also the frenulum—conversely some men choose to take up foreskin restoration.
Genital bisection – splitting of both the underside and the top of the penis, including genital inversion
Genital frenectomy
Headsplitting – splitting of both the underside and the top of the glans penis
Meatotomy – splitting of the underside of the glans penis
Subincision – splitting of the underside of the penis, also called urethrotomy
Suspensory ligament of the penis

Nipple cutting:

Nipple removal
Nipple splitting

Nullification involves the voluntary removal of body parts. Body parts that are commonly removed by those practicing body nullification are: penis, testicles, clitoris, labia and nipples. Sometimes people who desire a nullification may be diagnosed with body integrity identity disorder or apotemnophilia.

Tongue cutting:

Lingual frenectomy
Tongue splitting – bisection of the tongue similar to a snake

Applying long-term force

Body modifications occurring as the end result of long term activities or practices

Corsetry or tightlacing – binding of the waist and shaping of the torso
Cranial binding – modification of the shape of infants‘ heads, now extremely rare
Breast ironing – Pressing (sometimes with a heated object) the breasts of a pubescent female to prevent their growth.
Foot binding – compression of the feet of girls to modify them for aesthetic reasons
Anal stretching
Jelqing – penis enlargement
Non-surgical elongation of organs by prolonged stretching using weights or spacing devices. Some cultural traditions prescribe for or encourage members of one sex (or both) to have one organ stretched till permanent re-dimensioning has occurred, such as:
- The ‘giraffe-like’ stretched necks (sometimes also other organs) of women among the Burmese Kayan tribe, the result of wearing brass coils around them. This compresses the collarbone and upper ribs but is not medically dangerous. It is a myth that removing the rings will cause the neck to ‘flop’; Padaung women remove them regularly for cleaning etc.
- Stretched lip piercings – achieved by inserting ever larger plates, such as those made of clay used by some Amazonian tribes.
- Labia elongation

Others

Branding – controlled burning or cauterizing of tissue to encourage intentional scarring
Ear shaping (which includes ear cropping, ear pointing or “elfing”)
Scarification – cutting or removal of dermis with the intent to encourage intentional scarring or keloiding
Tooth filing – generally used to have the appearance of some sort of animal.
Yaeba – the deliberate misaligning or capping of teeth to give a crooked appearance. Popular in Japan.

Controversy

Some sources of controversy stem from the notion of attempting to artificially beautify the natural form of the body, often leading to charges of disfigurement and mutilation. Extreme forms of body modification are frequently viewed as symptomatic of body dysmorphic disorder, other mental illnesses, or as an expression of unchecked vanity.^[19]Unlicensed surgery performed outside of a medical environment can often be life-threatening, and is illegal in most countries and states.

“Disfigurement” and “mutilation” (regardless of any appreciation this always applies objectively whenever a bodily function is gravely diminished or lost) are terms used by opponents of body modification to describe certain types of modifications, especially non-consensual ones. Those terms are used fairly uncontroversially to describe the victims of torture, who have endured damage to ears, eyes, feet, genitalia, hands, noses, teeth, and/or tongues, including amputation, burning, flagellation, piercing, skinning, and wheeling. “Genital mutilation” is also used somewhat more controversially to describe certain kinds of socially proscribed modifications to the genitals, such as male circumcision, female circumcision, castration, and surgeries performed to conform the genitals of individuals with intersex conditions to those of typical males or females.