Body Modification, or Mutilation

By Kaili Barnes
August 8th, 2015

Forked tongues, horns in foreheads, scarification, and silicone implants under the skin; is
this art? These are just a few of the extreme body modifications that we see today. We see people
with piercings and tattoo, either a couple or a lot. For the most part, tattoos and some piercing
have now been accepted and there is not much judgment associated with it anymore. In most
cases, this is considered art. Whether or not there is a line that crosses over into mutilation from
modification, it is a personal choice.

Body Modification: to deliberately alter one's physical appearance

Body Mutilation: Disfigurement or injury by removal or destruction of any conspicuous
or essential part of the body
Lets consider tattoos to start with. Tattoos are everywhere. So many people have them

and they have them all over their bodies. What sort of an effect do tattoos have on your body?
Tattoo needles punch through the epidermis, the outer layer of skin, and drive the ink into the
dermis, the deeper layer that's mottled with nerves and blood vessels. "Every time the needle
penetrates, it causes a wound that alerts the body to begin the inflammatory process (Khazan,
2014).
You see people with their ears pierced. You also see their lips, nose, tongue, belly button,
and the eye brow done. This is something that todays culture has become accustom to seeing
and like tattoos, it isnt as big of a surprise to see someone with a few here and there. There are
some piercings that are a little bit more unconventional. You see people with rings through their
nose like a bull which is called a septum piercing. There are people who get both sides, all the
way down their back pierced and thread lace through the rings to make it look like a corset. You
may also have seen people with these piercing stretched to an outrageous sizes. This is known as
gauging.

Gauges are extremely common. We most often see gauged ear lobes but we are seeing an
increase of other parts being gauged such as ear cartilage, cheeks, nostrils, lips, and the tongue.
They do have a risk of infection from the open wound that you are causing every time that you
decided to go a size bigger. You are creating severe scare tissue from the tissue healing over and
over again. The most common risk with gauging is tearing. If you push the limits of your body
too far, you tissue and skin will tear and with ears, you are stuck with two dangling pieces of
tissue that you either live with or have surgically repaired.
People are also getting into scarification, which is illegal in the UK. This involves the
removal of parts of you epidermis to form a scar instead of doing traditional tattoos. There are
small ones that you see or there are full geometric patterns that are being cut into the skin so that
when they scare over, there is a perfectly shaped scare on the body that will not go away.
Dangers associated with scarification seem to be unlimited. You are at extreme risk of infections
and diseases; HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, becoming septic (blood disease), and Methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). You might also end up with a wound that will never close
which would be associated with severe pain and burning.
You also have tongue splitting (forked tongue) that look like a snake or a reptile. Your
tongue has the potential for excessive bleeding if not done correctly. There are also
complications with doing dental care/work when you have a forked tongue. These body
modifications have to potential to cause more saliva production.
Subdermal implants such as horns in your forehead or silicone pieces placed into your
body that spell out words or a picture is something that is not as common to see but is becoming
all the rage. If your body rejects these implants there is danger of the implants pushing their
way out of your skin due to improper placement. There is also concern of tissue resorption,

contamination of the implant, nerve and muscle pressure, migration, and shifting of the implant.
The problem with subdermal implants is that they are not fused to anything, which means
constant and subtle rubbing. Eventually, days, months, and years of subtle shifting and rubbing
will erode the tissue that the implant is near or sitting on and there is no way to be aware of
damage occurring, as symptoms can take anywhere from a month to several decades before
showing themselves.
Sharpening your teeth to a point is a growing fad. There are now many dentistry tools that
can be used to shape your teeth but there are other do it yourself methods like using a diamond
coated nail file that you can purchase at any drug store. You run the risk of tooth decay as well as
your tooth dying off completely. You are removing a large amount of the protective layer from
your tooth which means that you are leaving the root of your tooth exposed. Although not
recommended by the ADA, they advise that whatever shape you are going for, to place a cap
over it to protect from tooth decay and enamel loss.
By definition, there is a difference between body modification and mutilation but the
definition of body modification is to alter ones appearance. Even with mutilation, you are still
altering the appearance of yourself whether or not it is dangerous. By definition of mutilation
(removal of essential part of the body), scarification is the only one of the body modifications
listed that would fall under the definition of mutilation since you are removing skin which is an
essential part of your immune system.
In addition to all of the medical and physical risks that are associated with extreme body
modifications, these can have an extreme impact on other aspects of your life such as
employment. For instance, for California Highway Patrol, any tattoos that are on a visible part of
the body must be covered. If you have tattoos of implants on your arms, you have to wear long

sleeve shirts even in 100 plus degree weather because you must maintain professionalism. For a
lot of places, this is the case. If you have tattoos, hide them. If you have piercings, take them out.
There are a lot of preconceived notions about people with body modifications from your work
ethic, to your criminal record.
Different generations also have different views on the subject. Say, a 90 year old man
today, would think that tattoos for a woman is mutilation because in his time, the only people
that had tattoos were men that served in the military or men that had been in prison. It is much
harder for them to except all of these out of the ordinary body modifications that are being
done now. On the other side of the spectrum, young children and children that are not yet born,
are going to be more excepting because they will not know or understand anything different.
They are going to see a lot of body modification. They may have parents that have some body
modifications done as well as grandparents which people that are my age, 20s, do not see much
of now but are just starting to see more and more of it.
According to Bradley University, studies that they have been doing show that body
modification can easily become an addiction do to it being a coping mechanism. There were
studies that show that people that had been sexually assaulted begin to get tattoos and piercings
as their way of taking their bodies back and getting over the trauma that they have faced. In this
way, tattooing can serve to heal, to empowering, and to promote body acceptance and selfesteem. On the flipside, however, researchers have found that for some, tattoos serve as painful
reminders of poor choices such as rashness, intoxication, failed relationships, and other profound
regrets. Some also report feeling embarrassment or uncomfortable about how others might view
them because of their tattoos. These feelings can contribute to negative body-image and low selfesteem.

Tattoos can help people keep the memory alive of loved ones that have passed away. It
helps that cope with the loss by making it so that they feel like they will always have a piece of
that person with them. It can also help people relive moments that are precious to them in their
lives so that they never forget and it keeps them feeling grounded and at home no matter where
they go.
No matter how many different forms of body modification that there are or how crazy,
dangerous, or social unacceptable they are considered, it will be a personal choice as to where to
draw the line between body modification and mutilation unless you decide to go by the actual
definitions in which case, scarification is considered mutilation. Everyone has their own way of
expressing themselves even if that means changing how they look and even if it is done in an
extreme manner. You cannot tell someone that they are mutilating themselves and expect them to
listen. It depends on what they consider to be mutilation and what they think is art. Everyone has
their own opinions on everything which are influenced by family, peers, religious beliefs, or
personal experience. In most cases, these are things that you will not be able to change. Of
course there are risk and consequence to these extreme body modifications but isnt there risks in
everything in life? It is risky to drive and to eat the things that we eat but we do it anyway
because it is our choice to do so.

Works Cited:
Khazah, Olga. The Secret to a Tattoos Permanence: The Immune System. Web. 22. July.2014
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/07/the-real-reason-tattoosare-permanent/374825/
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/mutilation
http://roogirl.com/11-extreme-body-modifications-you-wont-believe/

Lenti, Erica. Scarification: The Extreme Body Art That is making a Mark. Web. 15.
October.2013
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/scarification-the-extreme-body-artthats-making-a-mark/article14865644/

Mayo Clinic Staff. MSRA infection. Web. 13, November. 2012

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mrsa/basics/definition/con20024479

American Dental Association. Oral Health Topics. Web.

http://www.ada.org/en/member-center/oral-health-topics/oral-piercing

Horn Implants Web. 21, January. 2013

https://www.themedicalbag.com/bodymodstory/horn-implants

Teeth Sharpening. Web. 2. November.2012

https://worldmodifications.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/teeth-sharpening/

Body Modification Through a Sociologists Eyes. Web. 16. November. 2012

https://bodymodproject.wordpress.com/
Bradley University. Body Modification & Body Image. 2015.

http://www.bradley.edu/sites/bodyproject/disability/modification/