Considering that the oldest mummified remains ever discovered had earrings and that a 5000 year old corpse discovered in 1991 bore 57 tattoos, body modification is far from being a new practice. Surprisingly, though, considering many people’s aversion to body art nowadays, it seems that it has actually become less acceptable through time. In ancient times, piercings were often used to display social standing, religious belief, and to increase sexuality. In ancient Egypt in particular, piercings were hugely popular among those of a higher class, with elaborate earrings being seen on wealthy men and women alike. Certain piercings were even only allowed to be worn by the royal family: if anyone other than the Pharaoh tried to have their navel pierced, they risked execution. Even children underwent piercing rituals among the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska, who would add as many holes to their young relatives’ ears as possible to increase their social rank. In modern times, body art is rarely used for any function other than for purely aesthetic reasons. However, some Hindus believe that nose piercings can aid women in childbirth and are also a sign of honour for the Goddess of marriage.

The Western world has less of a colourful history concerning body modification than some cultures, and the practice only gained significant popularity in the USA and Europe during the punk phase of the 70s and 80s. However, our advanced technology and comparatively unrestrictive culture has allowed us access to forms of modification that would once have been unthinkable. Cosmetic surgery is one area in particular which has allowed numerous image-conscious people to reshape their bodies, enhance facial features and make themselves appear younger. Sometimes the quest for artificial beauty can go horribly wrong, with one of the most famous examples being the alarmingly altering face of the late Michael Jackson over the years. However, for some, beauty is not the goal they wish to achieve, and an appearance which would be considered disturbing by most is in fact what they strive for. Dennis Avner, also known as “The Stalking Cat”, is a prime example of such an individual. Determined to resemble a tiger as closely as possible, Avner has spent a huge amount of money on alterations such as upper lip splitting, tooth sharpening, and whole-body tattoos in a bid to create a feline appearance. In keeping with the theme of transforming into a non-human creature, a Texas resident named Erik Sprague has used extensive body modification to earn his nickname of “The Lizardman”. His procedures have included forehead implants, tongue-splitting and tattoos of green scales to look more reptilian than human.

Dennis Avner, aka “The Stalking Cat”

Besides this somewhat species-confused minority, a large number of people who are perfectly happy being human turn to body modification simply as a way to stand out from the crowd. The art is, in fact, one which is honoured worldwide through the existence of online body modification communities and a variety of events dedicated to the practice. One such website, bmezine.com, features a host of images submitted by its much-tattooed and pierced members, as well as user-submitted personal experience stories and information on a range of modification types. A brief look at the image gallery will show the uninformed viewer just how extreme body modification can be: procedures include voluntary amputation, castration and permanent scarring of the body, known as scarification. A social event among body modification enthusiasts will sometimes involve people being dangled from the ceiling, held only by large hooks which are pierced through their skin and attached to a pulley rope. This practice is said to induce feelings of intense euphoria and has a link to shamanism, being used in some countries as a spirituality ritual. “People will go to any lengths if they think it’ll raise eyebrows,” said Paul Tanner, a tattoo artist with over 20 years of experience. “Just as you think body modification can’t become more extreme, someone will do something to themselves that sounds like it belongs in a gory horror movie.”

Of course, as with any interest which could be viewed as abnormal, body modification has its opponents. People who are against the practice believe that those who undergo extreme modifications are disturbed individuals who should be given help instead of being allowed to indulge in their twisted desires. Many believe that those who have life-altering procedures such as voluntary amputation suffer from Body Dysmorphic Order, a condition which causes the individual to obsess over what they see as a defect with some part of their appearance. Moreover, there is the frequent issue of people with visible body modifications being discriminated against when it comes to finding a job. “Would anyone want someone with extensive tattoos and piercings to perform surgery on their loved one or decide their sentence in court?” said April Warner, an opponent of body modification. “If people want to disfigure themselves, they are clearly in no state of mind to function in important careers.”

Those who believe that body modification is reflective of mental health problems may not be entirely wrong. A recent survey carried out by Dr. David Lester, an expert in the study of suicide, showed that only 34% of 4700 people with some form of body modification said they had never considered committing suicide. Other dangers are also present when undergoing body modification, such as piercings presenting a risk to certain nerves and oral piercings potentially being swallowed.

Whatever your view on body modification, it is certainly not something that will be going away anytime soon. Approximately 16% of Americans have a tattoo – roughly three times the percentage of people who had tattoos in 1936. And with the modern day craze for self-expression and the pursuit of an ideal appearance, body modification seems like an obvious solution to our image-conscious society.

With the rise of body modification comes the erosion of social and class boundaries. A century ago, in the West, if you were tattooed you were either in the armed forces, or prison. Gradually this was generously expanded to include circus freaks. So tattoos, as well as piercing, have come a long way, but not without the help of a man called Fakir Musafar.

Born in 1930, Musafar was the champion of body modification. He began experimenting at a time when body mod was largely non existent in the West, and in his lifetime has explored a vast range of modification rituals and practises, from the now mainstream earlobe stretching to the more hardcore rites of suspension, in which Musafar  has suspended himself above the ground via flesh hooks inserted through his skin. Today flesh hangings are performed widely, for a variety of reasons, from increasing sexual pleasure to alternative fashion. The fetish fashion Beki B once wore a latex bikini top, which was held in place by four 10 gauge hooks. The most brutal example of flesh hanging is probably the Native American O-Kee-Pa, which is a rite of passage undertaken by young men. They were suspended by the chest and left until they managed to rip free.

This ritual dates back hundreds of years, and it is unlikely that many Native Americans practice it now. But people have been exploring the old rituals for some decades, and these people are known as Modern Primitives. Fakir Musafar theorises, from his own experience, that Modern Primitives are born, not made- ‘At a very early age I was aware I was an alien: I didn’t belong where I was. Whatever was natural, rational, sensible to me was unnatural and repulsive to other people.’

Modern Primitives are those who emulate ritual practises of primitive cultures, for myriad reasons, like escaping class stereotypes or a fascination with anything old or sacred. Residing at the tamer end of the primitive modification spectrum are earlobe stretching, in the middle – Samoan tattooing. At the far end lie fleshing hanging, and the Ibitoe practise of reshaping the limbs by strapping leather (or these days metal) bands around them, a practise that pre-dates, but perhaps influenced, corsetry.

To the Ibitoe tribe of New Guinea, small waists were attractive, as were large spikes inserted through the septum. The itiburi (the tight cloth) served as a rite of passage bestowed upon the young man by an uncle or close, non-paternal family member. He has to wear it constantly until his waist becomes wasp-like. Later on he can have the itiburi removed, but that would be incredibly shameful, so the majority of men have it replace with a stiffer, tighter, dark belt. In the Ibitoe society, men take the effeminate role, and the women are the providers. A man with a small waist would have been valuable as he couldn’t eat too much and wouldn’t have been a burden to the female provider.

The scale of body modification is vast, and ever growing. Practises that were initially exclusive are now branching out into mainstream culture, for example, facial piercing. Another example is nipple piercing, once the hallmark of the S&M practitioner, can now seen sported by every other  man at a rock gig.

To some, the commercialization of these practises is a worry, as some of the meanings behind them are being lost in translation. For example, stretched earlobes are traditionally indicative of age, whereas it is now possible to buy stretching kits, which allow the wearer to achieve a high level quite quickly.

The opposite of the Modern Primitive, who treasure all that is not and ‘natural’, is the Cyborg, who seeks to imagine, create and embody an original, non-organic, bionic self. This form of body modification is born of science fiction, and is a branch of the human race’s quest for immortality. While the most common body mod rituals still apply, i.e. piercing, stretching and tattooing, Cyborg culture has developed a tradition all of its own – the sub-dermal implant. A sub-dermal implant is a shape, often resembling bionic structure that is carved out of silicon and inserted under the skin, often in the forehead, forearms or collarbone, in a surgical procedure. They change the shape of the body by creating raised patterns under the skin – adding to the bionic appearance of the individual.

The rituals of the S&M community are very different to those of the Cyborg and Modern Primitive. Here we enter the world of branding, genital piercing and scarification. Sheree Rose, a video artist who documents the underground S&M communities speaks of a rite in which she had a ’slave’ branded by Fakir Musafar. – ‘I had a slave I wanted branded, and asked him to come down and do it. We worked on the design, and then in front of an audience of a hundred people, my slave was branded.’

Scarification, with its links to self harm and AIDS, does little to improve the image of body modification. A pattern is incised into the skin, and then filled in with tattoo ink. It is a practise that originates in Africa, but was quickly latched on to by communities in the West. There are not many practitioners of scarification, although tattoo and piercing artists can now be found in most towns in the UK.

However, it is noted that practitioners of body modification still find it harder to find employment than those who are not noticeably decorated.

     When you think about sex it is all simple to concentrated on the basic parts … one that is not quite obvious like the woman’s breasts, nipples and clitoris or the man’s testicles and penis. But there is more to it than this … there is a much bigger and colorful picture to paint. These areas that are less obvious but yield the best results. Caressing and touching each other produce feelings of warmth, love and pure sensuality that reaffirms what you both feel for each other.

• Fingers - a popular focus of attention not only because they are sensitive but during a romantic meal, lick and suck the juices off the fingers is an erotic feeling since the act itself has a lot of innuendo.
• Armpits - it is not suggested that one bury his face into the armpits when your mate just came in from the gym or is sweaty – yuck. This place has a number of nerve endings thus making it sensitive, The best time to sample this area is when you and your partner are in the shower or after a bath.
• Instep – for individuals who can have their feet caressed, massaged, licked and sucked without falling over, the instep of the foot can be so sensitive. Many people love getting a massage and being pampered it is one way to get ones blood circulating and getting warm in some other delicious crevice.
• Toe – this is one place that either you love or hate. Imagine having ones toes in another persons lips or mouth. This can be disgusting or a great turn on. Make it a point to have your partner wash and scrub the area well or have a pedicure before you try to suck you way to oblivion.
• Navel – the skin around an individuals navel or belly button is a lot thinner and more sensitive compared to other parts of the body/. These days people try to decorate on and around this area. Talk about rings and body piercing. Some people feel fishy about having their navels made love to but others love having them nibbled on.

     Erogenous zones are important in awakening the sensual and erotic feelings in both men and women. Making love to your partner helps relieving stress through the release of endorphines by the brain. These endorphines are neurotransmitters that relieve pain and increase the feeling of well being. So after a long and stressful day at work or at play it would be wonderful to unwind and get a dose of healthy endorphines … make love not was and fall asleep with a satisfied smile on your mouth.

As always, when a particular fashion style develops it tends to denote certain aspects of the wearers personality and some of their main values in life. Emo style is no exception to this rule, although it does hope to prove to be an exception to many others!

If you follow the trend of wearing all that is Emo then you don’t want to be seen as being mainstream in any way. You don’t seek to offend others either, and your fashion choices reflect this idea.

It isn’t unusual for Emo beings to make use out of second hand clothes. In this way, they are showing respect for the planet by recycling and are able to come up with some creative and interesting finds out of the fashions of the past.

There is no mistaking that there are certain similarities in style between punk fashion and the Emo look. Just as punks chose to be rebellious against societies rules and restrictions, so do Emo folk. However, they don’t seek to do so in such an aggressive manner and steer clear of deliberately offending others.

The similarities of design between punk and Emo fashion can be seen by the wearing of tight trousers and leggings with zips. Even Emo arm warmers tend to have added details such as multiple zippers which makes them far less preppy than the woolly arm warmers of the 1980’s.

However, some Emo fans are still said to be a little preppy in appearance. This has allot to do with the addition of eye-wear to Emo apparel. Horn rimmed, black glasses reminiscent of the 1960’s, (think Buddy Holly) are being worn by some Emo fashionistas.

Tight fitting tee shirts are also worn, notably with slogans emblazoned across them. The slogans are unlikely to be funny or to promote a place that the wearer has visited on holiday though. They are far more likely to be obscure to intentionally either make the observer think, or to confuse the hell out of them!

Black stars as a motif are in for Emo fashion and may be found on leggings or even on footwear. Red and white stripes are also favorites, as is the color black and neat little hoodies.

Hairstyles tend to have long bangs swept to the side of the face, which are choppy or spikey, while the back of the hair cut is shorter and may be buzzed.

Many Emo people like to wear the odd piercing, but then tend to stick to using natural materials such as hemp or home made creations rather than the run of the mill piercing that you may find about town.

I wonder if this guy rattles when he walks.

This gives a new meaning to the phrase “wearing a corset”. It is kind of sexy looking but looks very painful. I bet she can’t sleep on her back.

This guy looks as if he could get TV loud and clear on all that metal. The piercings under his chin must be really uncomfortable as there isn’t much soft skin there to get hold off.

The red and pink make-up really sets this off. This lady is a true work of art.

It doesn’t look as though this guy has a single available space for any more piercings on his face. He certainly looks pleased with the effect.

“Ouch!” What more can I say?

This lady holds the record for the most pierced lady in the world with 3920 piercings. She is literally a walking work of art.