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PIERCING BODY ART :

The bodysuit-piercing, the Anglo-Saxon term possessing no French equivalent means literally drilling physical (piercing) (bodysuit). .

Piercing - Psychosociales Perspectives of a phenomenon of company(society)

Summarized The more and more popular practice of the piercing, with which a large number of various medical professions see each other confronted in a measure furthermore there Wider, is a social phenomenon which arouses generally surprise if it is not refusal(discharge). The prejudices are big and the misunderstanding of the psychosocial context and the motivations of piercÈs brings to consider this practice as pathological. By this contribution, we would like to fill this lack of knowledge and to plead the understanding for the often intense motivations which can be bound(connected) to the piercing.


Introduction texts evoking the psychological and sociological aspects of physical modifications in the western companies(societies) are even rarer than the medical treaties on this matter. There seems be a certain hesitation towards this subject. So, the biggest part(party) of the literature published until not long ago was soaked(filled) with one Discriminatory bottom, the presence of physical modifications as tattoos or piercing being associated with behavior psychopathologiques or anti-sociaux1). Although recent psychiatrico-legal studies are sharply less printed by prejudices, they associate always even the practices culturally Sanctioned(Punished) by the tattoo and by the piercing in an automutilation and consider them e.g. as voluntary destruction, a non-person with suicidal tendencies of the own fabric(tissue) corporel2). It also seems to be the tendency in articles addressing the doctors of the other specialities and which qualify the piercing e.g. as " infringement(achievement) on the fashionable due physical integrity " 3) or which Claim that the piercing " distort the body " 4). Regrettably employers also seem to associate negative connotations to the carrying(wearing) individuals one piercing5). In the current company(society), where piercings and tattoos are in all the sectors of society, the appeal to discriminatory interpretations(performances) and considering these practices as exclusively pathological is not any more allowed.

 

Social perception(collection) of the piercing The piercing is defined by " the introduction of a jewel in openings brought to certain parts of the body: eyebrows, listener's house, lips, language(tongue), nose, navel, nipples and genitals " 6 ) 7 ) .Le piercing of the earlobe - traditional drilling also in the western world - is excluded from this definition and differentiated of Practices not having background cultural in the western companies(societies). Muldoon suggests nevertheless considering any piercing, whether he is above or below the neck, in the same way as what was considered formerly "traditional", that is the drilling of the lobe of oreilles8). Piercings situated somewhere else that with the face are indicated(appointed) So of "close friends 9") or "non-members of the National Convention 10"). Piercings of the ear and the other anatomical parts (parties) are not generally considered as long-lasting modification of the body, because holes, especially when they are small, close after the jewel was removed (kidnapped) during a time(weather) enough long. In concerning articles Rule of the piercing, the definitions are wider and the question of the durability is differently estimated. The legislation of the American state of Virginia, for example, defines the piercing as " an act of penetration of the skin, with the aim of producing a hole, a mark(brand), a scar of generally long-lasting nature " 11).

 

The question of the definition already conceals the conflicting potential of the piercing. Piercing, called by the Anglo-Saxons in a much more relevant way " bodysuit piercing ", excludes - rare - traditional practices of physical modification of the western world which limit themselves, since the Greek idealized image of the human body and the representation of the beauty as standardized platonic gasoline(essence), in the drilling of the lobe Of the ear. So the piercing becomes foreign, different, unknown and already carries(wears) in itself all the bases of the refusal(discharge) and the prejudices of the company(society) on one hand, the personal provocation on the other hand. Seen under this angle, the piercing can be compared with the other currents as they always existed, provoking the company(society) and hurting(damaging) the feelings Generally accepted (in modern times e.g. the rock 'n' roll, the Beatles, the long hair of hippies, the punks etc.). The piercing goes farther and is more extreme in the sense(direction) which it hurts(damages) - in the true sense(direction) of the term - the traditional image that our company(society) is made of the human body. First of all parts of the body are pierced - unlike the tattoo which is only engraving(burning) the skin.

It takes an aspect particularly provoking when it is about returned parts(parties) taboo, such nipples or genital region. But the piercings of the face also provoke a refusal(discharge) at the persons not raising a piercing, by the abolition(deletion) of the homogeneity of the fabric(tissue), by the inconceivable sensation to see sensitive(perceptible) zones of Face breakthroughs by jewels influencing and hampering(bothering) the mime. The material(subject) of the used jewels is added to it: some metal - thus a substance " of steel ", "ribband" and "cold", pushed through the soft, sensitive, " untouchable " fabric(tissue) of the skin. The association of wound, pain and then, involving a voluntary act, a perversion and an abnormality Conceives easily. Meanwhile a change of this perception(collection) seems to be outlined, at least among groups of similar age. So Armstrong noticed that non-tattooed schoolchildren perceive(collect) their companions presenting physical modifications in a neutral way to see positive12).

Motivations bringing to the piercing and to modify its body The piercing represents a visible hurt, auto-applied by the standards of beauty and of the physical limits collectively accepted and becomes of this fact a provocation sociale1). We doubtless find there one of the motivations in the piercing, looked for especially by the teenagers. Set apart the fact of shocking, their reasons imply Search(Research) of a way of expressing himself personalized, of showing courage and of following a fashion. In background, there is often a pressure of the peers and a desire of membership in one groupe7). It seems that, when teenagers wish a shape of body art (tattoo, piercing or branding *), they do not care nor Regulations(Payments), nor risks or of co??qts13). Myers suggests that the body art is of use to an increase of the respect of soi10). For Perkins, the need of many teenagers to modify their outside appearance and their self-respect by extreme measures to see dangerous, represents a regressive tendency in our culture14).

But this point of view does not take into account the fact that a large number of piercings are practised by students who are in a kind of stage(stadium) of transition - more really children and completely grown-up. So Sarnecky proposes the idea that, especially for the students, the body art is " a means to build up to itself their own rite Of passage, there where our companies(societies) foresaw(planned) nothing for them " - and she hears(understands) a global preparation for the life of adulte15 there). This vision is shared by Myers who underlines that the piercing has nothing to do with a " pleasure of the pain " pathological, but only the pain which accompanies the piercing is only a side effect - important- Necessary for a rite of successful passage. This rite represents for him one of the motivations of the most important inciting to apply physical modifications, even in companies(societies) occidentales10). For that reason the established report(relationship) occasionally between erotic piercings, sadomasochism and fetishism 16) is not probably Applicable to the current situation and cannot be any more maintained as only explanation of the phenomenon. A recent inquiry among 134 readers of a magazine of body art revealed that less of 1/5 are considered masochist, sadist, fetishist, exhibitionist or narcissist. A little more than half on the other hand were considered "Adventurous" 17 ) 18 ). In the same study, some women brought back(reported) to have had, after a piercing of the clitoris, for the first time an orgasm during a sexual intercourse vaginal19).

 

Traditionally, the genital piercing was put in relation for a long time exclusively with homosexual men(people); nevertheless men(people) and women submit themselves to a genital piercing for reasons so aesthetic as sexuelles20). In a recent study made by a private hospital of venereology, the presence of a piercing not The used mode of prevention, the number of the sexual partners or the presence of infections gÈnitales21 correlated not to the socioeconomic status,). This study supported besides the thesis that piercings are made for reasons of mode(fashion). Indeed, according to the changes of the ideals of beauty and new currents of the fashion, The piercing can be understood(included) as one of the numerous traditions which the men(people) always followed, everywhere to the world, to modify their body in search of an image of beauty culturally sanctionnÈe1).

It is not nevertheless enough to reduce the piercing to the simple gag(joke) of a fashion, because the fashion implies by definition a changeable and modifiable state. He(it) stands out(goes out again) clearly from a study-interview realized by Sweetman with individuals more or less strongly piercÈs and tattooed that most of the questioned persons turned(shot) to the body art To create something " of different, individual, long-lasting " on itself, while being aware(conscious) that the piercing could not be considered so definitive as a tattoo by exemple22). It contradicts the thesis of the effect of mode(fashion) - all the more if we take into account the very lively pain provoked by the piercing.

It is rather necessary to suppose that piercings and tattoos remove their importance both - from the process and from the result(profit). The results(profits) of Sweetman are confirmed by a study made by means of a questionnaire of the author and which gave the same results(profits) from a sharply more numerous troop ( N=104) 23). In more this study revealed That the main motivation in the piercing concerned the search(research) for the individuality, to see of the personal identity. The questioned persons tell to have become, by the piercing, "the integer", "new", " satisfied with one " - and these feelings would be still strengthened by every later piercing. In agreement with it, the same persons rapportent avoir pratiquÈ leurs piercings dans des moments clÈ de leur vie, pour commÈmorer un Èpisode particulier de leur biographie personnelle, ou pour marquer la fin ou le fait d'avoir surmontÈ une crise p.ex., mais aussi ‡ l'occasion de moments positifs. Pour les adolescents des moments typiques pour un piercing sont p.ex. un examen Bring back(Report) to have practised their piercings in key moments of their life, to commemorate a particular episode of their personal biography, or to mark the end or the fact of having surmounted a crisis e.g., but also on the occasion of positive moments. For the teenagers of typical moments for a piercing are e.g. an examination School made a success(successful), the infringement(achievement) of the adulthood etc. Sarnecki noticed a very strong correlation between tattoo and piercing and events in the life of the tattooed / piercÈ - especially events traumatiques14). Such a correlation was also noticed in small studies based on interviews, 24 ) 25 ) and was able to be confirmed in the recent Inquiry of him(her,it) auteur26). It is interesting to notice that the remembrance by a tattoo or a piercing of a surmounted traumatic personal event, is in relation especially with the piercing of the feminine genitalia. Here piercings represent possibly a kind of reconquest of organs psychologically detached The traumatic experience(experiment) having too much ached to feel still bound(connected) to this part(party) of its body - e.g. after an abuse sexuel26) 27).

By reliving a pain rather violent in a checked(controlled) setting (the session of piercing), where the former(ancient) victim becomes identified psychologically with the aggressor, the reinstatement of organs untied(removed) by the traumatism becomes possible. The piercing can be considered thus on one hand as a practice aiming at the creation of an one coherent. The half Office(Durability) of the piercing agrees with the construction of a substantial personal history(story) 21), certain episodes of the life being marked by the piercing and this one being able to be removed(kidnapped) when the episode is surmounted - and the piercing being thus more necessary. On the other hand, the piercing can be also considered as an act Therapeutics staff - the act of the piercing being followed by a process of cure and, for weeks to see months, care obliging the person to take charge during a prolonged time(weather) of its own body and one even. This aspect of the piercing is particularly significant and should be held(retained) as important indication During an anamnestique exploration, not only in psychotherapy or psychosomatic medicine, but also by the family doctors, the internistes or the paediatricians - this all the more if we consider the sick fascination which the piercing seems to have on so much of personnes7) 22 ) 28 ). So the wish of always more of Piercings represent with a very big probability a search(research) for failed identity and can be considered as symptom of a psychic conflict.

Conclusion In spite of the large number of risks and complications, the piercing is practised, in the western cultures, by always more persons. The motivations for the piercing are heterogeneous and go of the effect of mode due to a pressure of group up to the therapeutic act, to surmount traumatic events. The individual Address, according to the location(localization) of its piercing, by its physical decoration a statement(declaration) extrovert, public and at the same time introvert, deprived to the company(society) which he / she considers as " mainstream " (hearing(understanding) the individuals not there - piercÈs of this company(society)). It is received on behalf of the company(society) in a ambivalent way otherwise negative. Nevertheless, generally, neither the collective prejudices to the piercing, nor the complications occasionally grave seem to impress piercÈs in to make them give up(give up) this practice. On the contrary: it even seems to represent rather charm.

The piercing must be thus accepted, independently of the personal judgment(sentence), as social reality, what can be also deducted from the quickly increasing influence which this practice has on the public health. The active persons in the sector of the health should know about new searches(researches) in this domain to be able to Advise with full knowledge of the facts and know how to manage in a competent way the side effects and the possible complications. To prevent(warn) these complications and minimize the already tangible financial repercussions on the public health, from both directions (services of public health as well as the persons practising the tattoo. Also, the professionals of the sector of the health should take charge without prejudices of persons carrying(wearing) a piercing and to be aware(conscious) of the message that these maybe want to pass on us with their body art, many of them making these modifications of their body in the attempt to reach(affect) an identity and an one coherent.