Tuesday April 29th, 2008 @ 7:51 PM
There was a post over on AskBME today in which the criticism was re-raised that I don’t soft-censor cutting images due to issues of “triggering”… This was my response:
First of all, as I’ve said before, if someone is mentally ill to the point where they can not control their own actions, they should be seeking help, not reading BME. This applies to all parts of BME.
Seriously, if you are unable to take responsibility for your own actions, DO NOT put yourself in harms way by reading BME.
BME is intended for healthy individuals who enjoy a positive experience in body modification and ritual. I do not believe that the site should be geared toward people for whom body modification/ritual is an illness.
The REALITY is that when we’re talking about “triggering”, the piercing sections, tattoo sections, and so on are far more triggering — it’s just that fewer readers see being triggered in these areas as a negative thing. Singling out the cutting section is largely a game of POLITICS, not genuine concern for the underlying problem that people are deeply influenced by the actions of others. I feel very much that pretending that what amounts to “peer pressure” is a problem unique to the cutting section of the site is a mistake.
Now, I understand that I tend to take a somewhat no-compromises or radical stance on these matters rather than seeking out the safe or mainstream stance that most people feel is “reasonable” (and I appreciate how one could come to the opposite conclusion), but I really do think it’s important to be honest about this being much more about politics and cultural bias than anything else. Ignoring the fact that it’s very difficult to make a compelling objective case that differentiates cutting from play piercing, suspension, pulling, and other ritual that’s rarely decried, the truth of the matter is that when it comes to triggering, the whole site is a giant trigger for those who are prone to being influenced by peer pressure.
One of the reasons I know this is that if I post a particularly nice serious of photos of a modification, I’ll almost always receive an influx of that particular modification over the next little while, as people see the pictures and decide that it’s something they want to do as well. How many times have I seen comments along the lines of “this makes me really want to suspend” or “this makes me really want to get another tattoo” and so on? Even in a culture that’s steeped in the concept of individualism, the truth is that a significant percentage of people are deeply influenced and “triggered” by the actions of others.
Again, I’d strongly urge people who are not able to take responsibility for their own actions (let alone control their own actions) not read BME (or at least the sections of BME that they’re not comfortable around) or other “triggering” media and get the help they need so they can be happy and self-empowered individuals. I’m sorry if some people feel that makes light of their mental illness, but I’d like to keep BME focused on people for whom body modification and ritual is a positive force, not those who see it as a mental illness.
And now, a beautiful butterfly play piercing by Kevin:
See more in “Ritual and Play Piercing“ (Ritual)
Posted by Shannon | Permalink | 67 Comments
Friday April 25th, 2008 @ 1:55 PM
In relation to the skewer pictures below, here are some current photos that are quite graphic on the subject. This particular photo set is from back in February, and since then the sender has healed without complication and submitted another set of similar pictures of a more recent ritual. Illustration of the depth of the cuts continues after the break.
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Posted by Shannon | Permalink | 63 Comments
Friday April 25th, 2008 @ 12:41 PM
In reference to the previous history post, Matthias wrote me with a pointer to the cover of a 1973 Campo di Marte album (an Italian prog-rock band). The album focuses on the foolishness of war, and with that in mind, the cover is an old Italian engraving (probably from the 1500s — please post here if you know more) of Turkish mercenaries doing play piercing to show their courage.
Click to see a much higher resolution scan of the album cover that shows the illustration in good detail. BTW, Mattias released this album on his label if you’re interested!
Posted by Shannon | Permalink | 17 Comments
Friday April 18th, 2008 @ 5:18 PM
Aww, hell, one more for the road. Cale and Mandalyn got pierced together for a photoshoot with Nickk Leading of Perforations. A second photo including some cutting is after the break.
See more in “Misc. Cuttings“ (Scarification)
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Posted by Shannon | Permalink | 19 Comments
Friday April 18th, 2008 @ 5:12 PM
Continuing in the gratuitous meme, here’s Rae (who’s not just eyecandy, but also a tattoo artist that’s been featured here before) having some “wings” play-pierced by Scott for a photoshoot at Paul’s House in Lubbock, TX. Three more photos continue after the break.
See more in “Ritual and Play Piercing“ (Ritual)
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Posted by Shannon | Permalink | 26 Comments
Saturday April 12th, 2008 @ 6:16 AM
MetalDready sent in these photos (two more follow after the break) of “Arnhem terror days”, a play piercing scene she admits was done largely for the nice pictures she had in her mind.
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Posted by Shannon | Permalink | 18 Comments
Monday April 7th, 2008 @ 12:34 PM
I noticed that recently Mirin Dajo (link to the original ModBlog mention with videa) was on the front page of Digg, and they linked to the absolutely laughable theory put forth by a “doctor/expert” that suggested he had fistulas running right across his body.
You may remember my interview with “the indestructible man” (more, more, more) in which we talked to someone doing very deep and quite large skewer play without apparent long-term harm. I actually just talked to him this morning — he’s still doing heavy play but not this type, but I wanted to show the scars he has from it, which actually somewhat resemble some of the residual scars on Mirin.
The pictures are not particularly dramatic, because the reality is that there are many, many people out there who are perfectly capable of healing repeated serious injuries. That said, as impressive as it was, “FK” didn’t skewer super deep in terms of what he penetrated… Last year I also posted an interview with a friend who’d play pierced a spinal needle through his ribcage so that it was resting on his heart and twitching to the beat, and I’ve posted other deep skewer folks before here as well.
Now, in no way am suggesting it’s “safe”, but I certainly know many people who are capable of surviving deep skewers, including through the inner body cavity and “organ territory”, with minimal adverse effects or downtime. My personal assessment of Mirin Dajo is that there was no trick in what he did either on a sideshow or a supernatural level, and that he was operating in the same general realm.
Posted by Shannon | Permalink | 11 Comments
Wednesday April 2nd, 2008 @ 12:19 PM
After the break are three more photos of play piercing on Dirtbag Danae, done by Melissa Modify at Modern Body in Sacramento, CA. All of these pictures of the sixty-four needle session were taken by Jill Auville.
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Posted by Shannon | Permalink | 24 Comments
Tuesday April 1st, 2008 @ 2:06 PM
You may remember the great photoshoot of play piercing by Chris from Native Rituals in Hattingen, Germany, that I posted recently. He and Miss Cheyenne had another session with photographer Thomas Burggraf, and I’d like to share those pictures as well. Two more are after the break.
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Posted by Shannon | Permalink | 17 Comments
Wednesday March 26th, 2008 @ 8:12 PM
So says BastardBenny.
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Posted by RooRaaah Crumbs | Permalink | 29 Comments
Wednesday March 26th, 2008 @ 6:55 PM
Jason Hinchee did 230 play piercings on Grace over a three hour period at a tattoo convention where they were promoting Manchester, NH’s Spiderbite. There are a few more photos after the break.
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Posted by Shannon | Permalink | 26 Comments
Sunday March 23rd, 2008 @ 9:47 AM
Chris at Native Rituals in Hattingen, Germany sent in these beautiful photos from a play piercing-themed promo shoot they did for the studio recently. More pictures continue after the break. The models are Cindy, Nika, and Miss Cheyenne, and the photos are by T. Burggraf, and Chris did the piercing.
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Posted by Shannon | Permalink | 54 Comments
Monday March 10th, 2008 @ 5:11 PM
iam:evil
Posted by Shannon | Permalink | 40 Comments
Monday February 4th, 2008 @ 8:48 PM
Nickk Leading at Perforations/Mantra Tattoo in Lakewood, Colorado recently did this play piercing session with just eight 25ga needles on Jessica, with artificial flowers in the needles to match her back tattoo. Some more photos follow after the break.
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Posted by Shannon | Permalink | 14 Comments
Sunday January 27th, 2008 @ 9:59 PM
Bruna in Brazil wanted “something new”, so Max from Efeito’s Studio in Parana, Umuarama, Brazil did this variation on corset play piercing on her — they did nine rings to hold the balloons in a session reminiscent of a scene I posted back in 2006 also from Brazil.
Posted by Shannon | Permalink | 29 Comments
Sunday January 13th, 2008 @ 5:43 PM
Dear ModBlog,
Myjah’s friend Alex was taking a photography course at their local community college, and for his final project, an elective, he asked for Myjah’s help.
He gave me a call and asked if I would let him snap a couple of photos of the few mods I have. Of course, that led to him asking if I would actually consent to being pierced by him that night, and voila! My first play piercing session. I think the funniest bit about it was that he had the most stand-out subject in the class — everybody else shot pictures of their pets or houses, albeit in an artsy way. I have a feeling we had more fun with this final than the others.
Below is one of Alex’s black and white shots (”with mild boobage”), and after the break are a few more photos that were taken with Myjah’s digital camera.
I’ll write again soon,
- Shannon
snowrail@gmail.com
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Posted by RooRaaah Crumbs | Permalink | 17 Comments
Sunday November 11th, 2007 @ 8:00 PM
I love this photo French Ced sent in, so much so that I’ll refrain from making any references to him wearing the mask because he was nervous about suspending. If you catch my drift.
Posted by ModBlog | Permalink | 6 Comments
Saturday October 13th, 2007 @ 9:43 AM
I love when photography is modification based. When the mods are done for the photo, rather than the other way around. Like these corsets done on tinaxo (photo by Stephen Ellis).
And that would be AnGeLinPayN peeking out, who also has some great pictures of this very photogenic girl, which will be posted later.
Posted by Par | Permalink | 13 Comments
Tuesday October 9th, 2007 @ 5:34 PM
Ramen sends in this photo from a recent play piercing photo shoot. For the small price of 4 14g CBRs, you too can have your very own toy puppet.
Posted by Par | Permalink | 3 Comments
Wednesday September 26th, 2007 @ 11:07 PM
iam:DarkCore
Posted by Shannon Larratt | Permalink | 19 Comments
Thursday September 13th, 2007 @ 11:18 AM
It seems so peaceful, but Winnipeg is not a safe town it seems.
Posted by Shannon Larratt | Permalink | 29 Comments
Thursday September 13th, 2007 @ 1:25 AM
This interview is with an individual who spent about thirty years doing play piercing on himself, without any outside influence or guidance… Because it went on in private like this, it’s quite interesting to juxtapose it with the current style of play piercing that’s much more popular. Anyway, click through to read the article, and then come back here to comment.
Posted by Shannon Larratt | Permalink | 49 Comments
Monday September 10th, 2007 @ 12:09 PM
Stitch was in Atlanta and stopped by to see Max Brand (see also: play piercing from Max) at All Or Nothing Tattoo to do some play piercing (we recently posted the video)… The funny thing is that she had to catch a bus, so they had a one hour time limit from set up to clean up to get all fifty-six needles in and out. Click for a shot of the needles in.
Posted by Shannon Larratt | Permalink | 20 Comments
