Tololy’s Box » Blog Archive

We’ve been over ModPrims before, yet there always seems to be something new in the Body Modification world. Always something to push your mind further, showing you new ways to see the same old things, and introducing perfectly fresh perspectives to behold the “weird” among “us”.

Those are things your parents do not like - I’ll give you that. Most people think body modification is just ugly and unnecessary, and they may be right, but some others find it revolutionary and, if only for this gap, it’s worth investigating.

I will post a couple of passages from an article I’ve just been tipped about, “Among the Transhumanists: Cyborgs, self-mutilators, and the future of our race” by William Saletan.

“You’ve heard of a woman trapped in a man’s body? Imagine being a one-legged person trapped in a two-legged body, said the speakers.”

“Why do we shrug at botox, liposuction, and circumcision? Why do we think it’s no big deal if models, actors, and athletes have themselves cut open for professional advancement? Why did tattoos remain illegal in parts of the United States until three weeks ago? Why did we have “ugly laws” that ordered maimed people off the streets? Why did we operate on sexually ambiguous infants to “correct” their gender, often with disastrous results?”

Good questions, no? Read the whole article here and be amazed.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 6th, 2006 at 8:24 pm and is filed under Body Art. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

????? says:
June 6th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
The only reason such things exist now a days are
advancements in science and medicine. I would assume such things have existed
for thousands of years, the only two that stood the test of time were circumcision
and ear piercing. The later took holy endorsements when Abraham (Ibrahim)
performed circumcision on him self and his children. While Hagar, did the same
and had her ears pierced (only after Sarah swore to cut three pieces of flesh
from Hagar, and Abraham’s solution -who couldn’t say no to Sarah- was these
three acts of self mutilation) 
Historically, people who ventured in self inflected pain didn’t survive long
enough to spread it much, or give it a cool factor and the gene pool was
maintained clean and trimmed. But with modern age came modern medicine and a
solutions. 
Apparently human beings love pain. Everything we do is pain, birth is pain,
love is pain, even the very act of sexual intercourse is pain of a sort. 
Many of the people who venture in these kinds of activities enjoy doing it
because they think it defines them. But a whole lot just doing it out of the
urge to imitate. Most recently these trends have arrived in the Arab world with
bellybutton rings, nose rings, tongue studs and rings elsewhere. I saw a girl
that was boasting once that she had 27 piercing. Which I didn’t find cool at
all, but that’s her life and body 
Anyway, if self "enhancement" is your thing, then by all means, go
ahead and knock your self out. But don’t expect me to appreciate or like what
anyone is doing. I have the right to be a purist just as anyone else has the
right to plant lightning rods in their tongues<o:p _moz-userdefined="" />
Tololy says:
June 7th, 2006 at 7:58 am
Qweider, I assure you I am not "expecting" anyone to appreciate/like what anyone else is doing - I am not bothered enough to be the type that bothers. 
Your right as a "purist" is, well, your business. Hope this entry did not threaten you in any way. Thanks for a lovely comment.
????? says:
June 7th, 2006 at 8:34 am
I didn’t mean it personally to you. I guess what I was
trying to say is that other people’s business is just like that. I might not
appreciate, like or understand it. But it’s not my business to start with. At
the same time, I reserve the right to have my own ideas and feelings about the
matter and don’t expect people to understand or like them either. 
I wasn’t threatened by your post, it was very entertaining. :) Thank you. 
You didn’t mention your personal opinion about the matter. What do you think?<o:p _moz-userdefined="" />

<o:p _moz-userdefined=""> </o:p>
Vas says:
June 7th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
I think that qweider suggested only two out of a whole pool of interventions on the "natural" body. Circumcision, and ear-piercing. But there are long standing practices elsewhere. In african tribes, concerning the lips, the nose and the length of the ear, among chinese social groups oncerning the length of the foot (of young ladies), tatoos and body sculpture starting from the australian aboriginals and reaching beduin grandmothers… Mankind has been so inventive in methods of transforming the given "natural". Or, again, circumcision under a different less Ibrahim commemorating perpective, such as cutting of the female part of male adolescents… Clothing became the basic signifier of the West of the distance from nature, but the ones who did not/have not cover/covered nudity, they intervened in transforming the body, to indicate frankly the red line between natural and cultural. I missed the small rubin of my ear-ring, signifier once upon a time of my revolt against my parents’ aesthetics…
Tololy says:
June 8th, 2006 at 11:33 am
Qweider, "Most people think body modification is just ugly and unnecessary, and they may be right, but some others find it revolutionary and, if only for this gap, it�s worth investigating"

I find some forms of Body Art extremely beautiful, others are merely interesting. Naturally I would not grudge anyone their right of rejecting this and stripping it of the word "art" for what reasons they adhere to. It’s a matter of personal taste.


Vas, yes indeed body art has been around since the dawn of mankind. It’s  necessity turned into art. Like art itself.

????? says:
June 6th, 2006 at 9:11 pm

The only reason such things exist now a days are
advancements in science and medicine. I would assume such things have existed
for thousands of years, the only two that stood the test of time were circumcision
and ear piercing. The later took holy endorsements when Abraham (Ibrahim)
performed circumcision on him self and his children. While Hagar, did the same
and had her ears pierced (only after Sarah swore to cut three pieces of flesh
from Hagar, and Abraham’s solution -who couldn’t say no to Sarah- was these
three acts of self mutilation) 
Historically, people who ventured in self inflected pain didn’t survive long
enough to spread it much, or give it a cool factor and the gene pool was
maintained clean and trimmed. But with modern age came modern medicine and a
solutions. 
Apparently human beings love pain. Everything we do is pain, birth is pain,
love is pain, even the very act of sexual intercourse is pain of a sort. 
Many of the people who venture in these kinds of activities enjoy doing it
because they think it defines them. But a whole lot just doing it out of the
urge to imitate. Most recently these trends have arrived in the Arab world with
bellybutton rings, nose rings, tongue studs and rings elsewhere. I saw a girl
that was boasting once that she had 27 piercing. Which I didn’t find cool at
all, but that’s her life and body 
Anyway, if self "enhancement" is your thing, then by all means, go
ahead and knock your self out. But don’t expect me to appreciate or like what
anyone is doing. I have the right to be a purist just as anyone else has the
right to plant lightning rods in their tongues<o:p _moz-userdefined="" />

Tololy says:
June 7th, 2006 at 7:58 am

Qweider, I assure you I am not "expecting" anyone to appreciate/like what anyone else is doing - I am not bothered enough to be the type that bothers. 
Your right as a "purist" is, well, your business. Hope this entry did not threaten you in any way. Thanks for a lovely comment.

????? says:
June 7th, 2006 at 8:34 am

I didn’t mean it personally to you. I guess what I was
trying to say is that other people’s business is just like that. I might not
appreciate, like or understand it. But it’s not my business to start with. At
the same time, I reserve the right to have my own ideas and feelings about the
matter and don’t expect people to understand or like them either. 
I wasn’t threatened by your post, it was very entertaining. :) Thank you. 
You didn’t mention your personal opinion about the matter. What do you think?<o:p _moz-userdefined="" />

<o:p _moz-userdefined=""> </o:p>

Vas says:
June 7th, 2006 at 1:08 pm

I think that qweider suggested only two out of a whole pool of interventions on the "natural" body. Circumcision, and ear-piercing. But there are long standing practices elsewhere. In african tribes, concerning the lips, the nose and the length of the ear, among chinese social groups oncerning the length of the foot (of young ladies), tatoos and body sculpture starting from the australian aboriginals and reaching beduin grandmothers… Mankind has been so inventive in methods of transforming the given "natural". Or, again, circumcision under a different less Ibrahim commemorating perpective, such as cutting of the female part of male adolescents… Clothing became the basic signifier of the West of the distance from nature, but the ones who did not/have not cover/covered nudity, they intervened in transforming the body, to indicate frankly the red line between natural and cultural. I missed the small rubin of my ear-ring, signifier once upon a time of my revolt against my parents’ aesthetics…

Tololy says:
June 8th, 2006 at 11:33 am

Qweider, "Most people think body modification is just ugly and unnecessary, and they may be right, but some others find it revolutionary and, if only for this gap, it�s worth investigating"

I find some forms of Body Art extremely beautiful, others are merely interesting. Naturally I would not grudge anyone their right of rejecting this and stripping it of the word "art" for what reasons they adhere to. It’s a matter of personal taste.


Vas, yes indeed body art has been around since the dawn of mankind. It’s  necessity turned into art. Like art itself.

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