One woman wrote a detailed account of her experience of having 13 piercings done at one time. She posted on http://www.bmezine.com/, a website where people post any body modifocation experiences, mainly piercings and tattoos. People on the net who claim to be addicted to piercings have between 11 and 15. Others claim to be addicted to tattoos, but there there is a fine line between compulsion and addiction.
For many, the pain of getting a tattoo or piercing is the appeal, physical pain to help the emotional. This pain of getting either causes your brain to release endorphins to cope with it.
Elaine Davidson from Brazil made the Guiness World Records for being the most pierced woman in the world with 720. As of February 2009 it has been reported she now has 6,005, including the 1,500 that are 'internal'. The metal in each piercing has a combined weight of 3 kg.
"I don't enjoy getting pierced, but to break the record you have to get to a high level." She was also quoted as saying "I like pain, I love pain."
New Zealand born Lucky Diamond Rich is the tattoo equivelent. Not one inch of his body has been left un-tattooed. Not one. "For me, pain ... that has been my dance most of my life. I did not value myself ... but the more I accepted the pain, the easier it is to deal with the pain. Tattooing, the obsession, it became the best way for me to deal with what I had come from" said the 38-year-old. He holds the Guiness World Record of full tattoo body coverage, a title he gained in 2006. He is a street performer and tattoo artist. http://www.luckyrich.com/page8.htm
I can totally vouch for the addiction theory behind piercings! Its not something you can explain, it just feels so good to change yourself over and over :)
ReplyDeleteI got my tongue pierced and that was bad enough, i have always wanted to get a tattoo though but because my tongue hurt so much i just cant face the pain again. People endure pain because they think its cool and i'd say i wouldv'e thought the same as i went through a stage thinking that i was cool because i had a piercing! lol body art in any form is a big part of society nowaday, take the Lucky Diamond Rich guy for example.
ReplyDeleteI used have a few ear piercings but gave up after the hairdressers kept rippin' the bloody things out! I don't know why people get their naval pierced when no-one can see it? Feel free to enlighten me on this topic :)
ReplyDeleteGood blog by the way!