Piercings in the extreme

by Lucy Doyle

When described in simplistic terms, the art of body piercing is essentially the practice of puncturing holes into the skin.

Doesn’t sound pleasant, does it?

Yet, it’s a centuries-old practice with tribal beginnings which has re-emerged in our modern culture as an everyday trend.

But as with any movement, there are those who go to the far end of the spectrum, often prompting the question: “How much is too much?”

The Punks

The punk movement of the late ‘70s, propelled body piercing into the public consciousness, using the traditional safety pin as an untraditional piercing and thus turning the practice into a provocative and rebellious statement.

At the same time, ‘father of the modern primitive movement’, Fakir Musafar, brought to prominence the idea of modern primitivism, which incorporated cultural piercing practices.

Musafar himself experimented with body modification techniques such as suspension; whereby weights are attached and suspended from piercings on the body.

Richard Simonton – known by the pseudonym Doug Malloy and often regarded as a pioneer of contemporary body piercing – caused a surge of interest in piercing in 1978.

Simonton advised friend Jim Ward to start a body piercing business, thus leading to the world’s first piercing studio, Gauntlet, in Hollywood.

Extreme

It would seem any part of the body is fair game when it comes to piercing: eyelids, cheeks, back (including the ‘corset’ effect), neck, clitoris, the penis...

Elaine Davidson has the honour of holding the Guinness World Record for most pierced woman.

In 2001, Brazilian born Davidson had a record-breaking total of 720 piercings.

Since then, this has risen to 6005 (as reported by The Telegraph last year), including more than 1500, which she says are “internal“.

However, Davidson’s efforts seem almost ordinary compared to the plethora of fetish blogs and websites depicting extremities such as the ‘alleged’ brain piercing trend.

Done to invoke a state of euphoria for the piercee, one such site claims: “They drill small holes in your skull, then pass a metal [gold or silver] ring through them.

"The trick is that the ring presses the brain tissue and invokes euphoria.

"The whole procedure is carried out under anaesthesic and after the ring is passed through, it does not cause any pain.

"The only problem you can face is that you will have to try hard to find a piercer.

"There are very few people capable. And the price is $1000 for the whole procedure.”

Whether this is a genuine procedure remains to be seen, but it reveals the demand for, and interest in, piercings that go beyond the realms of what is deemed normal, socially acceptable, or otherwise.