Nipple Piercing

Nipple Piercing

One search term that has been consistently popular since the inception of the Internet is “nipple piercing.” There have been rumors of references to Roman centurions having pierced nipples to fasten their short dress capes, but in more recent interviews, many people have confessed that much modern piercing lore was invented or exaggerated by a piercing enthusiast named Doug Malloy. He is the one who introduced Jim Ward, founder of Gauntlet and Fakir Musafar, of Bodyplay magazine, and hosted "T&P (tattooing and piercing) socials" in the 70s. However the modern pierced nipple has grown in prominence and popularity much like the Internet where this topic leads picture and image search requests over the last decade.

Just a decade ago, the mention of a nipple piercing often produced confused and shocked looks. Nowadays, the most common reaction is a knowing “oh..” and/or indifference. Pierced nipples are certainly not commonplace, but they have moved from the fringe underground to a secure position as part of modern pop culture. And this was before that fatal moment with Janet Jackson and a malfunctioning wardrobe. The site of a pop diva's pierced and adorned breast could only further cement the nipple as an object of fetish worship. Mainstream musicians sport nipple rings openly and erotic culture publications regularly include models with fetish body modifications like nose, nipple and navel rings.

Placement of nipple piercings is most often horizontally through the areola, just behind the main bud of the nipple. Sometimes this piercing is done vertically, either as a solo piercing or paired with a horizontal piercing. Thickness of the jewelry worn in a nipple piercing should be at least 14 gauge to avoid tissue tearing. Length or diameter of the jewelry is determined by how much tissue the piercing encompasses, and starter jewelry can be either a barbell or a ring. Fixed or captured bead rings are the most popular as they are secure to wear and easy to clean.

Nipple piercings can take between three and six months to heal on average, with many women finding it can take between six months and a year for their nipple piercings to heal. Men’s nipples heal faster due to differences in tissue composition and hormones. Many women experience extra issues with healing nipple piercings during their menstrual cycles. For women who are considering having children, so far there does not appear to be any interference between well-healed piercings and breast feeding, although it is not recommended to get new piercings before, during or after pregnancy due to changes of body state.

Once healed, many people with pierced nipples find the tissue more developed, with increased sensation and responsiveness. Men especially report increases in tissue thickness and tactile sensitivity. A variety of jewelry styles is available for wear in a well established piercing including curved barbells, horseshoe attachments and many variations for attaching chains and dangles.

FLESH HOOKS

Flesh Hooks and Suspension

The recent Reuters headline ran “Kids dangle from meat hooks for fun” but in fact, this practice has roots that run deeper than that. A fusion of body piercing and spiritual practice, suspension and flesh hook pulls are slowly making a comeback in alternative communities. The ancient precedents for this type of behavior can be found in a variety of North American Indian tribes, or the religious practices of the Tamil of South Asia. These practices are tied to shamanism, as the effects of the great pain and stress on the body induces altered states.

The Native American Sundance most often happened around the Summer Solstice. The best documented is the Sioux version, whereby dancers are pierced with wood or bone through the pectorals, with lines running to a tall pole. The dancers slowly pull, often for three or four days, until the piercing rips free. The gift of one’s own body is seen as being the greatest form of sacrifice to the gods.

The Tamils of South Asia have piercing practices are part of their worship of Murugan. Again you honor the god with your body and your offerings. The large frameworks of sharp spears, called kavandi, that devotees used to wear have been replaced in more modern times with hooks set into the skin of the back. Pulling against ropes, the worshippers walk for multiple miles to the temple site, their suffering an offering to the god along with being a sign of their devotion. Many also have a thin spike called a “vel,” symbolic of Murugan’s lance, pierced thru both cheeks or the tongue for the ceremony as well.

In the 1980s, Australian artist Stelarc did a series of suspensions in Japan whereby he hung by multiple hooks embedded in his flesh. These were staged at art galleries as formal artistic performances. One fascinating rigging involved rocks as counterbalances, so that the artist was suspended in a near-cross-legged position surrounded by a circle of floating rocks.

These practices have been introduced to a much wider audience via the performances and presentations of Fakir Musafar. Considered the “Father of the Modern Primitive movement” this 74-year-old has engaged in just about every kind of body modification known to mankind, and being a photographer, has well-documented his experiments and experiences over the years. Thru his seminal 90s publication bodyplay, Musafar covered not only the history of many of these rites, but showed ways to adapt them for modern neo-pagan spirituality. He has led public and private ceremonies, incorporating ball dances, flesh hooks and the act of bearing kavandi into performances and group rituals worldwide.

Texas-based Traumatic Stress Discipline has taken hook hangs and pulls and staged performances nationally and internationally. One of the founding members, Allen Falkner, performed at the San Francisco Fetish Ball in 2003 where I took the pictures that accompany this article. Speaking to him at the opening party the night before, he mentioned how people upset with this style of performance had filed legal motions attempting to stop the group, but that the judge in the case had ruled the performances “body art” and saw no grounds that would make them illegal.

In the recent encounter in Islamorada, FL, law officials called to the scene were surprised to find a group of young people doing a hook hang via a bamboo tripod erected near the water’s edge but admitted that no laws were being broken. One of the best lines in the article said that according to authorities, the girl hanging from the tripod when sheriff's and Coast Guard officers arrived “did not seem to mind the hooks.” For such practices, modern piercing techniques are used, and many observers are often surprised there is little or no blood. Despite the personal objections of whomever called the police, no laws were being broken and no citations or legal actions were taken.

Eyebrow Piercing

Eyebrow Piercing

One of the most modern body piercings is the eyebrow piercing. Coming from the “if it protrudes, pierce it” philosophy of the 1990s, the eyebrow has become rather popular, despite being a notoriously problematic piercing. This is actually a surface piercing, a placement of permanent jewelry in a part of the body that does not really have a skin fold.

An eyebrow that has a heavier “ridge” or thickness of tissue under the brow line is better suited to support the successful healing of this piercing. A very flat brow creates tension across the pierced area and will lend the healing piercing the natural tendency to rejection. Sometimes called “healing out,” this is when the body pushes the jewelry towards the surface of the body, as though it were attempting to push away the new jewelry. Most often, in cases of rejection, the piercing is highly irritated and painful, and some rejecting piercings show extreme and sudden reversal of negative symptoms immediately upon the removal of the jewelry. The basic idea response to this situation is, if you think your body is telling you that you should not have a certain piercing, your body is probably right and you should take it out.

Eyebrow piercings should be performed “freehand” with a proper piercing needle by a trained body piercer, and should NEVER be pierced with ear piercing guns. Placement along the brow line varies highly from person to person and varies with brow anatomy and aesthetic preferences. How far into the facial tissue the piercing is made also varies individually, and your piercer should be consulted as to what they suggest. If you wear eye glasses or sun glasses regularly, make sure you check the placement and size of your jewelry so that it doesn’t conflict physically or visually. If you are a woman who plucks or waxes her brows, be sure and have your brows done before getting a new eyebrow piercing. You do not want to be plucking stray hairs from around your fresh, tender brow ring for as long as you can after it is first pierced.

Jewelry options include tiny barbells or rings. Whichever jewelry seems to stress skin surface and angle of the new piercing less is best to start. There are small, subtle nylon “keepers” made for wearers of eyebrow piercings who have to hide their facial piercings for jobs, families and other public situations. People who like to sleep on their faces should consider if they can change their sleep habits to facilitate healing this piercing. Eyebrow piercings can take 9 to 12 weeks to heal: consider the impact that healing this piercing will have on the next three months of your life. During the initial healing period, you will want to avoid wearing makeup or other facial products that might contaminate or irritate the fresh piercing.