Would you be able to talk a bit about consensual body modification, and what stuff to look for, that might be relevant? Like, it doesn't matter whether the person wanted something or it was inflicted on them, it'll heal the same way, and it's probably easier to find information on stuff done consensually.
I’vegotta be honest it’s been ten years since I was reading things around thatscene. Much of it was word of mouth based because (in this country at least) consensual or not many of these practiceswere illegal. The people performing body modification occasionally riskedcharges of assault and/or bodily harm, whenthis was done on consenting adults.
I havesome feelings on this but I realise why it’s a charged issue.
Theexamples of consensual body modification I’ve quoted so far have been brands,scarifications and a few genital modifications.
Bodymodification in the West has also included amputation of healthy limbs,blinding and removal of at least one nose.
Also a lot of the easily accessible websites tendto be a bit porny. Becausehumans will apparently do just about anything to their genitals.
But this is a good point, things do heal the same way and people who want to encourage scars know an awfullot about scar formation.
The best thing to do is probably to try andreach out to the scene in your area and ask people. If you don’t know where tolook, start by asking local tattooists.My experience has always been positive. The people have always been polite andpassionate, eager to talk about their art form.
Ifapproached politely with general questions about healing times,scar formations or how brands work (for instance) they’re the most helpfulsource you can imagine.
Ifhowever you go up to them and start equating what they do with torture you’relikely to get punched.
They alsogenerally won’t talk to you if you’re under age and my own conversations haveoften started with assurances that I am, in fact, over 18.
Havingsaid all of that, there are some websites around where you might findinformation. These are probably going to contain images you may personally find offensive. Rememberthat these people are consenting adults and treat them with respect.
And ifyou don’t want to see pictures of penises but click on ‘Male Piercings’ youreally only have yourself to blame.
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Body Mod Ezine- one of the older sites whichhas a lot of users and a lot of pictures.
That’sthe only one I can find at the moment that I’m confident linking to. It’s beenso long that most of the sites I used to visit no longer exist.
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As for traditional body modifications it depends very much on thetradition. The best thing to do is read about the culture and try to findinformation from the culture.
Yorubanscarification is not the same as Himba scarification, in the same way thatMaori tattooing is not the same as Japanese tattooing. As a result the bestsources vary from culture to culture.I haven’t yet found a good reliable introductory book on global body modification practices.
Resourceson tattooing are more extensive. English-language resources on some places areharder to find than others and while some of the old anthropology texts can begood sources they can also be misleading.
Fortraditional forms of body modification I’d suggest focusing on a culture ratherthan a body modification and reading around the subject as much as possible.History books and memoirs tend to be very good sources.
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This isn’texactly my area of expertise, but that should be enough detail to help anyoneinterested find out about the body mod community and what they have to say onhealing times, scar formation etc.
Edit: I made a mistake on this one. One of the examples of extreme consensual body modification I put up was never actually done but something that was discussed as a theoretical case. So I’ve removed it from the list. Sorry for any confusion caused and thanks to the person who pointed this out.
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