WHY WE MUST GIVE BODY PIERCING A MISS

Because it seems like a fashion statement until it begins reacting badly with your skin etc.

Recently, I had a horrified father bring his son, writhing in acute pain. Blood was oozing where a penile ring he’d worn was tearing his penis. Though the practice of piercing holes in body parts to insert a piece of metal, bone, shell, ivory or glass is as old as time, its waning popularity is being resurrected in recent times.

It’s a popular belief in India among women and men from some castes that piercing the lower portion of the ear lobes is auspicious. Besides, having a nasal jewel is a normal thing among women — in India and now abroad.

Egyptian Pharaohs used to pierce their navel to flaunt their royalty. Romans thought pierced nipples were marks of virility and courage. The Mayans pierced their tongues as a mark of spiritually.

During the Victorian Era, tailors performed the PA penile piercing, known as a dressing ring, to allow men to secure their organs to their clothing and provide a smoother appearance while wearing tight trousers. Credited to Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, this is supposed to have stimulated the female partner’s G spot and provided her with ecstatic

orgasms.

Princess Albertina, pierces the clitoris to give it additional stimulation — the female variant to Prince Albert’s idea of ecstatic orgasm. More recently, Hollywood actors have been routinely indulging in variations of such piercing.

MISCONCEIVED NOTIONS OF PIERCING

According to some studies, 17–21% of the US population has indulged in the fad of body piercing. Youngsters have been making a fashion statement with a piece of jewellery as an adjunct to the eyebrows, lips, navels, nipples and genitals. Some of them use it to denote commitment in their relationships, with many presuming it increases sexual pleasure.

While some women assume that this kind of mortification helps them overcome the trauma they may have endured in dysfunctional relationships, over-possessive, jealous men use this as a weapon to prevent promiscuity. Then there are addicts, who wrongly presume this augments their sexual performances.

However, this ‘fashion statement’ comes with a price. Allergies to metals used, infections, injuries, excess scar tissue formation, etc. may create complications, ultimately even making the piercing appear ghastly.