ALTERNATIVE BEAUTY

Many women choose tattoos, piercings and other unconventional body modifications to express themselves. Here’s why.

body modification is hardly a new phenomenon. Almost every human culture has engaged in the deliberate alteration of the physical form, whether for aesthetic, cultural, sexual or spiritual reasons.

I was young when my fascination with alt-beauty began. It was an extension of the rock-music scene and imagery I’d gravitated towards. I found brightly coloured hair, body art and other punk-style body modifications exciting because they were different than the conventional beauty ideals that almost every media platform was intent on ramming down our throats. Whether these women showed off a single facial piercing or various body parts covered in tattoos, they welcomed girls who, like me, didn’t meet the standard. You see, I don’t have light skin, blue eyes or silky, straight blonde hair. I also loved their rebellious spirit and the confidence that they exuded through their unique self-expression and display of identity. My personal favourite? Tattoos, which allow you to adorn yourself with images or words that you carry with you everywhere, all the time.

As I got older, I became aware of the stereotypes attached to people with body alterations. Words and phrases I heard used to describe them included mentally ill, unruly, abnormal, deviant, rebellious, promiscuous, less attractive, less intelligent and poor decisionmakers. They were misunderstood and condemned, which, I’ll admit, made altbeauty all the more appealing.

Many categories of body modification fall under the alt or punk banner – some are hardcore and extreme, while others are tamer and more mainstream but are stigmatised nevertheless.

TATTOOS AND PIERCINGS

These are the most common altbody modifications.

SCARIFICATION AND BODY BRANDING

Scarification is an alternative for darkskinned people who live in equatorial regions and tend to have so much melanin in their skin that tattoos won’t show up. The skin is either cut repeatedly with a scalpel, using a cauterising tool, or burned with heated metal, so that it forms a scar, which is known as strike branding. After cleaning the area and stencilling on the design, the artist continues until they reach the right depth and width. The aesthetic outcome of a healed scarification, however, has less to do with the artist and more to do with the wearer’s genetics and ability to heal. It’s regarded as an extreme modification due to the pain and discomfort it causes and the healing process.

IMPLANTS

How you do it and to what extent depends on the type of implant. Here are five different kinds, some of which aren’t legal everywhere.

Eye: They’re illegal in most countries. You may have to travel to have an eyeball jewellery implant.

Magnetic: A magnet’s placed under the skin so that the other half of it can be attached to the outside of the skin. Microdermal: Similar to a transdermal implant (see right) but smaller. They’re also known as surface anchors and are an alternative to the surface piercing.

Subdermal: This is pretty much 3D body art by placing a piece of Teflon or silicone material under the skin to create a raised design. Transdermal: This implant isn’t allowed in most countries in case a non-medical practitioner conducts the procedure, which requires an anaesthetic. A labret-style stud with a flat back is pocketed into the tissue, while part of the jewellery remains on the outside of the skin.

TONGUE SPLITTING

The person who’s having this done typically starts with a tongue piercing and slowly increases the size of the barbell to stretch the tongue, lengthening the incision in the tissue. Then, a knife is used to cut out the last piece. There are other ways to split a tongue, but that’s the most common method.

POINTED EARS

Ear shaping is usually performed by a body-modification artist. There are several ways in which human ears can be made to look different, including cropping, pointing and amputating. These methods may be combined to achieve specific results. One of the most popular modifications is to have them shaped like an elf’s.

The way people talk about body modification is also interesting. It means to deliberately alter your physical appearance, though people tend

“They welcomed girls who didn’t meet the standard”

to assume the phrase only applies to tattoos and piercings, or branding and scarification, which is more obscure. But to try and live up to society’s current definition of what it means to be beautiful, almost all of us engage in one form of body modification or another. These days, it’d be pretty hard not to find a woman who doesn’t have pierced ears. Bodybuilding is one of the most involved, long-term and committed types of body modification, and many people have cosmetic surgery. But people don’t consider either of those shocking or odd unless it goes wrong or the resulting aesthetic falls outside of the socially acceptable standard of beauty.

Why are some body modifications accepted while others are vilified or deemed inappropriate? Why does the idea of a forked tongue elicit disgust, but not the idea of injecting a paralysing poison into your forehead? Is it that one is to maintain a youthful appearance (a key factor in mainstream beauty) while the other doesn’t help you fit in? Or is it down to gender? It’s no secret that tattoos are generally regarded by society as being masculine – perhaps because enduring the pain caused by the application of ink reflects the strength and courage of the person receiving it, both of which are considered masculine traits. Another reason may be because many people, particularly those who’re older or religious, regard external body modifications as marring your body because they believe women should be pure and untouched, free of markings or imperfections. We’re supposed to be the Jasmines, Tatianas, Auroras and Rapunzels – the pretty, perfect princesses. Which is all fine, except, why can’t I be Jasmine, live in a castle and have a tattoo of my pet tiger? (shoutout to Rajah!)

Unconventional body modifications expand categories of attractiveness and reject the idea of traditional beauty. while body modifications that’re considered normal reinforce existing cultural power structures, unconventional ones flip them. Society may find them alarming and discomforting because they betray the typically understood and accepted notions of beauty, but this is why they’re less damaging than cosmetic procedures.

Alternative body modifications (such as those mentioned on the previous page) aren’t based on the societal notions of age, physical appearance and gender to the extent that cosmetic procedures are and force society to address its values, standards, and hypocrisy regarding what it deems aesthetically pleasing.

An increase in the visibility of the alt subculture reveals my sentiment has gathered momentum. In recent years, there’s been a rise in alt-models – the most eclectic styles are goth, emo, punk,

“Why does the idea of a forked tongue elicit disgust?”

steampunk, burlesque and fantasy. It’s become a sector that celebrates a variety of bodies, free-thinkers and the unfollowing of fashion and beauty social protocols. I suppose it could be said that individual perceptions and beliefs will always be reshaped by cultural norms and values. In that sense, free will’s never entirely free of social influence. But, hey, when it comes to beauty, it remains in the eye of the beholder. And what interesting, alternative, beholders they are!