I'm a big fan of tattoo as its purposes of communication and self expression can be solid and bold. But this piercing thing is still lost on me. I reminds me of that Levi's kids jeans commercial where the message was buy your own individuality, buy Levi jeans. Manufactured self expression died with Warhol IMO.
Both tattooing and piercing have long traditions, back to ancient times. Piercing and tattooing have ritualistic, appearance, and identification reasons. Both were relatively contained in contemporary Western society until recently, although tattooing was common among military men and women pierced each ear (once), so maybe what you are seeing is a release that reflects the historical lack of this type of adornment. Piercing of different parts of the body has been far more widespread than generally known - Mayan women pierced their tongues and Mayan men pierced their penises, for example, for blood-letting rituals.
There is an interesting photograph here - http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1576871371.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg - not that well reproduced, unfortunately, but it shows a tradition of tattoos and piercing that probably dates back thousands of years and completely dominates the appearance of the person. I still wonder about sleepting - if you roll over, it could be painful.
Jeff Spirer
Photos: http://www.spirer.com
One People: http://www.onepeople.com/
Surfaces and Marks: http://www.withoutgrass.com
