Why is disfigurment nessesary to be "cool"?

first off the news report was about some stupid teens who decided to brand themselves....not pierce themselves (equally retarded) or tattoo themselves (also retarded) but a lot of the psots in this thread about piercing or tattooing...so HTF you people got off track i dont know but lets try to stay on topic shall we?

anyone who is dumb enough to try this as an amateur is asking for trouble.

i dont care if a person wants to be branded. its their body and their life. now i have some tattoos, i got each one for a different reason and i stick by them. i knew from the very first one that they are permanent and i would carry them with more for decades, 30, 40, 50 even 60 or more years.

but i wasnt branded and i dont want to be but there are people out there who do and have been branded. even i think branding is a bit "out there". i'm also not into piercings...but those want these things can certainly get them if they want. i have ZERO room to tell another person with a will of their own what they can or cant do (should or shouldnt) to their own body. we're all entitled to our own opinions but we also have free will and we can do as we please, no matter how dumb you think it is THEY have to live with it, not you.

Okay well I have tats and piercings. But I have neither to "show off" in fact I have five tribal tats. But no-one can normally see them, unless I am wearing shorts and have no shirt on. So basically in everyday life no-one knows or sees my tats. As for piercings I have both ears done with 10GA Horseshoes, but it seems in my age bracket having your ears pierced seems to be the more the norm, then not. (25-35)

All my "ink" is tribal in style and some pieces are quite large (spanning my shoulders, full arm band etc)

To me they mark a place in time as I usually get them on or near my birthday. And all have symbolic meanings behind them besides the "face value" of each tat. So they are a physical representation of a part of my personality and each also have a connection to my spiritual belief as well.

This subject is about self expression, not about fitting in.

I knew someone who used to say that the only men who should get their ears pierced were Pirates, Gypsies and Gays.

Well I'm none of those so that guy was wrong for starters. What's the problem, if people want to do things like that to themselves then that's their business, and even though it may not be too sensible, who are you to say that they are suffering from self-hate or lack of self-respect for doing so?

The only disfigurement I've got is from when my parents had the tip of my penis cut off against my will, many years ago.

well that would be stupid..you want to be cool so u throw your self off a bridge

Originally posted by Pisky
I knew someone who used to say that the only men who should get their ears pierced were Pirates, Gypsies and Gays.

.....and if you are a Gay Gypsie Pirate you can get all three ears pierced. I would never do the piercings, but branding seems kinda cool to my 49 year old self.

Originally posted by OisinI knew someone who used to say that the only men who should get their ears pierced were Pirates, Gypsies and Gays.

(Humorous Sarcastic Jibe ON!) There's an awful lot of women out there who just found themselves reclassified. I wonder if they are closet pirates or if they're closet gypsies or maybe just lesbians. (Humorous Sarcastic Jibe OFF!)

[Edited on 24-5-2004 by Byrd]