Piercing as a Self Imposed Rite of Passage

As can be seen there are distinct similarities between some peoples' view of piercing and the rites of passage which can be witnessed in some pre-industrialised societies. Van Gennep described the steps which characterised such a rite, and piercing fulfils these requirements, as is discussed in the next section. However in many cases, particularly amongst those piercees for whom piercing is an important part of their lives, there is a deliberate attempt to ameliorate the ritual aspects of contemporary Western piercing. Such similarities have been commented upon in numerous works on body piercing or other contemporary permanent body art styles (Clarke1994, Myers1992, Polhemus 1996, Sanders 1988, Vale and Juno 1989). Myers makes particular reference to 'the individual and group dynamics of rites of passage in traditional non-Western cultures' compared with events observed at body modification workshops (Myers 1992). It is hard to deny this link in certain sub-cultural groups, the question therefore is why such members of society are driven to what in our society are seen as such extremes.

Fakir Musafar has argued that in some people there is an 'instinctive' drive towards undergoing a rite of passage to the extent that if society denies them one they will create one for themselves. In any rite of passage the most important function is arguably to affiliate, whether it be to an age sect, secret society or to society as a whole. Any rite of passage, however, will often involve a number of other factors, such as trust, pain and magico-religious connotations. A rite of passage marks the transition from one life crisis to the next, birth to maturity to marriage to eldership to death. In all such cases if a rite of passage is to be self imposed there must be trust not only between the people involved in carrying out the rite but also between the individual undergoing the rite and the group to which he or she will become affiliated. The pain and magico- religious aspects will be looked into in more detail later, it is the drive to affiliation and relationship built on trust which is the focus of this section.

Capitalist ideals have insinuated their way into almost all cultures and this 'erodes the socio-cultural distinction' (McClancy 1997). Whilst this quote was related to the use of art as a way to show cultural identity it applies equally well to body piercing. Piercing is indeed an art form but while in most cultures art products can be used to express cultural identity the body arts produce living embodiments of sub-cultural identity. The Western ideal, which many people living under it view it to be the epitome of social conformity and constraint, is by no means new. The writings of Freud explore the dichotomy between biological human drives and rules imposed by social life. The cost of behaving as humans is, inevitably, frustration and repression (Keesing1971). In the West, however, the outlets for such tension have been cauterised. Pain and danger are to be avoided at all costs and human life is to be preserved above all else. This has given rise to new ways to escape the pressures of social life, adrenaline sports and thrill seekers, recreational drugs, the rise in the practise of sadomasochistic practices and amongst these the wish to test oneself against societies fears of pain and bloodletting. Increases in such practices can be witnessed in the availability of related literature, retail outlets for such pursuits and even in journalists labelling of today's youth as the chemical generation.

Fakir Musafar states that the modern world seems intent on conformity or, more exactly, the eradication of difference. He further states his personal belief, to which many I have talked to ascribe without ever having heard of him, as being that such homogenisation is an oppressive force which runs counter to life and as such must be resisted at all costs. Within this discussion he also raises the interesting, though probably ultimately trivial point, that evil, as he sees such conformity to be, is simply live spelt backwards. This point may seem irrelevant to most but it is the kind of thing which people who regard themselves as part of the modern primitive movement are likely to pick up on and assign importance to.

The act of using piercing as a rite of passage is one practised by the currently small, but growing, group of people who find themselves in some way at odds with contemporary Western society. The fact that we, in the West, only experience physical pain through accidents, excepting pregnancy, makes the possibility to deliberately suffer pain an obstacle, one which many feel if surmounted will change them for the better. Indeed the act of undergoing a potentially painful and invasive experience cannot help but change one's perspective on life to some extent. This can in some ways be equated to the feeling people who go through operations say they experience, their view on life changes due to their being forced to face their own mortality. Whilst piercing can hardly be said to be dangerous the feelings evoked can be similar due to its voluntary nature. This feeling is diminished as the practise becomes more widespread. It is this change, the step from the known safe environment into which we are born, and since many 'ritual piercees' are from relatively well off backgrounds they are indeed born in relative safety and comfort, to the unknown, unexperienced realm of intense sensation which attracts and draws initiates. By entering into such practices a number of ends are hoped for. Rites of passage symbolically mark an event as important. Piercing is used to permanently mark the body, the piercing and often its placement and the jewellery used will become highly symbolic of the event for which they were done. Piercings also act as an outwards sign, to those who can interpret them, of the passage of one's life. Coupled with the sense of achievement which is marked by any rite of passage the other main reason people ascribe to their need to become pierced is an active, even if secretive, wish to remove themselves from the oppression created by modern social values. In this sense the rite of passage becomes just that, a way of moving from one life style to another. However, in order to mark the occasion, to make the transition permanent and express its importance the use of a rite of passage allows total dissociation, mentally if not physically, from the old life style. Rites of passage are typified by the symbolic death and subsequent rebirth of an individual into a different way of life.

In this way the modern primitive expresses deep felt convictions about society and reveals to others important aspects of who they are and what they believe in a permanent and symbolically manner.

Under such circumstances there are numerous examples of symbolism and meaning behind peoples piercings. It is not always possible, however, to express clearly the motivations and effects of these body modifications if related second hand. As such I will make use of my own experiences as examples and while it should be noted that such experiences are unique they are mirrored in many other examples.

Horizontal and vertical nipple piercings.

Whilst all my piercings have, to a grater or lesser extent, symbolic meaning three in particular exemplify some of the types of motivations which drive modern primitives to their practices. My first nipple piercing was of great importance to me. It was my first non-facial piercing and as such was particularly unacceptable amongst my piers, none of whom possessed any piercings. Whilst other piercings had started to effect my dissociation from my social peer group the piercing of my nipple had a profound affect on my relationship with my own body. It produced a feeling of far greater acceptance of not only who I was but also an acceptance of what others thought of me, for better or worse. The feeling was one of ownership of my body and a lived-in feeling which others have commented on. My guiche, a piercing of the skin behind the scrotum, was symbolically important to me as it marked my mental transition from who I was to my position of total acceptance of body piercing. Up until this point I was, from my point of view, merely interested in some aspects of body modifications and intolerant of others, after the guiche I recognised my willingness to explore all aspects of body modifications ignoring my previous social constraints. Lastly the hafada, a piercing on

Hafada piercings.	Guiche piercing.

the left side of the scrotum, is particularly important to me due to circumstance. The hafada is an Arabic piercing to mark the point when a youth achieves manhood. The piercing is said to prevent the testes from returning to the groin. I was born with a cryptorchid, or undescended, left testes and as such the piercing is a personal joke and marks an important and painful period of my life, the only time I have suffered an operation.

These examples are given to show some of the ways in which piercings are used to symbolically mark important life crises or express social attitudes. The rite of passage of the modern primitives are vital for their social identity and their stance against Western enforced conformity. They are also used to personally, privately and publicly mark periods of change or importance to a given individual. It should be noted that while piercing is used as a rite of passage for many it is still a relatively recent practise in the contemporary West. Rites of passage of one form or another have been used by modern primitives for far longer than piercing as we know it has been around. Piercing is gaining in popularity as an alternative to tattooing and as less severe than scarification or branding, both of which, while available, are not as easily found and are still of dubious legal standing.