Body Modification or Disfigurement

I can understand why people who have a disfigurement that blights their lives would want to improve it. There are people who suffer miserably as a result of being scarred through injury or accident, or they may have been born with abnormalities that sometimes lead to ridicule. It is natural that any possible improvement would be welcomed. All these are perfectly understandable reactions and with the use of modern medicine and technology, many people have their lives transformed. However, what I cannot understand is the wilful disfigurement of their bodies by those who have nothing wrong with them, such as grotesque tattoos, piercing of noses, eyebrows and tongues with not one, but several rings. I have really tried to understand why they do it. It does not make them look attractive. It certainly makes them look different and if that is the intention then they have achieved their goal.

I was shocked to hear how some people have rings and metal objects inserted into their genitals and again, I wonder what for? If people can go through so much pain to have this done, they must kill off all sense of feelings. How can they ever again, experience the joy of sex which surely is all about sensitivity in our erogenous zones?

On the extreme side of things, I know that there are primitive tribes who indulge in body modifications of all kinds as part of their culture and it is the expected norm for them. However, they look so uncomfortable when they insert large discs into their lips that I wonder how they manage to eat their food.

http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=1612