A History of Piercing

Consciously or subconsciously we are trying to express our selves through our bodies more and more.

A brief history of body piercing in the U.K

It would not be possible to cover every aspect of the history of body piercing amongst tribal peoples in the space available, but I have included some examples as a way of illustrating its origins and how we in an industrialized society are adorning ourselves in ways that are hundreds or even thousands of years old.

Human beings, all human beings throughout history have never been happy to leave alone the bodies they were born with.
Whether we are applying make up, painting our nails, restricting our waists with corsets, making piercings, stretching piercings, tattooing or scarifying the skin, filing teeth, dieting or deliberately fattening ourselves, growing or shaving off body hair, tanning or bleaching the skin, tottering about in high heels or squeezing ourselves into tight jeans, we are all in some way concerned with some form of body modification.

In our industrialized society much of this is considered frivolous. People in more so called primitive societies consider that decorating their bodies is of vital importance to signify their status within the tribe or to signify a rite of passage into a new era of their lives, i.e. puberty, warrior, married, elder, or to wear talismans to ward off bad spirits or be used in rituals.
In our society whilst we have distinguished ourselves from our 'primitive' fellow humans by extraordinary technological advances, we are still dependant upon body decoration to fulfil ourselves as social animals.
In traditional or tribal societies, body decoration is also used as a symbol of the continuity of a particular way of life.

I believe that the increase in popularity of tattooing and piercing in the last 25 years is a reaction to the disposability of fashion and consumerism. Style is replacing fashion and the social groups or tribes are denoted less by religious or cultural similarities and more by their style.

The pioneer of body piercing in the U.K. was a gentleman who worked under the name of Alex Sebastian, now sadly deceased. During the 1950's Mr Sebastian was working in what was then British Guiana. One day he came across a couple of field hands who had gold rings in their nipples. This was unusual as it was not the local custom. Intrigued he made some enquiries and was introduced to a local man who performed such piercings. The piercings were done and healed without any problems. Upon returning to England Mr Sebastian experimented on himself, performing other piercings. Gradually people noticed these piercings and began to ask if he would perform these piercings on them. He became a tattooist and one of the country's first and most respected body piercers.

The origins of nipple piercings can be traced back to the Romans. Pierced nipples were sported by proud Roman centurions as a sign of their virility and courage, the practice was also common amongst Victorian society girls to enhance the size of their nipples.

Navel piercing was a sign of royalty to the ancient Egyptians and was something denied to commoners, hence a deep navel was prized amongst the Egyptian elite.
The Prince Albert piercing through the penis, called a dress ring by Victorian haberdashers, was originally used to firmly secure the penis in either the left or right trouser leg during that eras craze for extremely tight crotch binding trousers. Prince Albert himself was rumoured to wear such a ring. Today its function is erotic as is the Dydoe, a male genital piercing of more modern origin. Other erotic male genital piercings are the Apadrayvia and Ampallang. The origins of these can be found in the Karma Sutra, the ancient Hindhu book about love and social conduct, and practised as a right of passage into puberty by the Dravidson people of southern India, though not thought to be commonplace.

Other male genital piercings have their origins as a means of chastisement. The Frenum of European origin, and the foreskin, which was performed on some Roman slaves, though both are now performed as erotic piercings. To celebrate the coming of manhood some Arab youths would have a piercing on the left side of the scrotum, near the base of the Penis called a Haffada, believed to prevent the testis from ever returning to the body. This practice was brought to Europe by French Legionnaires from North Africa, usually pierced on the left and sometimes the right as well.
Female genital piercings, the Clitoris and the inner and outer Labia, are a more modern development and are done primarily for erotic reasons. Though there are examples of Labia piercings being used as a means of chastisement amongst some African tribes this practice is dying out.

Ear lobe and ear rim piercings can be found in most tribal cultures, ear lobe stretchings can be found amongst the people of Northern India, Burma, ancient Egyptian culture (the mask of Tuttenkharmun has a stretched ear lobe) and African tribes in and around what is now Kenya. Ivory ear plugs are worn by African Samburu warriors whereas the Masai and Pokot peoples wear many rings in stretched ear lobes, this was also common practice with some of the plains tribes in North America.
The African Dogon, Kudi and Lobi peoples perform ear, nose and lip piercings on girls to enable them to wear ornaments as women that will enhance their features, to show tribal identity and to protect them from badsprits, believed to enter the body through these orifices. Nose piercing is also widespread in parts of India. This practice was popular amongst the Mughals and indicates whether a women is single or married.

Lip plugs are worn by African Pokot girls when they are married, this is also practiced amongst Turkama men and women. Amongst some Amazonion tribes lip plugs on men denote their status, elders are valued for their wisdom and have bigger plugs or plates inserted every year.

More modest lip or labret piercings are worn by the Nunivak tribes in North America. The women would wear beaded ear pendants or rings with flat pieces of walrus ivory and coloured cloth in Labret and Septum piercings for ceremonies. Silver jewellery was worn in the septums of the Clayoquot tribes further south for status.

Septum piercings are also still worn by the tribesmen in parts of Papua new Guinea, often adorned with plant stems and bone jewellery. Other piercings such as the eyebrow, tongue and ear piercings, such as the tragus, anti-tragus and rook, are modern piercings developed in the west.
There is today a greater awareness and appreciation of tribal societies and a desire to blend some of their rituals into our own society, but as tattooing and piercing has become more popular in the west, ancient tribal customs are dying out in traditional third world societies as they take on western standards.

It could be that as we no longer fear these peoples, their body decoration does not represent a threat. We can accept their body decoration rather than feel repulsed and threatened by it.
There is an exchange of body decoration going on, the increase in popularity is beyond fashionable as body art is more permanent than disposable fashion.