Trust, Body Modifications, and Monsters.

Lately I've been preparing for summer by making many many monster bags to sell at the conference - if I sell them all, I'll be able to do the traveling I want (Arkansas here I come!) and also go to some concerts and just generally have money again. Yay!


On a completely separate topic, I'd like to talk about body modifications a bit.
I'm very interested in body modification and know a lot about it. I don't think I'd ever be able to be a piercer or tattoo artist (too squeamish), but it's enough to know that my friends and the people around me know that if they are having a problem with their piercings or tattoos, they know that they can come to me and get accurate advice. Along with the medical knowledge I have of piercings, I love discussing peoples rights to body modification and what body modification means to us today. The controversy is fascinating, and the fact that people think they can control how another person expresses themselves through their body modifications sickens me.

My family does not understand why I do a lot of the things I decide to do to my body - they have never personally felt a need, so that's understandable. But they understand that it's part of me and my being, and they respect my choices and know that I know what I'm doing.
Because of the trust my family has for me (a crucial requirement if you're going to unschool.) there is never a need for sneaking around and getting piercings done behind their back, in an unsterilized and unsafe environment when they are not there to tell me I can't.
As much as some of these parents refusing permission to be pierced think they are protecting their child, I must be honest and say that any person who wishes strongly to have body mods done is going to get them done, one way or another. This "protection" backfires when the child just goes ahead and does the piercing themselves, or finds a piercing salon sleazy enough to pierce underage people without parental permission, or has a friend do it. (Though I do know many people who do their own piercings are are very responsible, safe and sterile about it. "Responsible" is used lightly. Doing any piercings yourself without an experienced piercer at least supervising is dangerous on at least some level).

I can only hope that one day people will realize that you cannot relinquish "some" control. They cannot pick and choose if they want a full, healthy, trusting relationship between themselves and their child. Not very many years ago people thought it outrageous to dye hair unnatural colors - if one is going to accept this, one must accept everything else as well.
Sure, eventually piercings will become accepted and then permission will be granted more easily. But someone has to start the movement. Someone (or many someones) has to let go and embrace trust. Why can't it be us?