Personal expressionism and body piercings: why the stigma?
The other day, I was at Starbucks and I noticed a girl sitting in the corner with body piercings. I’m sure you’ve seen this before with the nose ring and other ornamental pieces pierced through the skin. In fact, she also had some pretty interesting tattoos, and other people at the Starbucks didn’t know what to make of her, as there was an older couple sitting across from her who even looked at her.
Since the girl was alone, I decided to start a conversation with her. Apparently, she was waiting for her boyfriend to arrive, and when she did, she also had body piercings on her. Okay, so let’s talk about this for a second, shall we?
Some might assume that people who have decorative body art have low self-esteem, and maybe that’s why they went and did this. Some might think they are quirky or a bit weird. Some people might even find it weird, disgusting, and totally socially unacceptable. Still, I ask; Why the stigma? There was nothing wrong with this girl, she was quite nice, as was her boyfriend, and they enjoyed the personal expressionism that came with her accompanying art. It’s her body, no one else’s, so it’s no one else’s business, and we should applaud her individuality, not condemn it.
After all, in the United States we are allowed liberty and freedom, and they fully enjoy theirs, and why shouldn’t they. Now you could say that it’s socially unacceptable and they can’t work in a corporate office or do many other things because of how they look now. But if society creates those rules to avoid, punish or expel them, then society is the one with the problem, not the individual who decides to express himself. Personally, I don’t have any tattoos or body piercings, and I’m just approaching this from a psychological and philosophical level.
You might think they wouldn’t have many friends, but they are united by their expressionism and body piercing with other people like them, and it’s a counterculture, and their group is much more united than society in general, or all their friends on Facebook for the case. Next time you see someone with a body piercing, why not stop by and say hi? I think if you do that and talk to them for a few moments, you’ll begin to see exactly what I’m saying here today. Don’t be so critical. We are told not to judge a book by its cover, and yet in society we seem to do it every day; because? Please consider all this and think about it.
