What Do Body Piercings Say About You?

We hear all the time that tattoos often carry deeper meanings. They are chosen to represent a certain thing or to commemorate an event or achievement, but what about body piercings? What do they represent? Personally I have always chosen piercings the way I have chosen clothes or hairstyles, for how they look, but thinking about the deeper meanings assigned to tattoos has made me wonder if certain body piercings have perceived meanings.

My research all points to body piercings having no particular meaning in western culture although in history they had more significant meanings. For example, septum piercings were popular among warriors of various cultures because it looked fierce. It was common for the hole to be stretched to accommodate a bone or tusk. Other piercings originally had functional uses. For example, there is evidence to suggest that the Prince Albert piercing came about around 1825 when the fashion was for men to wear tight pants. In order to avoid an unsightly bulge, the men would have the piercing done so that the penis could be hooked to one side by way of a “dressing ring”. From the 16^th century, Indian women wear a Nath in the left nostril because this area is associated with the reproductive organs in Ayuvedra Medicine and the piercing is thought to make childbirth and menstruation easier. The piercing is therefore performed as a coming of age ritual. Then of course there are the various African tribes for whom lip and ear piercing and stretching are ritual and symbolic in nature.

So in short, while many body piercings may have originated for a certain purpose or as a particular symbol, in today's Western society they are chosen mainly for aesthetic appeal.