Introduction and Background
Throughout the ages, both men and women have tried many ways to make themselves look more attractive and noticeable. The methods followed include dress, adornments such as rings and necklaces, painting such as using lipsticks and hair colour and body piercing. Such practices have had different results with some looking more attractive while others ended looking outlandish. Whatever the result, such methods are gaining popular around the world day by day. This paper looks at body piercing in particular with reference to the UK. The subjects that are under study are youngsters in the UK who are under the age of thirty.
Evidence of body piercing have been found 5000 years ago among the Egyptians through studies done on mummies. The Romans were also among the earliest among civilized society to follow the practice even though it was for more practical reasons. Roman men pierced their nipples as sign of manliness. The Mayan and Aztec civilisations too pierced their bodies especially the tongue though the reasons were more religious in nature. Many tribes around the worlds also had different forms of body piercing practices. In the West it was slow to pick up because it was not favourable with the Church. The most popular types of piercing that existed in the West at the turn of the century was piercing of ears. “In the last hundred years or so, body piercings in the Western world have mostly been limited to the ears, a standard hold-over from the fact that both men and women wore earrings during Elizabethan times.”(Modern day body piercings, The History of body piercing – Ancient and Fascinating around the world, Statsheet.com, Reliable Stats, Tools and Articles).
Body Piercing in the UK
Nowadays piercing of body parts other than nose and ears have become very fashionable. This practice came into vogue in the UK during the 1950’s when a person named Alex Sebastian saw two workers in Africa with their nipples pierced. He did the same on himself and the practice caught on. This was further encouraged when celebrities Britney Spears and Naomi Campbell too began to have their bodies pierced. It appears that apart from the year, the most popular part that is pierced is the navel followed by eyebrows, lips and tongue. “Navel piercings are the single most popular piercing outside of ear piercing, and that’s no different among the celebrities”. (Body Piercing, Celebrities with body jewellery, Navelrings.biz).
Methodology
The main problem in the field of body piercing is that there are no regulatory laws. Any one can set up a body piercing shop without any restrictions. “Currently there is no control over who can set up in business as a body piercer, and there are certainly no recognised standards of training for new practitioners”. (Concern over body piercing health risk, BBC News, September 2002). Because of this the exact estimates of body piercings done in the UK could not be accounted for. Hence a survey was done to find out the perception and popularity of body piercing among youngsters who are below 30 years of age. The methodology used was quantitative and information was got through questionnaires. Over a period of three weeks, 100 persons under the age of thirty were interviewed. The method followed was to go to places where young people gathered. An initial request for interview was made after ensuring that the person was below age of 30. 75% of those requested agreed to answer the questionnaire. Of the hundred people interviewed 24 of them had visible body piercing done on their body. Only five questions that were relevant to the issue was asked. The main reason for this is that youngsters may not be agreeable to spending a lot of time in answering longer questionnaires. All respondents were asked the same questions irrespective of age and gender. The questions along with the total responses are given below.
Do you have or plan to have body/skin piercing?
All the twenty four naturally answered in the affirmative. Out of the balance of 76, those who said yes came to 30%. So, 23 persons were planning to have some sort of skin piercing in the near future. When those respondents who did not plan to do so were asked how they viewed body piercing on others, 27 numbers (50%) said that they liked it or at least did not mind it.
Which part of the body (other than ears and nose) do you have, or plan to have body piercing?
All respondents were asked to answer the question. This was just to understand their preferences. 77 respondents (77 persons) answered that their preferred area was the navel. 20 preferred the tongue and the balance in other areas.
Are you aware of the safety concerns (likelihood of catching infectious diseases through common use of equipment to puncture skin) 80% of all respondents said yes.
Of the 54 respondents not planning skin piercing, 20 of them said that risk of infection was the reason for not going for the same. 34 of them said that they did not like the look of pierced skin on their bodies.
What do feel is the percentage of youngsters in your age group that has or will have skin piercing done?
Though all of them said that they were unsure of the exact numbers, a range between 20 and 35 percent was the answer received. Hence a conservative figure of 27 percent of the target population has or will have skin piercing.
Will the trend continue to be popular and grow?
80 percent of all respondents said that more and more people irrespective of age group will have body piercing in the future. They also agreed that the trend is high for youngsters, moderate for older people and almost negligible for people over 50 years of age. 10 percent said that the trend is a passing fad and the balance was unsure.
Conclusion
It can be understood from the above that almost 30 percent of the target group look on body piercing favourably. The figure may rise steadily in the coming years. Almost 80% agree that this will be a long term trend. It could be assumed that new areas of piercing may be added or replace existing areas of piercing. The rising trend throws up a health concern and the government should drastically take steps to control the unregulated growth of skin piercing shops. “These are invasive treatments that may pose a hazard to public health and safety from infection and/or physical injury”. (Licensing of Skin piercing activities, North Hertfordshire District Council). As with any form of ‘dressing up’ there will be people who will view this favourably or look upon it with distaste. As long as this practice does not cross the limits of public decency and a concern for safety there is no harm in the growing popularity of skin or body piercing.