Outline
Thesis: Accepting the author’s idea, it may be agreed that the genital and other types of piercing have occupied the world and have created the other culture, harming and opposite to the Western one, and which wants to replace it.
Introduction
Main Body
- The author is against ‘modern primitivism’, as the new movement leads to the crisis and ruins all the Western culture which developed for many years
- The new primitivism penetration in the modern Western culture is harmful, both for peoples’ minds and their bodies
- Piercing harms youth’s understanding and perception of the world
Conclusion
The world of piercing is not so striking today and it is impossible to surprise anybody with it. Piercing became as the other culture, which involves more and more people today. John Leo states that the genital piercing gains more and more popularity these days and names this new movement as ‘modern primitivism’. Accepting the author’s idea, it may be agreed that the genital and other types of piercing have occupied the world and have created the other culture, harming and opposite to the Western one, and which wants to replace it.
Dwelling upon ‘modern primitivism’, the author is against it, as the new movement leads to the crisis and ruins all the Western culture which developed for many years. Leo agrees that the change of people’s body cannot lead to the cultural crisis, but still “the rapid spread of this movement [modern primitivism] is yet another sign that the crisis is here” (Leo par. 12). People’s obsessions do not really change the world, but their actions, the widespread of the new culture, piercing, provide some changes. Western culture, which was created for many years, may ruin the entire heritage and create nothing except pierced scrotum, labia, clitoris, or head or shaft of the penis. Modern primitivism is not what the whole nation should possess, but just be the part of the national tradition, not the whole of it.
Reading the article, it becomes understandable that the new primitivism penetration in the modern Western culture is harmful, both for peoples’ minds and their bodies. Leo gives the example that “some women who have had their nipples pierced report damage to the breast’s milk ducts, and some men who have been Prince Albert-ed no longer urinate in quite the same way” (Leo par. 3). Is not this enough to refuse from the harmful culture? People’s body comes ruined, they do not function properly anymore. Genital piercing may lead to the problems of procreation, which may lead to nation disappearance. Considering the eventual conclusion of the piercing culture, the end is frightening, as there is no future for the whole Western civilization without children.
Becoming so popular among youth, piercing harms their understanding and perception of the world. The movement followers admit the intimacy and these scars and pain help them to reach the “emotional centers, signs of a life lived” (Leo par. 7). Is not this the deformation of mind? – Yes, it is. May the desire for emotional satisfaction be considered as addiction? – Yes, it may. So, what we have come to? – Piercing is like drugs, those, who once have tried it, may never stop. The longing for pain is the disease, and the intention to make it a culture, the Western culture should not be implemented. People should have a look on what is going on to choose the country, which they want to live in: full of pain, or the present one.
In conclusion, piercing not only penetrates in the modern Western culture, but wants to replace it, having imposed new understanding of the world to people. The piercing culture is not so innocuous as it may seem as their desire for more and more pain is like drug, which influence is impossible to avoid. The Western culture, which was created for centuries, now is on the stage of crisis, and which culture will occupy the domination positions depends on people and their sound minds.
Works Cited
Leo, John. U.S. “The ’Modern Primitives.” News & World Report, 1995.