The Psychology Of Piercings & Tattoos In The Gay Community

Society, and the pressure it exerts on its members to conform, must not be underestimated. We, as lesbians (and women), know this only too well. Many of us were discouraged from playing with so-called "boys toys", and many of our families still have a problem with the length of our hair, or the way we dress, or both. I recently overheard a woman in a bus queue asking a little girl who can't have been older than four or five, whether she had a boyfriend yet. The subtle (and not so subtle) social pressures are there right from the word go.
Despite changes to the law and also changes in society's general attitude towards us, those of us in the LGBT community are still the butt of jokes in the media and in our everyday lives. Even when this is not the case, our once unacceptable lifestyle is now subject to convention and stereotyping. In order to assert our individuality and our unconventionality, many of us choose to do "unconventional" things to our hair and dress, and we use body art - piercings and tattoos. So, it may come as a surprise to learn that body art began as a way of expressing not your individuality and rebelliousness, but the exact opposite. For example, nostril piercing (a very popular one these days) is thought to have begun in the Middle East, 4000 years ago. In India, in the 16th century, the type of jewellery you wore in your nose was a clear sign of which caste you belonged to. And in the ancient temples of the Aztecs and Mayans, tongues were pierced as part of a ritual to communicate with the gods.
The Victorians were crazy about tattoos and piercings, and women in particular had a craze for having their nipples pierced (gives a whole new dimension to those Victorian period dramas, doesn't it?) Prince Albert famously had a genital piercing so that he could tie his penis to his leg (it made his trousers fit better, apparently!), and the "Prince Albert" piercing is still a great favourite with gay men today.
Even more surprisingly, far from wanting to be unconventional, or buck against society, many of the people I questioned when I was researching this article, and also those whose stories I read on the internet, got tattoos or piercings because their friends all had them (i.e. it was fashionable amongst their peers). Many others got them to assert their own individuality and increase their self-confidence. It came across to me that this was not because they wanted to be unconventional, but rather that they saw their tattoos in particular as a semi-private expression of themselves. As one of my correspondents wrote:
"My tattoos are very personal to me and I designed them all myself, so yes.....they are part of my identity. They tell a story, I suppose, of my life."
This "story" is not something she shares with everyone, only she knows the meaning of her tattoos. In a way, they are a message to herself, rather like Guy Pierce's character in the movie "Memento", tattooing his memories onto his body so he doesn't forget who he is.
Of course, there are consequences to having tattoos and piercings. This is particularly true of tattoos, as they are (in most cases) permanent, or at least extremely difficult to get rid of. Many of the women I spoke to said they had tattoos of their ex-girlfriend's name, or a special tattoo which they decided to get together, and now they wish they hadn't done it. One woman even had a tattoo which was supposed to be a dolphin, but ended up looking more like a kipper, and now she's stuck with it! Piercings can often be considered less acceptable, particularly lip and nose piercings, most often in the office environment. One of my correspondents has had to remove several of his piercings for his new job. There is also the more unpleasant medical aspect of piercing in particular. A recent article in "The New Scientist" (5th March 2005), discussing the dangers of piercings in "an intimate place", states that:
"Although only 3 per cent of people with such body piercings ever seek medical advice, about 60 per cent suffer associated health problems, according to a survey of 147 people with nipple or genital piercings, or both."
However, many people seem to take these risks on board, and even describe them as "part of the fun". After all, something which is a bit dangerous can also be exciting.
Leading on from this love of danger, some of my respondents also talked about the pleasure/pain aspect of piercings and tattoos, and the fact that piercings are often used during sex, where that fine line between pleasure and pain can be arousing for some people, particularly when that piercing is in an erogenous zone such as a nipple. Several people also talked about the endorphin rush they got from having their tattoos done, and how this had made them a bit addicted to having them. However, just as many people said they only have one tattoo, as it hurt so much they would never consider having another one! Again, it comes back to personal choice, and it seems it's impossible to say that all of these people have tattoos and piercings simply because they are gay or lesbian. Many of the people I spoke to were actually offended by this suggestion, and didn't want this important aspect of their individuality to be "reduced" to just another part of their sexuality. Some did get tattoos and piercings specifically to celebrate their coming out, but many of these people already had some body art. The new ones simply marked this next important stage of their lives.
It seems that so-called "straight" society also views tattoos and piercings in this way. I got a large amount of the historical information above from an article on the BBC Suffolk website - hardly the place you'd expect to find an article on something considered subversive and wildly unconventional. One quote from the article possibly explains the new fashion for tattooing at least: "
Many celebrities have tattoos. Role models, such as Eminem, David Beckham and Jennifer Aniston have probably raised the status of tattoos."
I feel this is just as true of piercings; so it seems that body art has become very fashionable, and you have to cover yourself from head to toe with holes and ink to be seen as particularly unconventional these days. However, tattoos and piercings can still be very individual, and this is what I think their meaning is for most people today. They are a way of preventing ourselves from becoming faceless, from blending in. Those lesbians who want to wear their sexuality for all to see choose body art which expresses this important part of themselves (labrys tattoos, rainbow earrings or nose rings). At the same time, those of us who want to express our lesbian identity in a less overt way, choose tattoos which mean something to us, but are not obvious to the outside world (one particularly popular one seems to be a string of Chinese characters meaning "woman" or "lesbian", often tattooed in a place which is not immediately visible). It is the versatility of body art which helps it retain its popularity in both the lesbian and gay community and society at large.
About the Author
Sarah Harris is the founder of http://www.PlanetSappho.com - the world's No 1 resource for single lesbian and bisexual females.

Five Must-Knows When Getting a Kanji Tattoo

Britney Spears and the Spice Girls' Mel C all have in common? A: They all have Japanese tattoos!Japanese tattoos are cool. Of course, if you have money to burn like any of these ladies, you can afford to hire a professional translator to pick out the perfect character combination. But if personal translation is out of your league how can you avoid becoming a kanji fashion victim and get stuck with a tattoo you will really regret?1. Know the difference - hiragana, katakana and kanjiBefore you talk to your tattoo artist, make sure you know what you are talking about. You say you want a Japanese tattoo, but what do you know about Japanese characters? You need a quick stint in 2-minute Japanese boot camp.First off, let's be clear that there is no Japanese "alphabet". There are three sets of Japanese characters - hiragana, katakana and kanji - and each group has its own history, function and style. Get your head around these facts and you will already know more than 99% of the people walking around with Japanese tattoos right now:Hiragana - These simple, rounded characters represent sounds, but have no independent meaning. They were developed by women in the Heian period and are still considered feminine by Japanese people. Katakana - Developed by Buddhist monks around the same time as hiragana, these are simple, angular characters that also represent sounds and have no meaning of their own. You saw them cascading down the screen in Matrix (although they were backwards!)
Kanji - Originally from China, these characters are like pictures, representing a meaning and also several different sounds depending on the situation.Just reading this has probably given you an idea of which style you might like for your tattoo - but don't stop just yet! Now you know what kinds of Japanese characters there are, let's move on to...2. Writing stylesCome a bit closer. Lean forward towards the screen. That's right. Now, look at the words in front of you. Take a good, close look at the shapes of these letters. OK? Now tell me honestly: Would you want a tattoo in Times New Roman? How about Tahoma? What's that? You don't want a tattoo by Canon or Epson? Sure you don't. And in the same way, you don't want to have your Japanese tattoo looking like a printout either!So, now we move on to writing styles. Just like there are three kinds of Japanese characters, there are also three ways they can be written. Don't worry. This is easy! I know, you are thinking that you can't even read Japanese, so how on earth will you be able to recognize these different styles? Well, try this:Kaisho - Block letters. You learned to write your ABCs like this, and Japanese kids learn to write their characters in just the same way: Like a Volvo - boxy but good.Gyousho - Cursive letters. You moved up to middle school and learned you could write faster by letting the parts of some letters flow into the next. Yes, you guessed it - the Japanese do the same thing, and they call it gyousho.Sousho - Super-cursive letters. Ever seen a prescription from a doctor? Then you know what sousho is like in Japanese: Sure, the writer or some other trained person can (probably) read it, but no one else has a clue what it says!Are you getting the picture? If you want to look like a computer printout, then be my guest and go for the kaisho style. That's your choice. But I think you probably want to use either gyousho or sousho for your tattoo. My personal preference would be gyousho: It's stylish, but it won't leave even native speakers baffled.3. Real or fake?Remember I mentioned Mel C at the beginning? Well guess what kanji she got tattooed on her arm? That's right - "Girl Power": Great in English, but show this kanji combincation to most Japanese people and you'll get a blank look at best. Want a worse example? Try "big daddy". Now, you know what it means in English, but put it into kanji and you end up with "large father"! It just doesn't work.I'm sure you remember that kanji are the only characters that have meaning as well as sound. And their beauty means that they are what most people want for their tattoos. But watch out: As well as being popular, they can also be the most dangerous!Let's see if we can find a pattern here: Look carefully at the examples above. What are they communicating - concrete concepts or abstract ideas? Can you see the difficulty the translators had? The kanji for "dragon", "samurai", "love" or any other concrete ideas are pretty easy to discover. But go for anything with an idiomatic meaning and whoever is trying to help you translate it is going to get a major headache!Just an idea, but how about this suggestion: Rather than trying to force a round English peg into a square Japanese hole, why not find a real Japanese phrase that you like and get that instead? Bushidou (the Way of the Warrior) and Ninjutsu (The Art of Stealth) are two good examples of real Japanese terms that would make great tattoos.4. Your name in JapaneseAs I'm sure you remember from 2-minute Japanese boot camp, katakana are the characters usually used to write foreign words and names. So, if you want to get a tattoo of your name, technically these would be the characters you would choose. But I am guessing that, like most people, you want your name written in kanji. Do a quick search on Google and you can find a number of sites that specialize in translating names into kanji. Basically there are two different methods that these sites use, so let's look at them here.Translating the meaning This method involves finding out the original meaning of the English name, and then researching the kanji equivalent. For example, my name has its origins in Greek and means "crowned one". The one who is crowned is the king, so I could translate my name into the kanji for king and call myself ohsama. (Perhaps a little pretentious - and disturbingly similar to Mr. Bin Laden's first name!)Translating the sound This is a lot more difficult! Flick through a dictionary and you will find a bunch of kanji that can be combined to sound like your name. But sound isn't everything: Remember that kanji have meaning as well. In fact, it is even more complex than this! Be sure to check each of the following factors with anyone who translates your name like using this method:1. Sound - Does it sound like your name or not? I have seen my name "translated" on certain websites to sound like Stefan. Shame my name (Stephen) is actually said the same as Steven!2. On-yomi and kun-yomi - Yes, more technical words! But don't panic - they are easy to understand: Basically, kanji have two kinds of reading. One kind, on-yomi, is their original Chinese sound. The other, kun-yomi, is their Japanese-only sound. What to watch is that (like oil and water) on-yomi and kun-yomi don't mix. Use either all on-yomi reading or all kun-yomi readings to make the sound of your name.3. Meaning - Do the kanji have a good meaning together? Now, it can be very difficult to find kanji that sound right and have a good meaning, so you may need to compromise a little on one of these.4. Masculine or feminine - I guess this is more like a sub-category of meaning, but it is something you need to check out to avoid embarrassment. For example, while "Asian Beauty" may be a great combination for a woman, I get the feeling most men would not be too happy about having that permanently written into their skin!5. If in doubt, check!First, use your new-found knowledge of Japanese to ask a few difficult questions to your tattoo artist or kanji "specialist". If you get the feeling they don't know what they are talking about, you probably want to look elsewhere. Next, before you get anything permanent done, use an online dictionary (like the one at http://kanjidict.stc.cx/dict) to check whether the Japanese really means what you want it to. You may not be able to input Japanese yourself, but you can copy and paste characters from an email or web page and see what they mean.Finally, if you are lucky enough to know any, ask a Japanese person what they think. Their confused expression may tell you that you have come up with another "big daddy"!Follow this advice and you will avoid the most dangerous pitfalls of Japanese tattoos and get a kanji tattoo you can be proud of. Articles Source - Free Articles
About the Author
Stephen Munday lives in Japan. He works for Provide Cars, who buy cars at japanese car auctions and sell them to japanese car importers around the world. This article is (c) Stephen Munday 2005. Permission is given to reproduce this article in whole with the URLs correctly hyperlinked.

Q: What do famous celebrities like Pink, Britney Spears and the Spice Girls' Mel C all have in common? A: They all have Japanese tattoos!Japanese tattoos are cool. Of course, if you have money to burn like any of these ladies, you can afford to hire a professional translator to pick out the perfect character combination. But if personal translation is out of your league how can you avoid becoming a kanji fashion victim and get stuck with a tattoo you will really regret?1. Know the difference - hiragana, katakana and kanjiBefore you talk to your tattoo artist, make sure you know what you are talking about. You say you want a Japanese tattoo, but what do you know about Japanese characters? You need a quick stint in 2-minute Japanese boot camp.First off, let's be clear that there is no Japanese "alphabet". There are three sets of Japanese characters - hiragana, katakana and kanji - and each group has its own history, function and style. Get your head around these facts and you will already know more than 99% of the people walking around with Japanese tattoos right now:Hiragana - These simple, rounded characters represent sounds, but have no independent meaning. They were developed by women in the Heian period and are still considered feminine by Japanese people. Katakana - Developed by Buddhist monks around the same time as hiragana, these are simple, angular characters that also represent sounds and have no meaning of their own. You saw them cascading down the screen in Matrix (although they were backwards!)

Kanji - Originally from China, these characters are like pictures, representing a meaning and also several different sounds depending on the situation.Just reading this has probably given you an idea of which style you might like for your tattoo - but don't stop just yet! Now you know what kinds of Japanese characters there are, let's move on to...2. Writing stylesCome a bit closer. Lean forward towards the screen. That's right. Now, look at the words in front of you. Take a good, close look at the shapes of these letters. OK? Now tell me honestly: Would you want a tattoo in Times New Roman? How about Tahoma? What's that? You don't want a tattoo by Canon or Epson? Sure you don't. And in the same way, you don't want to have your Japanese tattoo looking like a printout either!So, now we move on to writing styles. Just like there are three kinds of Japanese characters, there are also three ways they can be written. Don't worry. This is easy! I know, you are thinking that you can't even read Japanese, so how on earth will you be able to recognize these different styles? Well, try this:Kaisho - Block letters. You learned to write your ABCs like this, and Japanese kids learn to write their characters in just the same way: Like a Volvo - boxy but good.Gyousho - Cursive letters. You moved up to middle school and learned you could write faster by letting the parts of some letters flow into the next. Yes, you guessed it - the Japanese do the same thing, and they call it gyousho.Sousho - Super-cursive letters. Ever seen a prescription from a doctor? Then you know what sousho is like in Japanese: Sure, the writer or some other trained person can (probably) read it, but no one else has a clue what it says!Are you getting the picture? If you want to look like a computer printout, then be my guest and go for the kaisho style. That's your choice. But I think you probably want to use either gyousho or sousho for your tattoo. My personal preference would be gyousho: It's stylish, but it won't leave even native speakers baffled.3. Real or fake?Remember I mentioned Mel C at the beginning? Well guess what kanji she got tattooed on her arm? That's right - "Girl Power": Great in English, but show this kanji combincation to most Japanese people and you'll get a blank look at best. Want a worse example? Try "big daddy". Now, you know what it means in English, but put it into kanji and you end up with "large father"! It just doesn't work.I'm sure you remember that kanji are the only characters that have meaning as well as sound. And their beauty means that they are what most people want for their tattoos. But watch out: As well as being popular, they can also be the most dangerous!Let's see if we can find a pattern here: Look carefully at the examples above. What are they communicating - concrete concepts or abstract ideas? Can you see the difficulty the translators had? The kanji for "dragon", "samurai", "love" or any other concrete ideas are pretty easy to discover. But go for anything with an idiomatic meaning and whoever is trying to help you translate it is going to get a major headache!Just an idea, but how about this suggestion: Rather than trying to force a round English peg into a square Japanese hole, why not find a real Japanese phrase that you like and get that instead? Bushidou (the Way of the Warrior) and Ninjutsu (The Art of Stealth) are two good examples of real Japanese terms that would make great tattoos.4. Your name in JapaneseAs I'm sure you remember from 2-minute Japanese boot camp, katakana are the characters usually used to write foreign words and names. So, if you want to get a tattoo of your name, technically these would be the characters you would choose. But I am guessing that, like most people, you want your name written in kanji. Do a quick search on Google and you can find a number of sites that specialize in translating names into kanji. Basically there are two different methods that these sites use, so let's look at them here.Translating the meaning This method involves finding out the original meaning of the English name, and then researching the kanji equivalent. For example, my name has its origins in Greek and means "crowned one". The one who is crowned is the king, so I could translate my name into the kanji for king and call myself ohsama. (Perhaps a little pretentious - and disturbingly similar to Mr. Bin Laden's first name!)Translating the sound This is a lot more difficult! Flick through a dictionary and you will find a bunch of kanji that can be combined to sound like your name. But sound isn't everything: Remember that kanji have meaning as well. In fact, it is even more complex than this! Be sure to check each of the following factors with anyone who translates your name like using this method:1. Sound - Does it sound like your name or not? I have seen my name "translated" on certain websites to sound like Stefan. Shame my name (Stephen) is actually said the same as Steven!2. On-yomi and kun-yomi - Yes, more technical words! But don't panic - they are easy to understand: Basically, kanji have two kinds of reading. One kind, on-yomi, is their original Chinese sound. The other, kun-yomi, is their Japanese-only sound. What to watch is that (like oil and water) on-yomi and kun-yomi don't mix. Use either all on-yomi reading or all kun-yomi readings to make the sound of your name.3. Meaning - Do the kanji have a good meaning together? Now, it can be very difficult to find kanji that sound right and have a good meaning, so you may need to compromise a little on one of these.4. Masculine or feminine - I guess this is more like a sub-category of meaning, but it is something you need to check out to avoid embarrassment. For example, while "Asian Beauty" may be a great combination for a woman, I get the feeling most men would not be too happy about having that permanently written into their skin!5. If in doubt, check!First, use your new-found knowledge of Japanese to ask a few difficult questions to your tattoo artist or kanji "specialist". If you get the feeling they don't know what they are talking about, you probably want to look elsewhere. Next, before you get anything permanent done, use an online dictionary (like the one at http://kanjidict.stc.cx/dict) to check whether the Japanese really means what you want it to. You may not be able to input Japanese yourself, but you can copy and paste characters from an email or web page and see what they mean.Finally, if you are lucky enough to know any, ask a Japanese person what they think. Their confused expression may tell you that you have come up with another "big daddy"!Follow this advice and you will avoid the most dangerous pitfalls of Japanese tattoos and get a kanji tattoo you can be proud of. Articles Source - Free Articles