Body Modification: Taboo or Alternative Art?
Today I was watching a show on the National Geographic Channel called Taboo. Now this show is fairly new, just a few months, but already has it touched on issues that have sparked controversy in my circles. Tonight's episode covered body modification. Things from a young woman who got her first horn implants to an UK gentleman who was the third person (known that is) to have one eyes iris completely blacked out with ink.
Personally, I think I would be able to hold a conversation with any of the people on the show without cringing or staring, but that's not to say that something like this is for the weak of heart. None of the people interviewed called themselves freaks, even the gentleman who performed for a freak show, or would even think of themselves as such. But artists, exploring alternative artistic avenues. I cannot judge them on that, because what they do is a more extreme, if not more obvious form of body modification. After all, isn't what they do just another form of "plastic surgery". How many women in a major metropolis haven't had some "body modification" done, but with people around them none the wiser? Botox, implants, for women and now men, are becoming so common place and accepted that a woman with (excuse the pun) a chest size the size of beach balls is either oogled or Googled but a man whose face resembling something Darth Maul would envy is called a devil worshipper or worse. One major difference between a person seeking body modification such as horns and a woman or man seeking silicon implants/lipo-suction/plastic surgery is the end result. Though the reasons why they do it can vary from wanting to be artistically different, original or the ever pursuit of beauty. One thing is true, I feel, and that is they have all become slaves to their elusive passions.
Personally, I think I would be able to hold a conversation with any of the people on the show without cringing or staring, but that's not to say that something like this is for the weak of heart. None of the people interviewed called themselves freaks, even the gentleman who performed for a freak show, or would even think of themselves as such. But artists, exploring alternative artistic avenues. I cannot judge them on that, because what they do is a more extreme, if not more obvious form of body modification. After all, isn't what they do just another form of "plastic surgery". How many women in a major metropolis haven't had some "body modification" done, but with people around them none the wiser? Botox, implants, for women and now men, are becoming so common place and accepted that a woman with (excuse the pun) a chest size the size of beach balls is either oogled or Googled but a man whose face resembling something Darth Maul would envy is called a devil worshipper or worse. One major difference between a person seeking body modification such as horns and a woman or man seeking silicon implants/lipo-suction/plastic surgery is the end result. Though the reasons why they do it can vary from wanting to be artistically different, original or the ever pursuit of beauty. One thing is true, I feel, and that is they have all become slaves to their elusive passions.
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