Bodypiercing and Generation X

I. J. Samson
St. John's, Newfoundland

By Rosalie B. (Grade 9)

Bodypiercing has been dubbed as the new craze of "Generation X". Some people think of bodypiercing as an art, but other people have called it "a desecration of the human body". I asked Krista (14), a friend of mine who does not have anything pierced, what she thinks of bodypiercing in general. She said that there is nothing wrong with it as long as it is tasteful. "It can be beautiful if you only have one or two things pierced, like your nose or your navel. When you have like, your nose and your eyebrow and your tongue pierced, it can get kind of gross!"

However, I did get a different opinion about bodypiercing from Judi (15), who has her navel pierced. "All bodypiercing looks good, except when it doesn't suit the person who has it done." I also think that, as long as it looks good, then there is nothing wrong with it.

I asked my mom what she thought of bodypiercing. Her reply was "People pierce things besides their ears these days?! That's disgusting!"

I guess that bodypiercing really is the craze of "Generation X", but why? Is it because young people want to "annoy" their parents by "ruining" their bodies? Contrary to what parents think, teenagers do not do everything just to annoy them. Younger people do tend to be more openminded about things like tattooing and bodypiercing. Most of the people whom I asked why they had one of their body parts pierced said that they "just felt like it."

"I saw it on someone else and I thought that it looked cool, so I did it", says Elitza (14) on why she got her nose pierced, "It hurt a bit but it was worth it because it looks really cool."

There were two reasons why I wanted to do my article on bodypiercing. One was, I wanted to find out what the big deal was about, and two, I am wondering if I should get something pierced myself. For as long as I have been a teenager, I always thought that it would be cool to get my navel pierced. I figured a good way to get information about bodypiercing would be to "surf the net". I went to some sites that read "Experiences With Bodyart" and read some entries made by people who had had something pierced. Most people said that they experienced a massive head rush when they got their body part pierced, but it passed after an hour or so. I really started to get afraid when one person descibed how they passed out after they experienced "unbearable pain". This is when I decided that bodypiercing was not for me.

So, really, it is your own opinion whether you think that bodypiercing is a way of decorating your body, or ruining it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and if they happen to think that it is stupid, then they don't have to do it. If we can accept each other's likes and dislikes, everybody would get along much better. In my opinion, if you think that punching an earring in your body looks cool, then I'm not going to stop you.