[MissInformation]

Back in the early 90s I did a term paper on past and present harmful beauty practices entitled "Beauty: the Eye and the Beholder". It focused mainly on women, and included the European practice of drinking arsenic for paler skin and putting belladonna drops in your eyes for bright, sparkly eyes, the African practice of extending the neck with rings, lip discs, etc. and their tattooing, which is nothing but intentional scarring of the skin, the old Chinese practice of foot binding (one of the worse things done) and hair removal, the American practice of whalebone corsets and Native American practice of flattening a baby's forehead with boards... and of course, the ever popular trend towards plastic surgery and implants and what not. And in almost all circumstances, these modifications were done because someone else was dictating what was and is beautiful.

Before I did this paper, I was planning on getting a tattoo. Originally I wanted a barbed-wire anklet, but found out that barbed-wire is a prison symbol, so I was willing to settle for a black rose with a silver stem and a spider dangling from it's silver thorn (don't ask, I was young). I didn't have much in the way of piercings, just two holes in one ear and three in the other. After doing all of the research I did for this paper, I felt a little sick and decided not to modify my body anymore, I even let my ear piercings close (this was also when I decided I would never get married as most of these things were done to women and by women in order to attract a husband).

Two years ago, I got my ears pierced again (just one in each ear). I did it because I wanted it, not because someone else said it was the thing to do. And now that I'm older, I'm really glad I didn't get a tattoo, mainly for the reason Dave said about the wear and tear aging has on them. I still think tattoo artwork can be amazingly impressive and have recently been fascinated by people I've met who have had poetry tattooed onto their bodies, but hey, that's what finger paint is for… So, nope, not for me. But if it’s for you, make sure it really is for you, and not for impressing people who probably aren’t worth impressing anyhow, or you'll end up spending lots of money getting them removed (like my friend's sister who had a big heart with "New Kids on the Block" in the center tattooed on her shoulder... ugh...)

Heidi