Enhancement. Modification. Mutilation.

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When is enough really enough?

According to Bob Whitehead, a free lance writer specializing in body art, body modification has been practiced for thousands of years and is still being practiced today. Some call it “a universal art form.” It has been done for several reasons including:
- Religious affiliation
- Rite of passage
- Ritual/Ceremonial practices
- Sexual Enhancement
- Denote trust/loyalty
- Self expression

In his article, The History of Body Modification Throughout the Ages, Whitehead writes that ear and nose piercings would denote a person’s rank in society. Ear stretching and plugging was started by the Mayans long ago. Scarification, the permanent altering of skin, began in Africa as a rite of passage as well as to serve for further attraction. Whitehead concludes his article by making the statement that body modification has history to the past and can tie us to our ancestors.

Body modification covers a rather large range of skin manipulation, but one thing most body modification specialists exclude is cosmetic surgery. Personally, I feel cosmetic surgery is one of the most universally known practices to enhance or modify one’s own flesh. Why isn’t cosmetic surgery accepted as body modification then? Is it because it is a “modern” practice, or because it doesn’t directly connect us with the past? If, however, you were to type in “body modification” into a search engine many links will lead you to a page involving some type of cosmetic surgery. Obviously the internet using society disagrees with the experts. Now I pose two questions for you. Do you think cosmetic surgery is body modification and when is the line from modification or enhancement drawn between mutilation?

I came across a quote by Alfred Kinsey, the father of sexology, which reads:

“It is a characteristic of the human mind that it tries to dichotomies in its classification of phenomena. Things either are so, or they are not so. Sexual behavior is either normal or abnormal, acceptable or unacceptable, heterosexual or homosexual; and many persons do not want to believe that there are gradations in these matters from one to the other extreme.”

This directly applies to how humans, especially Americans, view the topic of appearance. A person is either are beautiful or they are not. And the definition of beautiful is very limited; it changes from person to person. Therefore if a person were to strive to be beautiful they would just be chasing after something that will constantly recreate itself. I’ve come to the conclusion that they would be chasing their own self-worth.  Every time a doctor or a surgeon tries a new, unique surgery the definition of beautiful is rewritten by the norm, and now that doctors, many like Dr. Kluska in the post before, are more likely to view cosmetic surgery as an “art” the line between modification and mutilation of the body is theoretically blurred just as the definition of beautiful is.

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