Body Modification

Frances Sand

Stalking Cat (Dennis Avner)www.stalkingcat.net

www.thelizardman.com(Erik Sprague)

www.lizardman.com

OutlineWhat is body

modification?Modern Primitivism

(and its critiques)Body modification and

gender (radical feminist critiques and body modifiers’ responses)

Body modification and consumer culture

What is body modification?“a long list of practices which include

piercing, tattooing, branding, cutting, binding and inserting implants to alter the appearance and form of the body.” (Featherstone 2000: 1)

Also, the use of prosthetics / technical systems (see week 15)

Often articulated in terms of “a gesture against the body natural and the tyranny of habitus formation” (Featherstone 2000)

Recurrent themes (Pitts 2003)Body playTo promote technological / anthropological

knowledge of bodiesTo cultivate provocative bodily performanceTo articulate the body’s symbolic significanceBodily self-ownershipPersonal, cultural and political expression

through the bodyNew possibilities for gender / sexuality /

ethnic identity

Modern PrimitivismCoined by Fakir MusafarEngaging in body modification practices / rituals

that make reference to traditional practices in “primitive cultures”

Lexicon of vision quests / spirits / spirit guides / totems etc.

Emphasis on the body, community, sexuality and spirituality

(Sweetman 2000) identity strategy within the late modern condition

Not just individual, but collective creativity

Critiques…Extends notion of self-invention in post-

modern culture to ethnic identity – “the myth of non-locatedness” (Pitts 2003: 148)

Legacy of colonialism

CritiquesExtends notion of self-invention in post-

modern culture to ethnic identity – “the myth of non-locatedness” (Pitts 2003: 148)

Legacy of colonialismExtends notion of self-invention in post-

modern culture to ethnic identity – “the myth of non-locatedness” (Pitts 2003: 148)

Legacy of colonialism

Body modification and genderRadical feminist opposition (see Jeffreys 2000):

“the cottage industry of self-mutilation”“self-mutilation by proxy” continuum of harm against women“Such practices of self-mutilation need to be

included in our understanding of those harmful western cultural practices that tend to be excused under the rubrics of “choice, “fashion” or “beauty”, such as cosmetic surgery, transsexual surgery, dieting and high heel shoes” (p. 410)

Produce of abuse; extension of abuse.

Body modifiers’ responses“Far from revealing women’s self-hatred and

lack of self-control, they argue, the practices demonstrate women’s assertion of control over their own bodies.” (Pitts 2003: 56)

Reclaiming the body; being in controlMaking a public statementBeing differentChallenging expertise

But…Radical feminists presume a pristine body, but it

is also problematic to assume that body projects mean that an individual can limitlessly negotiate bodies and identities: (Pitts) they are negotiating relationship between identity, culture and their own bodies

Limits of subversive body politics – increasing Othering / affirming values they are resisting?

Eventually, the body modification has to stopLimiting (as well as limited)Can’t always ensure a politically radical message

Body modification as consumer culture? (Turner 2000)“Body marks are typically narcissistic, being

playful signs to the self. They are part of a personal and interior biography, not an obligatory feature of collective memory.” (Turner 2000: 42)

Modern Primitivism is “simulated and ironic”. Typology

Thick / thin solidarityHot / cool loyalties

Traditional tribalism is thick / hot; contemporary tattooing (and Modern Primitivism) is thin / cool.

Body modification as consumer culture? (Sweetman 2000)Hard to categorise tattooing / piercing /

branding as “fashion” Tattooing / piercing can be seen as “attempts

to anchor or stabilise one’s sense of self identity, in part through the establishment of a coherent personal narrative”

PermanencePainPlanningA sense of achievement – a “corporeal artefact”