Memories of the 28th Century
Gilding the Lily
by , 10-17-2014 at 07:22 PM (3658 Views)
I have wondered about tattoos and similar things that distract, or detract, from someone’s personal appearance. I suppose that people who are especially ugly have good reason for wanting people to look at the eighty five piercings, rather noticing that you are uglier than a deformed warthog, But I have noticed otherwise not bad looking people with tattoos and/ or piercings. I realize that these things are fashions, and that a fair number of people have only a piercing through the septum, so that it is invisible when the ring is removed. Then I recall why swine and bulls are pierced through the septum and led around by a cord through the ring. The septum is extremely sensitive, and it would hurt them very much to try to pull away; make that hurt very, very, very much. But the greater question is why people want to hide their beauty behind something like that or some tattoo.
I suppose that some people truly think that tattoos and piercings look nice, and there is information transmitted in the tattoos that are created in prison, but the overwhelming majority of tattoos are not pleasant to see, and pierced ears are indifferent, but piercings in other parts of the body almost always look unpleasant. I realize that this is partly a generational matter, but even younglings agree that an excess of piercings do not look pleasant. I can imagine tattoos that would be pleasant to look upon, but the combinations of colors seldom enhance the shapes, and that blue/grey color is the most common color, and it isn’t attractive. If great paintings could be copied to human skin, then tattoos might be beautiful. And for maximum effect matching the shape of the body could truly enhance overall appearance, but there is a nudity taboo in Western culture, so full body tattoos and full nudity that would enhance the artwork would be frowned upon.
The Ancient Picts are said to have used tattooing to some effect, because there are comments of them being fearsome in appearance. Most other culturally appropriate tattooing is interesting, and some of it is informative in some way.
I could pound away at the matter of decorating one’s body for a long way without getting anywhere, because there are two underlying matters that probably explain all tattoos and most other body art; one is showing that someone is part of some particular culture, and the other is to warn off people who are not part of a the intended audience. But disguise comes in not far behind. In times not long past I jokingly suggested that people who wanted piercings should just use the septum of the nose, because no one would see the hole, if there were nothing in it. I considered it amusing, because swine and bulls are often treated with a nose ring to make it easier to lead them around. They are very tractable, because a sharp pull on the rope through the nose ring will hurt a lot, and they quickly learn that. I think that many of the women who have had their noses pierced did so to have something for men to look at other than their breasts and other features. I do wonder why I don’t regularly read of people having their nose rings pulled in a fight.
Please feel free to criticize me for this post. I don’t have any piercings or tattoos, but I have seen many, and I wonder why people put up with pain considering the results. But standards of beauty vary slightly, and some people probably find piercings beautiful; the people who do them certainly do. Has anyone examined people with extensive body art and found that they are not comfortable jn their own skins? If they were willing to wait a while, then they might be able to have scales or other results of genetic engineering that we will see in a few years.
It should be obvious that I am comfortable enough in my skin that I wouldn't want to mar my skin any more than necessary.
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