From: Meghan
Category: Information
Date: 25 Jan 2000
Time: 22:22:44
Remote Name: 129.116.226.162
<<So please cut me (pun) a little slack if you ever are multiple-pierced and I'm one of the staring vanilla crowd>>
Mundanes, my mutli-pierced friend calls you. :-) I have 12 piercings thus far ... six visible (two earlobes, one nose, one septum, two ear cartilage), two semi-visible (tongue and navel), and four that are usually hidden (my nipples). If I flip my septum ring up, I generally look pretty vanilla, myself.
<<but given that I can't stand pain, how does this possibly not hurt you? No offense intended here, now.. >>
There's absolutely nothing offensive about that. :-)
I don't know why it doesn't hurt me, my pain tolerance really isn't any greater than most people's. But when you think about it, it's a fairly small needle slicing very cleanly through a very small area of skin (or cartilage, depending). It's not like getting stabbed with a knife or a dagger, or even a shot (which is plunged deeper into you than with a piercing).
My piercer says that pain is often a product of the mind more so than the body (keep in mind he was a psychotherapist before becoming a piercer). I believe that --- most likely, I rationalize the pain away. People who are adamantly terrified of needles will probably feel a lot more pain with a piercing than people like me, who are indifferent. Some people don't think it hurts, but feel uncomfortable. Some people find it enjoyable. Me, I just feel some quick pressure and a little soreness later. Most people who do find it painful consider the pain a transitory inconvenience on their way to realizing their vision of themselves as modified.
(FWIW, the tattoo I have on my ankle didn't hurt any more than a cat scratch or a razor burn.)
If I'm ever lucky enough to do a fleshhook suspension (http://www.suspensions.org), I can tell you, it's going to hurt --- mind over matter won't matter at all! :-)
<<Ceci - I had my arms crossed over my chest the whole time I was looking at the piercings...yeeeowch!>>
So did everyone in the room when I was getting it done. :-) My second nipple piercings are really done more through the aureola, since they needed to be placed behind the first set.
To see a really bitchin' nipple piercing, go to http://www.bmezine.com/title/1999/index.html and look at "Newest Addition."
Meghan "trust me, they're even cooler than mine" Scott