This master thesis focuses on body modifications, mainly tattooing. The aim is to present the tattooing in a broader context and show its link to many aspects of people's lives that was evident especially in traditional tribal societies before the colonization era. The attention is paid to the Maori culture and the Marquesas Islands because their tattoos used to have high art value and formed the inseparable part of the inhabitants' lives. At the same time it describes the up-to-date situation in the western culture, where the body modification is very popular. It also mentions the current tattoo projects happening in the Czech Republic. Information are taken from several books available in Czech, especially the work written by Martin Rychlík "Tetování, skarifikace a jiné zdobení těla" and many electronic books in English. Information about the tattoo and body art news comes from the websites where the interested people meet and write their observations and articles about the present events. The conclusion shows that body modifications and body adornments are as old as a mankind. They appear in all cultures and do not have only the aesthetic function. They are the important source of information about social position, family relation, wealth, past experience, etc. Tattoos and the other body...

Student Number : 9304796E - MA research report - School of Psychology - Faculty of Humanities / The central aim of this research was to ascertain the psychological meaning of, and motivation for body piercing in a sample of female body modifiers. It was decided to conduct research on the psychology of body piercing because although medical, anthropological and social research has been conducted into piercing practices and body modification, very little has focused on the underlying psychological meanings and motivations associated with body modification. Furthermore, the focus of this study was limited to women because it was felt that had both genders been included, possibly gender based differences would have caused the scope of the research project to become too wide. By focusing specifically on women, it was felt that a deeper understanding of the underlying psychological motivations for the piercing of the female body could be explored. For the purposes of this research, the operational definition of body piercing is defined as that which does not echo mainstream fashion trends or promote Eurocentric, socially sanctioned ideals of beauty. The participants needed to have pierced body parts (excluding their earlobes), and the piercings or the piercing process should hold specific significance and meaning for them. Participants who had pierced body parts only for aesthetic reasons were excluded from this study. Those who were included attributed more than just a decorative function and aesthetic value to their body piercings. In other words, they deviated from mainstream piercing practices in terms of the meanings they attach to their piercings. Some of the piercings and piercing practices and processes undertaken by the participants represent a departure from the ‘norm’, and have been described as bordering on pathological. The research sought to identified commonalities and differences amongst the participants and to understand their experiences and behaviour within the context of psychodynamic feminist frameworks. Broadly defined, feminism is a movement organized around the belief that men and women are/should be socially, politically and economically equal. Contemporary feminism, which influences perceptions of female body modification, is split into two distinct strands: one school of feminism views body modification as a form of self-injury and self-mutilation while the other holds that it is a positive resistance in the face of gender norms (Pitts, 2003). This was taken into account in this study. Given that the participants were all women, and that the relationship between body modification and social structures of power/authority are a central concern in feminist literature (Atkinson, 2002), this paradigm was chosen because it provides an appropriate and relevant framework within which to explore the underlying motives and meaning of body piercing for female body piercers. Their attitudes, meaning making processes and relationships with their bodies in relation to their piercings are used to uncover the significance of their body projects and their decisions to be pierced. The central themes which emerged through the thematic data analysis are related back to the feminist literature. Psychoanalysis explores repressed or unconscious impulses, object relations, anxieties, and internal conflicts. For this reason, a psychodynamic framework was used to provide a context within which to explore the unconscious motivations, anxieties and defenses employed by the participants. Freud’s theories of masochism are examined in an attempt to further understand the female body piercer. These are placed within a general psychodynamic framework, and the works of Bowlby, Fonagy, Kernberg, Malan and Winnicott are used to support the findings of the research. The research is based in the qualitative paradigm, with the aim of exploring and describing the body modifier’s thoughts, fantasies, feelings and experiences around being pierced. The data gathered was analyzed using thematic content analysis to elucidate the participants’ reasons for choosing to modify their bodies, and to highlight the meanings of these practices in the context of the their personal histories. In total, six participants were interviewed, although one interview was not included for analysis as it was felt that the data gathered from this interview, while not contradicting the rest of the data gathered, was superficial in content and did not contribute to the research. The excluded participant spoke very broadly and did not really offer much personal information as to the meaning and motives behind her piercings. The research explored the history of body modification, definitions of body modification and body projects, issues pertaining to identity, body image and self concept, expanded consciousness and altered states of being, pain and sadomasochism, the pathologizing of body modification, feminist perspectives on body modification and psychodynamic explanations for body modification. Although much literature abounds on body modification practices, very little is of academic significance. Furthermore, few studies have been conducted into this area from a psychological perspective. In this regard, the writings of Favazza (1996), Featherstone (2003) and Vale & Juno (1989) were used to provide a context within which to place this study. Research papers by Atkinson (2002) and Dennes (2005) also proved particularly useful, and will be discussed in the following chapter.

[pt] O presente trabalho procurou investigar, à luz da concepção foucaultiana da constituição da subjetividade, os adeptos das práticas de marcação corporal extrema, tais como: tatuagem, piercing, escarificação, branding, cutting, suspensão, entre outras, concernentes ao movimento da Body Modification. Cada época produz um tipo de corpo que corresponde aos ideais de beleza e aos valores dominantes em uma sociedade. Reconhecendo que os adeptos da Body Modification constroem corpos que possuem um estilo divergente dos padrões presentes na sociedade ocidental, procurou-se refletir não somente sobre os efeitos destas práticas para estes indivíduos, mas também a respeito das conseqüências da sua presença em nossa sociedade. Para tanto, procedeu-se inicialmente a uma exposição da visão de Foucault sobre o poder e a maneira como as relações de poder investem os corpos produzindo formas de subjetivação. Foi realizado, também, um histórico das práticas de marcação corporal ao longo da humanidade para apontar o contexto em que surge o movimento da Body Modification e suas especificidades. Além disto, foram apresentadas as características principais do pensamento dos indivíduos que se submetem a estas práticas. Tendo por base a premissa, apresentada por Foucault, de que a subjetividade possui uma raiz corporal, este movimento é valorizado pela autora como uma nova forma de subjetivação contemporânea que busca resistir aos mecanismos coercitivos do poder. / [en] The present work investigates, based on the foucautian notion of the constitution of the subjectivity, the practitioners of extreme body marking such as tattooing, piercing, scarification, branding, cutting, suspension, among others. All these practices concern the greater movement of Body Modification. Each society produces different standards for what the ideal body should be according to the patterns of beauty and the dominant values of each particular time. Considering that the body constructed by the practitioners of Body Modification is divergent to western culture standards, this study tries to show how this perspective influences not only those who use it but also how its presence in our society has important consequences. To do so the study began with an exposition of Foucault´s notion of power and how power relations invest the bodies producing different forms of subjectivity. A historic approach on body marking also made it possible to understand in which context the Body Modification Movement and its specificities appeared. The narrative of the individuals who submit to these practices was also taken in consideration, and the main aspects of how they think their experience is presented in this work. Agreeing with Foucault´s premise that subjectivity has its roots on the body, the Body Movement is valued by the author as a new form of subjectivity which can offer an alternative for resistance in face of the coercive mechanisms of power of our contemporaneity.

Body modification is a global phenomenon. In the southeastern United States, two forms of modifications present themselves most often: piercings and tattoos. Much of the research conducted on body modifications looks at deviance as a primary concern, focusing less on what the individuals are like. This study examines the personal accounts of people with body modifications and add to the existing information about body-modified people. Interviews were conducted with fifteen participants across several months in different parts of two east Tennessee cities. Questions were open-ended and all responses were transcribed. Participants discussed a variety of topics, including pain, belongingness, and body image. This research offers suggestions for future research in focused areas of body modification.

This production journal acts as a public record of the journey to produce my MFA thesis film, Mirror, Mirror Perfected. Operating as a folktale, Mirror, Mirror Perfected is a hybrid speculative suspense film looking at our intersect with social media through the eyes of a young dancer in a near-future world. The journal includes notes from research during my time at the University of Iowa in New Media Studies, Sociology and Performance Studies. I explore how, for instance, the Narcissus myth attempts to influence my world through the liminality of instant gratification, technology, and the fragmentation of identity. The journal also accounts for the conceptual, personal, and practical considerations for the development of Mirror, Mirror Perfected since 2012.

Throughout history, skin manipulation was primarily practiced for cultural, tribal, or religious purposes. In the contemporary landscape, skin manipulation has been objectified and commercialized. This is exemplified through bio-upholstery, foreign materials under our skin and changing the skin structure. This thesis investigates skin manipulation, with the intent to focus experimentation on the skin’s lines of cleavage, a topographical map drawn on our skin and used to define the direction where skin has the most and least flexibility. The aim is to connect and explore materials that can be used as a second skin, while at the same time examining and utilizing the lines of cleavage found within the structure of skin. The focus of this thesis is to examine the potential of different materials, as a second skin that enhances our skin and its properties of protection. Through experimentation I aim to explore an alternate second skin’s function, through a series of experiments that address flexibility, protection, and memory.

This hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry describes the lived experiences of three visibly tattooed teachers and what it is like to sense their tattooed flesh while they are at school. Lived experience descriptions were collected during in-depth interviews and from personal reflective writings conducted by the study author, who is also a tattooed teacher. Using hermeneutic research approaches outlined by Max van Manen and Linda Finlay, lifeworld descriptions of visibly tattooed teachers are presented in the form of anecdotal passages that urge readers to ‘step into tattooed skin’. Drawing from Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of perception, Luce Irigaray’s work on intersubjectivity, Michel Foucault’s notion of the disciplinary gaze, theories of the look in education forwarded by Madeline Grumet, and Judith Butler’s notion of subversive bodies, meanings are made of tattooed teachers’ experiences of adopting uncomfortable teacher identities and then growing comfortable in their professional roles. Through hermeneutic analysis, five main themes are presented, constituting the “essences” of the phenomemon of living as a visibly tattooed teacher: Trying to Fit; Mis-fit; Fit. You? Fit You!; Fitting In; and One Size Does Not Fit All.

Den här uppsatsen undersöker de diskurser som kan formuleras kring hur tatuerade personer talar om sig själva och om tatueringskonsten, utifrån en diskursanalytisk studie av intervjuer i Scandinavian Tattoo Magazine. Uppsatsens teoretiska och metodologiska ramverk är byggt kring Marianne Winther Jørgensens och Louise Phillips diskursteoretiska begreppsbygge, som i sig framförallt grundas i Ernesto Laclaus och Chantal Mouffes diskursanalytiska begrepp. De formulerade diskurserna; sexualitetsdiskursen, ironiseringsdiskursen, möjligheternas diskurs, individualitetsdiskursen och maskulinitetsdiskursen, har diskuterats utifrån begrepp tagna från Mary Douglas (renhet och fara), Slavoj Žižek (cynism) samt Peter L. Berger och Thomas Luckmann (typifieringschema och face-to-face-situationen). Uppsatsens analys visade att kvinnor inte bara föredras som representanter för tatuering i tidskriftens intervjuer, utan också att de, till skillnad från männen, sexualiseras kraftigt. Vidare har teorier framlagts kring relevanta diskursers utvecklingar vad gäller hur de intervjuade identifierar sig med själva praktiken, och slutsatser kunde även dras kring tatuerings individualiserande aspekter, där analysen tyder på att gränserna inom tatuering, vad gäller exempelvis motiv och val av placering, kommer att flyttas fram kontinuerligt i framtiden. / This essay examines the discourses that can be formulated around how tattooed people talk about themselves and about tattoo as a practice. This is based on a discourse analysis study of interviews made in Scandinavian Tattoo Magazine. The essays theoretical and methodological framework is built around Marianne Winther Jørgensens and Louise Phillips framework discourse theory, which itself is based mainly in Ernesto Laclaus and Chantal Mouffes discourse analysis concepts. They formulated discourses; the sexuality discourse, the ironic discourse, the discourse of opportunities, the discourse of individuality and the masculinity discourse, has been discussed using concepts taken from Mary Douglas (purity and danger), Slavoj Žižek (cynicism), Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann (reciprocal typification and face-to-face situations). The essays analysis showed that women are not only preferred as representatives of tattooing in the specific interviews in the magazine, but also that they, as opposed to the men, are heavily sexualized. Theories regarding how relevant discourses surrounding tattoos have developed, based on how the respondents identify with the practice, are also presented, and conclusions were also drawn around the individualizing aspects of tattooing, where the analysis suggests that the boundaries of tattooing, for example in design and choice of location, will be continuously stretched further in the future.

Although immensely popular with American boys upon his debut in 1938, Superman has gradually lost relevance with the postmodern generation. DC Comics has rewritten the character numerous times in an attempt to regain lost popularity, but the problem lies in an aspect of his character they refuse to alter – his invulnerability. Superman’s invulnerable body was engineered to quell the fears America harbored towards technological progress, but his impervious physique now renders him obsolete. Boys in postmodern America, under the influence of post-Enlightenment body values, now connect with vulnerable comic book heroes whose bodies more closely match their own. This paper examines the sociological reasons for the shift in Superman’s popularity by comparing the body values of 1938 with those of today, and concludes that while Superman might have succeeded as a modern hero, he fails as a postmodern one.

Few bodies consistently portray natural or unaltered forms. Instead, humans inhabit bodies imbued with sociocultural meanings about what is attractive, appropriate, functional, and presentable. As such, embodiment is always gendered. The social, extra-corporeal body is a central locus for expressing gender. Surgical body modifications represent inherently gendered technologies of the body. But psychomedical institutions subject people who seek gender-crossing surgeries to increased surveillance, managing and regulating cross-gender embodiment as disorderly. Using mixed research methods, this research systematically compared transgender and cisgender (non-transgender) people’s experiences before, during, and after surgical body modification. I conducted a content analysis of 445 threads on a message board for an online cisgender surgery community, an analysis of 15 international protocols for transgender-specific surgeries, and 40 in-depth interviews with cisgender and transgender people who had surgery. The content analysis of the online community revealed similar themes among cisgender and transgender surgery users. However, detailed protocols existed only for transgender consumers of surgery. Interview findings showed that transgender and cisgender people reported similar presurgical feelings toward their bodies, similar cosmetic and psychological motivations for surgery, and similar benefits of surgery. For both cisgender and transgender people, surgery enhanced the inner self through improving the outer gendered body. Despite these similar embodied experiences, having a cisgender gender status determined respondents’ abilities to pursue surgery autonomously and with institutional support. Ultimately, this research highlights inequalities that result from gender status and manifest in psychomedical institutions by identifying the psychosocial impacts of provider/consumer or doctor/patient interactions, relating gendered embodiment to regulatory systems of authority, and illuminating policy implications for clinical practice and legal classifications of sex and gender.