Body Alteration Essay

2780 Words12 Pages
Research paper on body alterations Ever since the dawn of time, man has been changing his outward appearance, modifying it with paint, tattoos, piercings, scars and the like for his tribe, his gods, even his own pleasure. However, over the course of history, in many parts of the world it has become less and less accepted for man to change his appearance. Those who do so are deemed as barbaric, primitive, or uncivilized. What the opponents of body modification fail to grasp is that their ancestors participated in these practices as well. Change is an inevitable part of life; something in this world is always changing and reinventing itself. Although many Westerners often view body modification as an act of rebellion, the practice actually has a long, rich history of depicting beauty, maturity, and success. Body Modification is a self-explanatory term. It means just what it says - it is when a person chooses to modify his or her own body for any number of reasons. This reason may be cultural, religious, spiritual, or simply cosmetic. Also, modifying the body does not always mean having a lip scalpeled for a labret plug, or stretching ears to an expanded size. It is also as basic as a young girl getting her ears pierced at the mall, a woman receiving a breast augmentation, an individual receiving botox injections, or even an elderly man dying his hair back to its youthful color. The practice of body modification surrounds us in everyday life; however, why someone would change his or her body is different in each scenario. Across the planet there are numerous examples of cultures modifying their bodies, be it an African tribe sporting lip disk, or an Alaskan tribe donning labret plugs. In Papua New Guinea, in the Sepik region, the crocodile is held in the highest regards due to the belief that men were given life by these animals (Guynup,
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