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Example research essay topic: A History Of Body Piercing Throughout Society - 1,236 words

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... therefore cause it to be pierced like the lobes of the ears of an infant pierced for earrings. " The Palang (often incorrectly called Ampallang) is a piercing that occurred among the Dayak, Kenya, Kelabit, Dayak, and Iban tribes of Sarawak on the Island of Borneo. It involves piercing the Glans of the Penis horizontally, and the insertion of a barbell. The term "Palang" translates as "Crossbar" in Iban and can be related to the timber roof supports of the longhouses of the tribes of the area, and symbolizes the protective power of the male over the family. "The operation is performed only on adults. The skin is forced back, the penis is placed between two small planks of bamboo and for ten days and it is covered with rags dipped in cold water. Then the glans is perforated with a sharp bamboo needle; a feather dipped in oil, is placed in the wound until it heals.

Wet compresses are used all the while. When the Dayak's travel and work they carry a feather in this canal. As soon as they grow desirous, they pull the feather out and replace it with the appalling. The appalling is a little rod of copper, silver or gold, four centimeters long and two millimeters thick.

At one end of this rod is a round ball or pear-formed object made of metal; at the other end a second ball is placed as soon as the appalling is affixed. The whole apparatus is, when ready, five centimeters long and five millimeters thick... Von Griffin has seen one Dayak who had two ampallang's, one behind the other! The perforation was always horizontal and above the urethra... The women of the Dayak's say the embrace without this ornament is like rice, but with it, it tastes like rice with salt.

Mantegazza, Sexual Relations of Mankind "The function of this device is, superficially, is to add to the sexual pleasure of the women by stimulating and extending the inner walls of the vagina. It is, in this, in my experience decidedly successful. " Tom Harrison, The Sarawak Museum Journal Vol VII, December 1956. The word "Guiche" is supposed to mean an opening in French, the actual translation is "window." This piercing is supposed to be a Samoan puberty ritual, but Derek Freeman Professor Emeritus of the Anthropology Department of The Australian National University, one of the worlds foremost authorities on Samoa informed me that he had no experience of this practice in Samoa. The puberty ritual practiced in Samoa is sub incision, this is where the underneath of the foreskin is cut down to the frenulum. Professor Freeman stated that this practice has never existed in Samoa, and if it had in the past he would have been aware of it. Doug Malloy traveled to Tahiti just before WWII, where he met an Australian sailor who had jumped ship named Reggie Jones.

Reggie told Doug about the piercing, and performed the piercing for him. Doug Malloy said that this piercing originated in Tahiti, the piercing was done at age 12 - 14 and a leather thong inserted into the piercing, a small weight either a rock or a shell was hung from the thong once the piercing was healed. The procedure was performed by a "Mahu", in Tahiti a Mahu is a transvestite male who has taken on the role of a women, they are highly respected members of society, and they were said to possess magical powers by adherents of the ancient Tahitian religion. However, again I can find no evidence of this practice in any literature about Tahiti. The ancient Polynesian mariners used to judge their direction by the movement of the waves, the best way to do this was to squat down and feel this movement through the swinging of the testicles.

The Rape Perineum where the Guiche piercing is done is the site of a large amount of nerves, and having a weight hanging from the piercing could possibly have helped the ancient mariners derive their direction, but this is only speculation on my part. The Hafada piercing is a scrotum piercing on the side of the scrotum, where there is a crease. It is supposed to have originated in Arabia and spread through Northern Africa and the Middle East. The piercing is carried out as a puberty ritual, it is generally done on the left hand side. The piercing was supposedly bought back to Europe by French Foriegn Legionaries when they were stationed in what is now Lebanon and Syria. Scrotum piercing aren't practiced by any primitive tribes, at least I can't find any evidence of such practices, it's really a modern western invention.

Some people have an incredible number of piercing through their scrotum, Sailor Sid one of the early piercers had 120 scrotum piercing at the time of his death, and he planned to have more. Throughout history people have decorated and altered the appearance of their bodies in many different ways. Body piercing is one of the oldest and most interesting forms of adornment and / or body modification, yet the reasons for piercing the body are as diverse as the cultures they come from. In this brief overview we would like to share some of these practices from around the world. They range from ancient biblical days and beyond to present day tribal customs. Sioux Indians - A young man on his journey to manhood would have his crest pierced with eagle claws and then hang suspended in the air - enduring the pain in this rite of passage.

In some parts of Australia and New Guinea one tribal custom is a pierced septum, giving the warrior a fierce & savage appearance. Approximately 1440 BC. The book of Exodus 21: 5 - 6 describes how Hebrew servants that pledged allegiance to their master would have their ear held to a door post and pierced with an awl. This would indicate identification with a particular family (NIV). Some women in India pierce their noses to induce a state of submissiveness (They claim this happens by proper placement in a march or acupuncture point).

In Borneo a man could choose to have pierced genitals for courtship and sexual enhancement reasons. The Centurions from ancient Rome expressed their strength and virility by displaying pierced - jeweled nipples Ethiopian men & women have various facial piercings and some are identified by oversized ear discs. Lip plates in the women help to gain social status and command a higher bridal price. In our culture we have brought to the mainstream some of these ancient and tribal practices as well as creating our Neo-Tribal customs. The big difference here is the expression of self choice. In our more permissive modern day society an individual can pierce their body for any number of the reasons listed above, but is not limited or obligated to a specific set of rules or conduct.

Another unique principal behind modern day piercing is that unless the piercing has been overstretched, it can be viewed as temporary. The person can take out the jewelry if he / she desires and re-transform their "look" again and again! We believe that much of the recent attraction and popularity of this "piercing renaissance" stems from the fact that up until the present - people were just unaware it was possible to pierce the body in so many different ways.


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Research essay sample on A History Of Body Piercing Throughout Society

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