Body modifications and mutilations

Body modifications and mutilations, intentional permanent or semipermanent alterations of the living human body for reasons such as ritual, folk medicine, aesthetics, or corporal punishment. In general, voluntary changes are considered to be modifications, and involuntary changes are considered mutilations. Common methods that have been used are incision, perforation, complete or partial removal, cautery, abrasion, adhesion, insertion of foreign bodies or materials, compression, distention, diversion, enlargement, and staining. By the early 21st century, many practices, whether medical (dentistry, orthodontics, surgery), aesthetic (using cosmetics), or some combination of these (engaging in athletic training regimens), had become so common they were rarely thought of as body modifications.

Modifications have generally been used to mark the social position of an individual in a manner visible to and recognized by other members of the society. That similar modifications are interpreted very differently from one culture to the next is an excellent indication of the relativity of ideals of beauty and deformity.

The head

Modifications of the head have included alterations of the skull, teeth, lips, tongue, nose, or ears. Deformation of the skull is the best-documented form, largely because archaeological skeletal remains clearly show its presence. Tabular deformations are produced by constant pressure of small boards or other flattened surfaces against the infant’s head (see head flattening). Annular deformations are produced by a constricting band; each kind is subdivided according to the resulting head shape, which is often strikingly different from the unmodified skull. Cases of cranial modification are known from all continents except Australia and Oceania, although it was rather rare in Africa south of the Sahara and apparently absent from South India.

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Dental modifications have often taken the form of removal, usually of one or more incisors (ancient Peru, most Australian Aborigines, some groups in Africa, Melanesia, and elsewhere); sharpening to a point or other pattern by chipping (Africa) or filing (ancient Mexico and Central America); filing of the surface, sometimes into relief designs (Indonesia); incrustation with precious stones or metal (Southeast Asia, India, ancient Mexico, and Ecuador); insertion of a peg between the teeth (India); and blackening (South India, hill peoples in Myanmar [Burma], some Malaysian groups).

Perforation of the lower lip (or less often the upper) for insertion of a decorative plug or other ornament was once widespread among Africans, lowland South American Indians, the Indians of the northwest North American coast, and the Inuit (Eskimo). Striking examples include those of the women of the Mursi and Sara tribes of Africa (for a time commonly known as Ubangi, after the name erroneously applied in P.T. Barnum’s publicity), whose lips were pierced and then stretched slowly over time to accommodate ever-larger inserts.

Piercing of the tongue has been a common form of sacrifice through time. It was practiced by the ancient Aztec and Maya Indians, who drew a cord of thorns through the tongue. Some Australian tribes also drew blood from gashes under the tongue at initiation rites.

For the insertion of decorative objects through the nose, perforation of the septum or of one or both of the wings, or alae (or both procedures combined), was widespread among South American Indians, Melanesians, and inhabitants of India and Africa; it was sporadic elsewhere (e.g., among Polynesians and North American Indians).

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Perforation of the earlobe for insertion of an ornament is widespread. Sometimes the hole is gradually stretched to carry a larger ornament or to yield a greater distended pendant margin. More rarely, ornaments have been inserted in holes in the cartilage along the ear’s auricular margin (eastern North American Indians, some African and tropical South American groups).

By the end of the 20th century, piercing of the ears, tongue, nose, lips, and other parts of the head had become a social marker within some Western cultural groups, among whom the practice often signified youthfulness or a willingness to engage in social experimentation. While various forms of piercing were fairly common, a few individuals engaged in more radical body modifications such as having their tongues surgically split or having surgical implants placed under the skin of the face or skull.

The genitalia

The best-known and most widespread genital alteration is male circumcision. Subincision (opening the urethra along the inferior surface of the penis for a varying distance between the urinary meatus and the scrotum) was a common practice at puberty initiations among Australian Aborigines and has been recorded as a therapeutic measure among Fijians, Tongans, and Amazonian Indians. Customary unilateral castration (monorchy) was known in central Algeria, among the Beja (Egypt), Sidamo (Ethiopia), San and Khoekhoe (southern Africa), and some Australian Aborigines, and on Pohnpei Island (Micronesia). Bilateral castration was common to produce eunuchs for Muslim harem attendants, for servants in China’s Imperial Palace, and for several centuries (until prohibited by Pope Leo XIII in the late 19th century) to produce male sopranos or contraltos called castrati (see castrato) for ecclesiastical chants in the Roman Catholic Church. Bilateral castration was mentioned as punishment for adultery among the Zande (central Africa), Babylonians, ancient Egyptians, ancient Chinese, and elsewhere.

Among the Toraja and Sadang (Sulawesi, Indonesia) and some Dayak groups (Borneo), many adult men wore a penis pin, knobbed on each end and averaging about 1.5 inches (4 cm) long, in a permanent perforation through the glans to increase pleasure in their sexual partners. The Alfur (Sulawesi) inserted pebbles under the skin of the glans for the same purpose.

Modifications of female genitalia have been many and varied. They have included excision of part or all of the clitoris (known as clitoridectomy) and sometimes also of the labia, mons, or both, in much of Africa, ancient Egypt, India, Malaysia, and Australia and among the Skoptsy (a Russian Christian sect). Incision of the external genitalia, without removal of any part, was found among the Totonac (Mexico) and tropical South American Indians. Infibulation, practiced in parts of northern and eastern Africa, involves cutting away the clitoris, labia minora, and most of the labia majora and inducing their adhesion; this leaves only a small genital orifice and is thought to prevent sexual intercourse until the orifice is reopened by incision. Dilatation of the vaginal orifice, often with incision, was found among some Australian Aborigines. Elongation of the labia (tablier) was recorded for southern Africa and the Caroline Islands, and artificial defloration was found among Australian Aborigines and elsewhere. Because many cases of forcible female genital alteration were recorded during the late 20th and early 21st centuries (see female genital cutting), the issue became the focus of international debates about the relative value of individual rights versus cultural traditionalism.