Nose piercing is very attractive, and can accentuate the face, because the nose is the face's most prominent feature; Leonardo Da Vinci believed that the nose set the character of the whole face. This practice is still followed among the nomadic Berber and Beja tribes of Africa, and the Bedouins of the Middle East, the size of the ring denotes the wealth of the family.
The left side is the most common to be pierced in India, because that is the spot associated in Ayuvedra (Indian medicine) with the female reproductive organs, the piercing is supposed to make childbirth easier and lessen period pain.
It was later adopted by the Punk movement of the late 1970's as a symbol of rebellion against conservative values, and conservative people like parents and employers still don't react well to it, so consider their reaction carefully before getting it done.
Tongue piercing is one of the most popular piercings, it's shocking, provocative and fantastic for oral sex (for both sexes), but at the same time no one need know you have it.
Ears were probably first pierced for magical purposes, very many primitive tribes believe that demons can enter the body through the ear, because demons and spirits are supposed to be repelled by metal, ear-piercing prevents them entering the body.
"As the Roman Republic grew more effeminate with wealth and luxury, earrings were more popular among men than women; no less a he-man than Julius Caesar brought back to repute and fashion the use of rings in the ears of men."
The Makololo tribe of Malawi wear lip plates in the upper lip called Pelele. The African explorer Dr. Livingstone asked a chief the reason for this, in surprise the chief answered "For beauty!
"The plug of wood in the lips, which became little by little a disk, and then a real plaque, was in some manner a sign of possession of the husband of the Djinja woman.
It is the man who is to marry her, and very often him alone who operates, transfixing the lips of the young girl with a blade of straw forms the first sign of the deformation to which she will be subject as an adult.
Source: Field notes of David G. Fitzpatrick 1977 in "Bundi, the culture of Papua New Guinea people" Ryebuck Publications, Nerang Queensland Australia 1983
Navel piercing is a modern invention and has never been recorded in primitive cultures; however the navel has long been recognised as an erogenous zone, because of the difference between men's and women's stomachs.
And then at Isaac Mizrahi's show the two came out together, navels bared and beringed: body piercing as a Supermodel totem" Suzy Menkes The New York Times September 1994
"I like it, I think it's fun!" Naomi Campbell. "I always thought it was a pretty feminine thing to do - and you can always take it out" Christy Turlington.
Roman Centurions wore leather armour breast plates which were shaped to fit the body and rings were sometimes placed in these breastplates where the nipples appeared to be, the rings were used to hang a cape from.
This fashion eventually led to the application of rouge to freely displayed nipples, those 'little apples of paradise' and to placing diamond studded rings or small caps on them, even to piercing them and passing gold chains through them decorated with diamonds" "Dreamtime" Hans Peter Duerr
The rings enlarged the nipples and kept them in a state of constant excitation...the medical community was outraged by these cosmetic procedures, for they represented a rejection of traditional conceptions of the purpose of a woman's body." "Anatomy & Destiny" Stephen Kern
My doubts were now at an end...so I had my nipples pierced, and when the wounds were healed, I had rings inserted...with regard to the experience of wearing these rings, I can only say that they are not in the least uncomfortable or painful.
On the contrary, the slight rubbing and slipping of the rings causes in me an extremely titillating feeling, and all my colleagues I have spoken to on this subject have confirmed my opinion." London socialite writing in "Vogue" 1890
It makes the nipples larger, more sensitive, more sexually attractive, and provides a constant stimulation of the nipples, one friend of mine describes his nipple piercing as "a lightswitch for an erection".
Nipple piercing is very effective for increasing the size of small nipples (especially men's), and can stop nipples from becoming inverted by pulling them out.
The word "Clitoris" first appeared in the English language in 1615, it was used in an early anatomy book to describe a small, sensitive organ located underneath the upper apex of the Labia Minora.
It provides greater stimulation to both partners during sex, and it has the added allure of being being somewhat kinky, people always have to wonder what it would be like to have sex with someone with a genital piercing.
The Fraenulum is the small ridge of flesh joining the foreskin to the Glans of the penis, in most cases circumcision removes or destroys it, however in rare cases it still exists after circumcision.
During the games of Ancient Greece, the athletes performed nude, and to prevent their penises moving about they bound the foreskin with a ribbon and tied it to the base of the penis.
The Roman's used a practice called Infibulation, it involved two piercings going through the foreskin (or Labia in women) and a lock (Fibula) being placed therein.
"The people of the southern countries think that true sexual pleasure cannot be obtained without perforating the Lingam, and they therefore cause it to be pierced like the lobes of the ears of an infant pierced for earrings."
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 symbolises the protective power of the male over the family.
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 ampallang is affixed.
"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.
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 adherants of the ancient Tahitian religion.
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 Raphe 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.
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.
