Pop Culture Piercings

Piercings in Pop Culture

For thousands of years, women have been getting pierced to fit societal standards of beauty. From childhood ear piercings mentioned in the Kama Sutra in the 300’s to stretching of the earlobes and lower lip in African tribes to belly button rings today in the United States, the act of piercing has been prevalent in many cultures, locations, and time periods. Today, it is common for women in the United States to have their ear lobes pierced, but there are also many women with piercings on other parts of their bodies. Piercings serve to either reinforce traditional beauty ideals or alienate women, depending on the location and extent of the piercings. Many of these women state that they are expressing themselves and displaying their individuality, but how are these women portrayed in pop culture? News articles, films, and fashion magazines all feature pierced women or offer information about piercings. Often, women with piercings are sexualized, used to represent various cultures, or depicted as edgy and rebellious.

There are several articles and lists of celebrities with piercings online. All of them feature scantily clad women in swimsuits showing off their piercings. The most common piercings on these lists were belly button piercings, but there were also multiple women with nose piercings, nipple piercings, and tongue piercings. None of these articles included much background information on the women or why they decided to pierce themselves, but all of them had many pictures of women’s bodies with piercings. Some of these women had other bodily modifications, such as plastic surgery and their new bodies were displayed with their