Big Brother Naija ‘Shine Your Eye’ star, Arin has several piercings- on her nose, ears, lips, and maybe some other places that are private. This is not only massive but brave. My first inclination is to wonder how she went through the process. ‘Wasn’t it painful?’, ‘Why that number of piercings?’, ‘Is she going to have more piercings?’, ‘How would she look with the piercings when she gets old?’, ‘What was she trying to achieve?’, ‘What do the piercings represent?’ are some of the questions I would have loved to ask her.
Personally, I think there is nothing weird about piercings. From time immemorial, piercings have been an acceptable practice. Do you know that the oldest mummified body to be found with pierced ears and expanded earlobes (7-11mm in diameter)? It was found frozen in an Austrian Glacier, and tests show it to be over 5,000 years old!
As a youth corps member, I was fascinated by the female nomads, though they had a particular odour, I was envious of their long hair and unique hairstyles. Body piercings were another characteristic peculiar to them. On their noses and ears were big rings. They were different and this made them special. These female nomads are not so fashion conscious like some of our celebrities, but the piercings are natural, and they are fully embracing their way of life.
Nowadays, most ladies and guys now have piercings. It has become unisex. Before it was a girl thing. As a girl child is born, she is born without piercing. It takes her parents’ discretion to have ears pierced for earrings. As she grows older and becomes more self-independent, she may decide to add more piercings. This can be traced to what she is being exposed to in the media, school, home and environment.
I recall when Tiwa Savage broke into the Nigerian music scene, she had a nose piercing. Some ladies saw this as being the ‘new sexy’ and went ahead to get theirs. Now, the nose piercing has extended to other parts of the body. On the stomach, eyes, everywhere piercing can accommodate. People like us who don’t mind getting body piercings have to take account of certain considerations. Our family background comes top if you have strict parents, multiple piercings are the wrong route to tread. You also have to consider the workplace. Some people have missed out on job opportunities because they had piercings. This might be discrimination but work policies are work policies. Why throw away lifetime opportunities because of how you project yourself if it is not an acceptable norm?
After all said and done, the onus lies on the individual. Do you see piercings as creative, eccentric, archaic, or dubious? Before setting yourself for anything, you need to be clear on your motives, what you want to project and how it would affect you and others in the long run.
Written by Patricia Uyeh