Body Modification

This topic Interested and suprised me in the lecture. When I hear 'body modification' the obvious thing that comes to mind is tattoos, not things like going to the gym etc. As a gym member I enjoy keeping in shape and looking after my body, although I do not think that it should fall into the catagory of body modification.

Tattoos are very popular is society, with piercings following behind. The rush of having your own body art can be very appealing to someone without, as it can be your personal mark for people to remember you by.

Body modification (or body alteration) is the permanent or semi-permanent altering of the human body for non-medical reasons, most often religious or aesthetic. It can range from the socially acceptable decoration (e.g., pierced ears on women in North American society), to religiously mandated (e.g., circumstision of Jewish male babies) to the rebellious (e.g., Nostril Piercing in punk subculture). Opponents of these practices argue that they are self-imposed disfigurement.

http://www.encyclopedian.com/bo/Body-modification.html