Piercing for Love

People pierce and get pierced to express love. This may seem odd at first, but it is a universal trend that has been going on for thousands of years. And it isn't limited just to people who "get off on pain"—it is for everybody! Most women today have pierced ears. Why did they get them? Chances are they thought it would enhance their beauty, make them more attractive to the opposite sex. Having some part of the body pierced says something; It is a gesture; It is related to love and sex.

The expression of love and sensuality through piercings, however, has been extremely limited in Western culture until recent times. But now a whole new cult of piercing is emerging. Hundreds of body piercings are being made each day... in ears, nostrils, nipples, and particularly male and female pleasure centers of the genitals. The masses, from bikers to doctor's wives, have discovered a unique "kick" in this strange new form of love expression.

The pain and permanence of piercing make it a powerful expression. A piercing for love goes beyond normal customs and manners. Whether one inflicts the pain of a piercing for love (The Test), or endures it for love (The Token), something deep and intimately personal takes place between two people involved in the "Power Play" dynamics of piercing.

In fact, piercing is parallel to the act of procreation itself. It is literal interpenetration, a mingling of matter. The needle represents the phallus which forcefully invades warm, living flesh. The shock and pain of a piercing is symbolic of orgasm and ejaculation. And it can be more powerful than conventional intercourse because it requires more control, more surrender, more trust, more commitment.

Tokens of Love

A couple of recent examples come to mind to illustrate the sexual aspects and dedication required in piercing. A young woman is looking for a new mate. She personally finds piercings fascinating, and most of the men she is attracted to enjoy them as well. So she decided to enhance her sensuality by adding some new ones. She asked me, a piercing professional, to make several more holes in each ear and a good-sized nostril piercing for a big ring. Well, I must confess, I enjoyed it—even if streams of tears rolled down her cheeks immediately after I hammered a giant needle through her right nostril. She finds herself more attractive with these new piercings, and therefore gives off a glow of increased confidence and sensuality.

Then there is the Italian woman in her mid-thirties who came to me several months ago. She was referred to me because she had just purchased some very thick golden rings and couldn't get them in. Seems her husband had asked her to have her nipples pierced about a year ago, by a doctor. She had gone through with it to please her husband (a Love Token). Now he wanted larger rings installed because the initial sixteen-gauge ones kept bending and springing open during love-play. She let me know in no uncertain terms that, while she was enthusiastic about the initial piercings, she was a bit hesitant about the larger ones. But she loves her husband very much—enough to try something new that she knew would satisfy him. These new rings would not come loose without tearing the nipples right off. That's trust!

Sometimes the idea for love expression through piercing comes from the submissive mate. This was the case with the young gal in her early twenties who called me up several weeks ago to have her labia pierced. I set a date a week in advance. I knew she was really serious because she showed up exactly at the minute I had set, even though she had to drive a long distance to reach me. This kind will arrive an hour in advance and wait outside the door until the precise moment. Anticipation... it's part of the game.

I suggested a cup of coffee so that Denna could get her story off her chest. That's also part of the game. Seems she had married young and spent a dreadful few years in good old repressive Nebraska. Now she was free of that, letting her inhibitions go in San Francisco. She had a lover and they were exploring elementary S and M practices in their relationship—like sex while she was in bondage. Now, on her own, without prompting from her mate, she was looking for new ways (Love Tokens) to please him. She admitted she trembled at the sight of pierced nipples. The idea of having her own nipples pierced excited her tremendously. Then she started researching genital piercings. That was even better.

So we adjourned to the piercing chair. Denna was obviously very submissive, but I still didn't know what to expect. I locked the sterilized needle in the little pin vise I usually use for body piercings, and asked her to lift her skirt. She obeyed without hesitation. Denna was bare underneath, really bare. She had shaved herself, she said, "because I thought it would be easier for you." Then I got a second surprise as I unfolded her lips to make a placement mark and apply the forecep I use to hold such a wiggly piece of skin in place. These were the largest lips I have ever seen! I stretched them out and they looked like the wings of a small bat! My God, there was enough skin there to make twenty or thirty piercings in each lip! She said she had always been embarrassed by them, and had even thought of having them cut back at one time. I assured her they were beautiful lips, a real treasure. I suggested at least two piercings at this session, one on each side. But she finally settled on just one to start with because she didn't know how her lover would react.

Piercings for love are even more varied and intense in so-called primitive cultures. Most of these cultures have fewer taboos, fewer hang-ups, on this form of love expression. In some cases, the society even demands certain piercings as a sign of submission or for genital control. Just to give you an idea of where this form of love expression can go, here are a few variations:

On cold winter nights in Eskimo huts, there's a lot of time and physical closeness for love. One of the most peculiar demonstrations of love are the "love marks" Eskimo women make by piercing. They do it to themselves, in front of their mates. Each painful piercing—and there are hundreds of them—is a token of love—always there to be remembered. It is something like our "hickies,” but self-inflicted and permanent.

A regular sewing needle is threaded with cotton thread. The needle and thread is then passed back and forth through a sooty oil flame until black and coated. The needle is pierced under the skin of the thighs or arms for a distance of one-quarter to half an inch—and the sooty thread slowly pulled through. This is repeated again and again until a pattern of herring bones is tattooed in a band or "V" shape to make a geometric design.

In Borneo, males subject themselves to a very painful piercing to please their mates. A horizontal hole is drilled through the upper top part of the glans to bear the love toy called an Amphallang. In practice, the Amphallang is used during intercourse to heighten pressure sensations inside a woman’s vagina. The Amphallang can be of various sizes, lengths or designs to suit a specific mate, but it is usually a simple gold rod about an eighth-inch thick, with a round gold ball on each end. In Borneo, women claim a man with an Amphallang is far superior, that normal vaginal intercourse is a totally different experience with that nonflexible, non-shrinking little gold bar pushing this way and that inside them.

Another interesting male piercing for love is the Prince Albert. This is a piercing in the tip of the glans with a ring passing through a hole in the urethra. It has a curious history. Apparently, it came into general use in the 1800s as a remedy for impotence. Women who were not satisfied with the frequency or speed of their mate's arousal would beg their men to get the Prince Albert installed. (Note: It was the famous prince who wore this ring for his queen that give this piercing its name.) Because the gold Prince Albert ring constantly moves back and forth and rubs against the trousers and thigh, a steady state of stimulation is provided to keep the male organ partly excited. And to bring it to "full bloom," all the mate has to do is tug on it several times, or pull it from side to side. Of course, a clever dominant woman could find many other interesting uses for the Prince Albert.

Symbols of Submission

Sometimes, piercings for love are not so voluntary as those we've just discussed. They are inflicted to demonstrate power and control over a mate... to be an unmistakable outward sign of submission. A classic example is the women of India. Most Westerners have long admired their beautiful nostril rings. But did they ever realize why they were there?

It is a Hindu custom to pierce a girl's left nostril on the eve of her marriage. This marriage is usually arranged and the girl has no choice in the matter—or in the piercing, either. The ring that is put in during the ceremony is there to tell her future husband she will be obedient, a humble slave. The ring is not only decorative, but practical. If she is not obedient, he is expected to lead her around by it, or even tie her to the wall by it.

In Africa, no stronger symbol of submission was ever enforced than the "platter lips" of the women of Chad. A girl simply wasn't acceptable until her pierced mouth was converted to one or two huge loops. The larger the loops, the better. It meant she would not eat very much (and thus would not be a burden on her husband), or talk all the time. If the girl wanted to really please her husband, she continued to stretch the lip piercings bigger and bigger over her entire lifetime. They then also became a love token, an offering, to her husband.

Rings in the nipples are also frequently used by both sexes as symbols of submission. Heavy-duty rings locked in the nipples make the wearer most vulnerable to the desires of the mate. In the professional piercing practice of in the US, nipples are the next most common piercing after earlobes.

Genital Control

Now we get to one of the more interesting aspects of piercings for love. A ring in a woman's labia means submission. This idea was first brought to the forefront of society's consciousness by the widespread influence of The Story of O.

But when both labia are pierced and locked together, one enters a whole new phase beyond mere submission. That is genital control via piercings, or "infibulation." Just like our primitive counterparts, this has been carried to great extremes by some present day couples I know. In one case, three holes were pierced in each outer labia (six holes in all) and were slowly stretched to take a bar lock 1/2" thick! With all that metal locked in place, not only is the pretty young wife absolutely inviolate, but she is also made extremely uncomfortable. Yet she bears this lovingly. That's one hell of a love token!

Dayak males of New Guinea are also "locked up" for genital control. Before making a long trip away from home, the foreskin is double or triple pierced and their wives allowed to secure little rods called Oetang through the holes. Intercourse with other women is out of the question until the rods are cut free. The males submit to this out of love, the Oetang being both a love token and genital control.

In India, they have a very old custom among the Tamil peoples. If a girl is selected by an older man for marriage, he can demand her labia be sealed shut until the marriage (which may be several years later). The girl must submit to being forcibly sewed shut with gold wire. In most cases, the outer (thick) labia are pinched together with a type of pliers while gold wire is pierced and stitched up the entire length. The stitches are deep and only about half an inch apart. Only a small opening is left for urination. In time, permanent holes are formed so when the future husband finally opens the girl up, he can always "seal" her again to reserve her sexual energy just for himself!