Modify yourself

From Mod Mania

MODIFY YOURSELF by Sha Haker

“Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the most beautiful one of them all?”

‘The human body’s physiological structure works as a highly intricate, harmonized and balanced system, its perfection in its ability to function is often taken for granted, until the balance is disrupted.’ (The incomprehensibility of Unpredictable Infinite –2008 Youssef Tayeb)

We often have the habit of continually changing our look or style. This manifests itself through various methods such as a person’s choice in clothing, piercing, hairstyles and behavior. In our society physical image is very important and is strongly re-enforced by popular culture through various media. Several sub-cultures develop in response to popular main-stream culture. The act of belonging to a certain ‘cultural movement’ greatly relies on certain conformity to a set of ideals/values as well as a set of ‘visual guidelines’. Even through the sub-cultural divisions there is still room for individual modification of one’s image. And so a question arises, why do we do it?

We are born into a pre-existing cultural environment, but as we grow we begin to explore different ways of existing within it. I am of the opinion that most people will look in the mirror and don’t like something of what they see. The information we are constantly exposed to through the media creates a socially constructed image, of what we accept as a common, to be beautiful.

One of the most recognisable aspects of body modifications are piercing and tattooing. Body piercing is the practice of creating an opening in the surface of the skin to adorn it with jewelry. Ear piercing has existed in many ancient cultures for many years. Its adoption by the western world such as in Europe, North America and Australia was rare until the 1960s. Ear piercing was commonly accepted amongst women, but it was also adopted by men in the gay and punk subculture. The late 80s saw the birth of modern ‘body culture’, today piercing is not only in the ears it extends to various other parts of the body Although piercing has been considered a mainstay of the alternative, emo and punk scene for a long time, it is becoming more mainstream every day. From my personal view piercing is art, and as we like to have jewelry on our neck or hands why not have it also in other places.

Tattooing is a mark made by inserting ink under the layer of the skin, when tattoos on human it is a body modification, while on animals it is used for identification. Tattooing has existed since the Neolithic times. In modern Western society tattoos have deep roots in prison and gang culture and for this reason they have held a negative connotation about the nature of a person who has a tattoo. Today our society is more open and accepting of one’s rights to modify their body and people from broader walks of life to sport them.

Another modification is the hair style. First the dreadlocks, the dreadlocks are interlocked coils of hair which form by themselves. The dreadlocks are not unique to the Rastafarians (what most people assume), Dreadlocks originated in Africa and were worn by various tribes. The Rastafarian growing of dreadlocks is part of the Nazarite Vow. The hair is their strength and cutting it is a sign of weakness. Dreadlocks are the symbols of the lion of Judah. Today most people with dreadlocks are likely to have no association to Rastafarianism as a belief, but rather they have come to symbolise the culture that has grown around the belief.

Another example of body modification with respect to hair styles is the Mohawk. The Mohawk originated within a Native American tribe. The Mohawk became popular in the beginning of the 70s when the punk subculture started growing. The Mohawk was adopted and is noted as the icon of punk culture. Today the Mohawk’s employment has extended to various other sub-cultural off-shoots.

What drives us to change as individuals? What catalyses our interpretations of the culture we are born into? Today, Western society is more open to different forms of culture and beliefs because within the last 60 years there has been a significant shift away from religion as the source and dictator of culture. So what is really the difference between religion and culture and what are their definitions? Religion has been defined in a wide variety of ways. Most definitions attempt to find a balance somewhere between overly sharp definition and meaningless generalities. Some sources have tried to use formalistic, doctrinal definitions while others have emphasized experiential, emotive, intuitive, valuational and ethical factors. Other religious scholars have put forward a definition of religion that avoids the reductionism of the various sociological and psychological disciplines that reduce religion to its component factors. Religion may be defined as the presence of a belief in the sacred or the holy.

Often sub-cultural divisions grow from religions and they are referred to as ‘cults’. The dictionary definition of a cult is “a system of religious worship or ritual”. With such a large number of religious organizations and movements (Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Shinto, and Sikhism to name but a few) in the world today, it's important to understand what they truly mean before we start to make assumptions or label their subscribers. If we are to apply the same dictionary definition of cult to religion you could say they are one and the same. People popularly believe that a cult it is system of brain washing. Re-applying the same logic and definition employed to explain a cult we begin to see various parallels between the two not so different entities, one is simply larger than the other. if this is the definition so almost every thing at this days it is a cult. Recognisable and societally accepted cults include the Hare Krishnas and Sun Myung Moon's.

Culture is employed as a term to describe human activity and its significance. It can be ‘understood ‘by a society and can be defined in many ways it can be the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, attitudes, meanings, concept of the universe, art , visual expression, language and more. Culture grows. The subculture may be distinctive because of the age of its members, or by their class, or gender. The points that define a subculture range from political viewpoints, sexual or religious, or a combination of these factors. Culture is also communication between people and their sharing of a common understanding which may elude others.

The idealised notion of living and alternative lifestyle, unaffected by a main-stream culture and the romanticised notion of individuality often greatly overlooks the fact that a counter-culture is still a culture. In one way or another it still holds all the workings and structural definitions (manifested in an ‘alternate’ way) than the ‘culture’ they are ‘countering’. Political viewpoint is also a form of culture. Our traditional understanding of politics defines it through your leniency to a certain political ideology. Anarchism is a political view and attitudes what is supporting the elimination of all compulsory government and refutes our traditional understanding of it. There are many types and traditions of anarchism, not all of which are mutually exclusive. Anarchism is usually considered to be a radical left wing ideology, and as such much of anarchism and legal philosophy reflect anti-authoritarian interpretations of communism, and syndicalism. Today most anarchists belong to a group or culture of activism. Anarchism defined by the dictionary: A person who seeks to overturn by violence all constituted forms and institutions of society and government, with no purpose of establishing any other system of order in the place of that destroyed. In our world and within our society anarchism can not exist because it strongly challenges our pre-established mode of living. Our cultural establishment relies greatly on instating a source of authority and the fundamental belief of anarchism is there is no leader. I found the book “the lord of the flies” to give a good viewpoint on how anarchism cannot function in our pre-established society.

The punk sub-culture started around the mid to late 70s as a movement or rebellion against some styles of music which existed at the time, like prog rock. The punk sub-culture grew strongly in the United Kingdom, United States and Australia. Part of the punk sub-culture is based around the philosophy and ideologies of ‘freedom’. Many punks align themselves with the social movement of anarchism, socialism and anti-authoritarianism. Visual appearance is a strong part of the punk culture; it started with ‘anti-fashion’ but later became a more identifiable fashion in its own right. Punk fashion is the styles of clothing, hairstyle (the Mohawk), body modifications (piercing and tattoo). Today punk sub-culture still exists, and never going to die. (punk rock not dead!!!).

Out of the punk sub-culture grew the emo sub-culture around the end of the 80s. The term emo was employed to describe a subgenre of hardcore punk, from there came the name emocore. The term emocore is an abbreviation, short for "emotional hardcore”. The emo sub-culture happened in three waves, the first one was between 1985 to 1994 it started in Washington D.C and was closer to the hardcore punk style. The second wave was between 1994 and 2000 and was more the noise rock style, and the last one between 2000 until today more mainstream pop punk style. Most of emo fashion is based around the black colour. Most of people today put the word emo with depression, because of the dark look and the mystery of the emo sub-culture.

“Maybe it’s the time of year. Yes and maybe it’s the time of man. And I don’t know who I am. But life is for learning.” (Joni Mitchell / Woodstock 1970). Another big culture during the early 60s was the hippie’s sub-culture that was also known as flower power that was originally a youth movement that started in the United States. The hippie movement started in San Francisco, and spread across the United States, then Canada and parts of Europe. "Tune In, Turn On, and Drop Out" was the motto of the hippie movement. The biggest influence happened in America. This movement shocked many strongly with the alternative life style and the beliefs that they had. The hippies came from so many different backgrounds. The political view of the hippies is about love and not war. To some Hippies, drugs and music were the most important aspects of their lives. One of the drugs that were popular in the hippie culture was the LSD. “According to the hippies, LSD was the glue that held the Height together. It was the hippie sacrament, a mind detergent capable of washing away years of social programming, a re-imprinting device, a consciousness-expander, a tool that would push us up the evolutionary ladder”. (Jay Stevens). In these years a wave of new genres of music began to crop up, most notably psychedelic music came e.g Love, Pink Floyd, King Crimson and more.

Highlighting a progression in a sub-cultural movement is ‘Goa trance’. The roots of ‘Goa music’ are in industrial music and EBM mixed with the spiritual culture of India. The movement grew from travelling hippies who left the West and congregated in the small state of Goa, India through the late 70’ and 80’s and the events were typically held on beaches or in forests but now it is not uncommon for them to be held in clubs within the urban environment. The actual Goa Trance style did not really make a recognisable impact until the early 90s. Goa trance gained a lot of ground and developed significantly in Israel between the late 80’s and the present day. Today Goa is trance called Psytrance which is short for “Psychedelic Trance”. This style of music has spread almost everywhere in the world now and has a large following in Asia, most notably in Japan. It is believed by many to be the ‘new hippie movement’. This culture is also known as ‘bush parties’ or ‘doofs’. This movement still exists.

In conclusion each of us has a different style, each of us have a different visual belief and understanding. I believe that the majority of today’s most recognizable bodily modification have deeper roots in older cultures and are modern re-interpretations. And if all of us looked the same or believed the same how would our world look like? I believe it would pretty boring and the beauty in individuality would be greatly lacking.

http://www.tattooculture.ro/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/bodypiercing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki.tattoo

http://www.designboom.com/historey/tattoo_history.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dreadlocks

http://www.jamaicans.com/culture/rasta/dreadlocks.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mohawk_hairstyle

http://www.religioustolerance.org/var_rel.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion

http://www.allaboutcults.org/religious-cults.htm

http://courses.ed.asu.edu/margolis/spf301/definitions_of_culture.html

http://www.tamu.edu/classes/cosc/choudhury/culture.html