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Tattoos and other body mods

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Zingoleb:
also what defines a body mod? i have a lot of plans for things i want to do with my body, and some of them aren't what people would think of when they hear the words 'body mod' but they're still important to me - one being losing a lot of weight, the other being bleaching my skin.

no, i'm not approaching either of these things lightly. i'm aware of the dangers and i'm trying to work out how to minimise them as best as i can, but the fact still remains that my ultimate desire is to look unhuman - too tall, too pale, too skinny, too androgynous.

so would my desire to lose weight so as to gain a gaunt, unsettling appearance be considered a form of body modification or not? would bleaching my skin to become unnaturally pale?

and if so, then where is the line drawn - would exercises that shape or tone your body be considered a form of body modification at well? they change the way you look, but it doesn't seem right to lump them in with body mods.

ackblom12:
I would consider them all forms of body modification, up to and including something as simple as hair coloring and shaping your nails. If its something done willingly with absolute consent and for no necessary medical reason (though even this can have exceptions), its a body mod as far as I'm concerned, even if I wouldn't call it such in normal conversation. The only reason there is any real difference between much of it is due to social taboos and class issues.

Basically, it's much like the difference between 'vanilla' sex and kink. It's a rather thin and blurry line that may not actually exist in any meaningful way.

Carl-E:
I think it has to do with the "socially acceptable" thing again.  I mean, look at bodybuilders - if that's not modding, what is? 

And the "acceptable" ones - breast implants, plastic surgery, ear piercings - none are really more extreme than a lot of what's considered more "extreme" modding, it's just a matter of where you put the implants, what effect the surgery has on how you look, the number and size of the piercings...

Of course, the goal of a lot of the socially acceptable ones is just to look "more natural" (often a target that gets missed, though). 

And really, things like tattoos and piercings are becoming more common / socially acceptable every year. 

ackblom12:
Well, on the spectrum of Body Modification I'd actually place professional body building and plastic surgery pretty damn high in comparison to even some of the comparable BM things. The amount of risk associated with plastic surgery and the amount of sheer dedication required for bodybuilding are insanely high when compared to a large majority of extreme BM.

But I do suspect a majority of folks would have the spectrum weighted towards social acceptability (aka weirdness) being the more extreme end. This would make things that make you look less 'human' be much more extreme despite the usually much lower risks and healing associated with it. Part of this is because medical doctors won't do many of the procedures, making people think they're much riskier than they actually are. Of course this doesn't keep plastic surgery addicts who don't look entirely human anymore, despite (or in some cases such as the human Ken doll, because of) their intentions, from being put into the 'weird' category.

Blue Kitty:
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