The Encyclopedia Of Smut: The Erotic Body Modification Appendix

How do you get comfortable in your own skin? Oh, the methods are myriad, but today we'd like to focus on the ancient art of body modification. And while we could go on about the spiritual traditions and social symbolism connected with bod mods, we think it'd be much more fun (and website-appropriate) to look at the places where poking, slicing, shaping, and changing the color of skin intersect with sexuality.

You Say Tomato, We Say Stigmatophilia

In a general sense, stigmatophilia is the sexual preference for partners that are marked in some way, but these days the term is used specifically for a fetish for piercings, tattoos, and/or scarification. Let's start with the piercing realm.

Nose, ear, and eyebrow piercings can all be considered erotic, but if you want something that simply screams sexy, you may want to try some erogenous zones. The general idea behind piercing such places is that you increase sensitivity in the area (since you always have something touching it) while adorning and honoring that part of your body with a piece of jewelry. Take nipples for example. Those who get arousal from having their nips played with find that a piercing gives pleasure whenever clothing rubs against it. Anecdote and rumor say that you eventually lose feeling in your nipples from having them over-stimulated, but that's only anecdote and rumor!

For the genitals, we turn to master piercer Elayne Angel (wife of the legendary Buck Angel) and The Piercing Bible. You've probably heard of the Prince Albert piercing for gents--the one that goes through the opening of the penis, pierces the urethra, and comes out on the underside--but Elayne presents options that go through the scrotum, skin in the pubic region, the frenulum, and straight through the glans. In fact, a couple of us Fleshbotters are considering going for the Apadravya: a large bar that goes through the head of the cock from top to bottom. It was first mentioned in the Kama Sutra--that means it could be the first penis piercing of all time!

Of course, there are also a ton of options for ladies who wish to stick things through the labia, perineum, clitoral hood, and even the clit itself. You have to check out Elayne's answer to the Prince Albert: she had a client who wanted a specific arrangement but didn't have the anatomy for it, so she invented the Princess Diana.

Perhaps most impressive is the fact that Elayne has a section on genital piercings for female-to-male transsexuals. She's amazing like that. If you want to see how she works, she was on TLC's "Strange Sex" not too long ago, and there a bunch of footage online.

[Above: Summer Cummings gets sweet, sweet torture from Skye Blue in"Skye And Summer's Piercing Party"]

Dye Me Like You Mean It

A tattoo can't make your nipples sensitive or your penis bumpy or anything like that, so the eroticism of tattoos depends largely on the art itself. In his fascinating article on stigmatophilia, Dr. Mark Griffiths cites a paper by Professor Christine Braunberger that argues that tattoos are erotic on multiple levels:

She asserted that tattoos are "erotic and potentially fetishistic from an experiential level" and that they "also visually mark a conflation of nationalism and sexuality". She also argues that navy tattoos depicting women illustrate a "heterofamilial fetish of national culture" that encourages tattoos to be viewed as marks of familial desire (in fact she tries to argue that such tattoos are "symbolic surrogates" for wives and girlfriends). These tattoos often contained "naked women, women draped in flags or other patriotic regalia, dancing girls, and the popular ‘Lady Luck' or ‘Man's Ruin' images in which a female form was surrounded by booze bottles, dice and cards".

[Above: some people use tattoos as jizz targets, as seen in "Cum On My Tattoo 4"]

Pump It Up

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention one of the most popular modern versions of body modification: plastic surgery.

Breast augmentation isn't done solely for sexual purposes, but making your boobs bigger is--for many people--a way to increase desirability. Interestingly, there was a study conducted in 2007 called "Effect of Breast Augmentation Mammoplasty on Self-Esteem and Sexuality: A Quantitative Analysis" that suggests getting breast enlargement improves self-esteem, self-image, and increased satisfactory sexual functioning in most women. We can't help but wonder how guys would do with some boob implants.

Boobs are perhaps the most common location for sex-related plastic surgery (save for procedures related to gender reassignment), but let's not forget that the world--and especially the porn industry--contains a lot of lip enhancements, labiaplasty, buttock implants, and various forms of penis enlargement procedures. Although it's certainly possible to become addicted to cosmetic surgery, we've never encountered any idea of a specific sexual fetish relating to it.

And having written that last statement, we're sure we're going to meet someone who only likes saline-filled breasts. The world is fun like that.

[Above: Lisa Ann has had some surgery done and we think she looks fucking fantastic. Via "Lisa Ann: Big Tit Milfs Crave Black Cock." All videos courtesy of AEBN Porn Pay Per View Network and Video On Demand (theater.aebn.net)]

[At top: Sofi shows off her piercings, tattoos, and scars for Burning Angel (joannaangelbucks.com)]