Pins and Needles

    Body piercing refers to the piercing of the human body for the purpose of wearing jewellery. It is a form of body modification which also includes tattooing, branding, foot binding, tongue splitting, plastic surgery and body building. Body piercing is sometimes practiced for religious or spiritual reasons but these days, in the West, it is mostly carried out for ornamental purposes.

    身体穿洞是指为了佩戴珠饰而在人体上穿洞。它是一种身体改造形式，同类的还有文身、烙印、缠足、分舌、整形手术和健身。在身体上穿洞有时是出于宗教或信仰的原因，不过目前在西方，这么做主要是为了美观。

    History

    In the industrialized nations of the West, attitudes towards body piercing have changed dramatically since the latter half of the 20th century. Ear piercing for women has existed continually since ancient times, although it went into decline in the US, between 1920 and 1960, mainly due to the advent of clip on earrings. In the 1960s, ear piercing became popular with gay men. Prior to that, the only men who would wear an earring were sailors. To them, it symbolized having sailed around the world. To homosexual men in the 1960s, piercing the ear was a statement that they had "come out". Hippy men also started to wear earrings as a sign of being open-minded and during the Punk era of the 1970s men wore earrings as a mark of rebelliousness. By the 1980s, pierced ears became popular with a lot of men in the West. Usually, straight men would only pierce their left ear as having the right ear pierced was considered to mean that you were homosexual. Today, men of all classes and sexual orientations will pierce both ears and multiple piercing of the ear is also very fashionable. ......