All Acts of Love and Pleasure are My Rituals

By Hayley Turner 

I recently watched the documentary Modify. This documentary introduces viewers to individuals that participate in body modification. The documentary examines popular body modification techniques such as tattoos and piercing but also examined branding, tongue splitting, silicone molds, suspension and much more. I decided to watch this documentary because of my obsession with piercings and my new found love of tattoos. I did not, however, realize that this documentary would connect with the discussion of pleasure and desire, but it did. The documentary interviewed participants of body modification and discussed why they participated in their modification of choice and the pleasure they got from the modification.

I know that I get piercings because I enjoy the way they look but also immediately following the pain it inflicts I get an almost euphoric feeling. I have been told the euphoric feeling is from the endorphins that are released following a painful experience. No matter why I get the euphoric feeling I see it a pleasure and see the act of getting pierced as pleasurable and something I seek. This is not unlike those interviewed for this documentary.

While each interviewer had a different understanding of the pleasure they found during a modification experience I believe a quote by one of the interviewees can sum up the experience for all. The quote was, “All acts of love and pleasure are my rituals”. The artist I believe was correct with this statement, in the documentary each of the artist discussed how they prepared mentally and physically for the modification – each way unique and each way a ritual for the artist. Also the extreme modification portrayed in the documentary could be offensive or bizarre to those outside the artist seeking pleasure. Thus, the ritual of there pleasure is known and understood possible only to then thus they are “my” rituals not everyone’s.

While this quote was used to define body modification I believe that it pertains to all act of pleasure. Think about coffee, does a morning coffee to some have ritualistic qualities, or smoking a cigarette? Each individual will have there own way of participating in their unique pleasure seeking acts. Thus, all acts of pleasure are the individual’s rituals.  This quote also shows the understanding that with the individual being profound in pleasure, that pleasure seeking acts cannot be right or wrong but they can be misunderstood.