Tattoos/Piercings as SH
 

Ok. I was having a discussion in the chat a few days ago about tattoos and piercings as a method of selfharm, what does everyone think? (I'm not looking on advice in USING it, I was just wondering what everyone's opinions on the topic were.)

Well, I have a friend who is constantly wanting to get new tattoos or "touch-ups" because "the pain feels good." But, I don't think it's self-harm UNLESS you're only getting them for it. If you're getting them because you want them, then it's not. If you're doing them because you want the pain, then I'd say they are. IMO.

^ agreed.

They definitely can be a form of sh. I used to get piercings for only that reason all the time. But it isn't always the case.

Of course they can be used as such, but not all tattoos and piercings are self-harm. In the case of tattoos especially it is a rather expensive and permanent action.

The two tattoos I have were done in times of great anguish.
This one was done after I came out of hospital, I felt terrible and really wanted to self-harm, to me, it's a symbol of how short life is, and with every beat, something drastic could happen and change our lives forever. Everytime I look at it, it calms me, and stops the urges.


This one was done after a very good friend of mine died, that night, I had to call his Mum and tell her he was dead, it was the hardest night of my life. This reminds me that he's always there, and never really went away, he's just in another room (There's a famous poem/verse about that) and it also stops the urges.

as someone who is heavily pierced, i can understand the argument that the pain is sometimes the same as SHing, but i think there is a huge difference. part of it is that it is something that is decorative instead of destructive. Theres a lot of debate in the bod mod community about modification vs. mutilation, but also alot of grey area.

Self-harm is generally done in private. Getting pierced/tattooed is a completely different atmosphere. Scars are scars; piercings and tattoos are a form of art.
I have piercings and tattoos, and although the pain gives me a bit of a rush afterwards, it is completely different to my self-harm.

I have my lip pierced but i did that because i wanted to, and was terrified of the pain. I really want a tattoo but am also scared of the pain. All my friends think i should be able to do it cos i SH but i'm in control of the pain when I SH, however getting a tattoo or piercing doesn't allow me to control.

I don't think that they are generally forms of self harm seeing as the main objective is decorating your body, people aren't doing it soley for the purpose of causing harm. If people are overly excessive with getting tattoos or piercings and it goes past the point of being decorative than it can cross over into being self harm.

I think if you get a tattoo or piercing to feel pain it would be considered self-harm. But if you're doing it for 'decoration' I don't think it is. I have my ears pierced, and I did it for reasons other than to create pain. I guess it really depends on your motive for doing it

I do know someone who used to pierce herself for the pain, as well as a guy who used to tattoo himself. The guy used to be a SH-er and then decided that if he wanted to feel pain, at least it could be something that was decorative (in his words, an improvement to his body) instead of destructive.

This, exactly.

i used to do that but didn't see it as self-harm. But since i've stopped "self-harming" i'm not really used to the pain when i try to pierce something now, i guess i was so used to it that i couldn't really feel anything. So i do agree that tattoos/piercings are considered self-harm. (:

I definitely agree that it can be used as a form of SI, but not all tattoos and piercings are a result of it.

Plus, just from my own experience, the pain from SI and the pain from piercings are two entirely different things. When I got my nose pierced, I teared up, which I NEVER do since I've got a pretty high pain tolerance. So I see it as two separate things.

I think it depends on each individual person what they do it for. I do mine for the purposes of decoration and because I enjoy the pain. But that doesn't mean that because I enjoy the pain I'm doing it to self harm. In fact, I hate the pain from self harming.

But then someone else could be doing it to harm themselves, maybe in the belief that it's not so bad because it isn't destructive and doesn't leave scars or anything that would have to be explained away. Or they just want to have scars that they wouldn't mind explaining because it's a more conventional way of getting them.

Wow, it sounded good and made sense in my head