Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

In our first book Cat Scratch Fever (Sophie Mouette, Black Lace Books, 2006), a secondary character had a tongue piercing. Probably not the specific book you’re looking for, but wanted to add that 2¢!

Not a recommendation because that’d be too corny, but one of my books, Cassiopeia, has a hero with a pierced eyebrow. And another book, one of the Femme Metal series, the hero has a metal canine tooth. I know, my editor is very forgiving.

And yay about tattoos! Love tattooed characters. Have you read Liu’s Iron Hunt? Or Weis and Hickman’s The Death Gate Cycle? Whoa.

This isn’t officially a romance novel, but Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely is a YA fantasy with a strong romantic storyline, and the hero’s tongue piercing is mentioned as being particularly appealing…

It’s not the answer to the HaBO but I’ve been on a Ward-crack binge lately so naturally Zsadist pops to mind, with his nipple piercings.  Qhuinn has seven studs in one ear.  I know I’ve seen at least one or two books where the woman has a navel ring, but I can’t think of them now.

As to why there’s tatoos but not piercings - I’m betting it has to do with the fairly recent move toward acceptance of piercings.  It used to be that anyone who had a tat was seen as being edgy, and an individualist.  Not so much anymore.  Soccer moms have tats.  (I have one.  I also have an SUV and a home in the ‘burbs.  Shuddup.)  Now piercings are filling that role.  So I’d say they’re starting to trickle into romance novels, but only just - and we’ll soon start seeing more.

StephB beat me to the punch. Yes, Wicked Lovely had a hero with plenty of body piercing. (an amazing book by the way)

Our Ellora’s Cave novella, Exceptions To The Rule, features a hero with a tongue piercing.  It’s m/m.  :)

The one that comes immediately to mind is Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Acheron Parthenopaeus, who is described as having multiple piercings as well as tattoos and hair that changes color on a daily basis.

Also, Molly Carpenter from the Dresden Files has multiple piercings, including one in her tongue and each nipple.  Ouch!

spamword:  lay19.  Too many jokes…

Not erotica, but I was recently re-reading Charlaine Harris’s “grave” books and the second and third have a character named Manfred who has multiple piercings, including one in his tongue ... which he uses when he’s kissing the heroine’s hand.

I would love to read books where any of the protagonists have piercings, especially nipple or genital piercings.

Also, (LINK NSFW) nipple piercings in a historical aren’t too far-fetched.

I recently read a modern erotica where the hero had a pierced penis, a ball ring, which I actually have no clue what it was. It was a BDSM book, can’t remember name or author to be honest.

As for Romans and that Wiki article, I’m not sure why I know this, but I think in Roman culture the foreskin was pierced with a ring as a primitive form of birth control. Um, ouch.

again51. Um, no, not 50 yet!

Well, it may be that these are “run of the mill” these days, but I’ve read a couple of books lately that have had heroines with pierced navels. I think that belly piercing is more mainstream these days. But two that come to mind are:

Key of Valor by Nora Roberts
Trial by Fire by Jo Davis

In both cases the heroines have pierced belly buttons.

I’m not 100% sure, but I think that Dean “Havoc” Conor’s younger sister, Jacki, from Lori Foster’s Causing Havoc (first one in her SBC fighter series) has a tongue piercing.  Of course, she’s not a main character but she and another SBC fighter have an on-going relationship that starts in this book and continues through the other ones.  (As an ancillary character, though, you don’t ever get to see that relationship actually develop nor do you see any action involving said piercing, if it exists.)

I was just thinking about this the other day!  I would also like to read a romance (contemporary, erotic, whatever) featuring a male character with a tongue ring.

Lora Leigh’s Dangerous Games has a hero with a genital piercing plus the heroine has nipple rings and a navel ring.

seconding Acheron. i just read his book yesterday, in pretty much one sitting. All 700+ pages of it. started around 2pm, finished around 9:30. ZOMG SO AMAZING. And Ash is pretty much the hottest hero ever, except maybe Rourke, and he has bunches of piercings…

Lora Leigh’s Dangerous Games has a hero with a genital piercing plus the heroine has nipple rings and a navel ring.

That’s it! That’s the one. It was a bit over the line for me, but not because of the piercings.

And I *loved* Iron Hunt by Marjorie Liu.

I see a few ebooks here I must read :-)

As for what I’ve written, there are a couple of stoies with heroes who have tattoos - I’m intrigued by them and the designs people choose to wear for life.  There’s Ryder in “Dragon Lust” [erotica short] with his totally wicked tat and Timu in “An Invitation to the World: New Zealand” [contemporary erotic romance] with his Maorian tribal tats.

As for piercings, I fainted when I had my ears done, but love having them.  Max, the hero in my contemporary erotic romance “The Gilded Cage” had no problems getting his, a magic cross - an ampallang and apadravya piercings in his penis.

I don’t know why but I love to read about piercing. I didn’t even have my ears pierced. I think it’s sexy.

One book I can think of the male character have a tongue ring is “Riding the storm” by Sydney Croft but he is not a main hero in that book. His story was told throughout the trilogy (Riding the storm, Unleased the storm, and Seduced by the storm). The book is erotic romance and you can see the action of that tongue.

As others have mentioned, Zsadist in Ward’s Lover Awakened has piercings. Acheron (LOOOVED this book1) has a tongue peircing.  In my novella (DX) in Shards of Crimson, my heroine has a navel ring. I know there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind right away.

I frequently mention piercings in my m/m yaoi series, Blue Ruin, from details on how one character makes creative use of his tongue stud, to a highly illegal “erotic piercing” scene that takes place in a tattoo parlor. (Not that I condone unlicensed piercing in real life, but this is erotic fantasy.)

Reno, the hero in Anne Stuart’s “Fire and Ice,” has eyebrow piercings.  And dyed hair.  And tatts.

Much more common in m/m erotica, I think.  Lots of nipple piercings there.  I’ve read a couple with genital piercings, although titles are not coming (harhar) to me.

Gina Vitagliano in Suz Brockmann’s TS series has a bellybutton piercing.

I think a heroine with a belly button ring would turn me off. No offense to those that have them but personally I think It’s a trend whose time has come and gone.
I don’t know a lot about piercings specially designed to heighten sexual pleasure that might be very interesting to read about a pierced hero explaining it all to his heroine.
Anytime male piercing is mentioned I always think of that picture that was going around in forwards a couple of years ago “Puff the magic dragon” with the prince albert for the dragon’s eyes. Have y’all seen that picture?
Hey does anyone know why it’s called a prince albert?

Apocryphally, b/c Prince Albert (Victoria’s son) had one so that he could “dress” the correct way to make his clothes fall straight.  Wikipedia:  NSFW pictures.

FWIW, male genital piercings, unless really large, don’t really heighten sexual arousal for some women.  Or so I’ve….heard.

Thanks Sarah F!

Much more common in m/m erotica, I think.

Does anyone know if this is trend is borne out in m/m reality, or is it more of an erotica/fantasy thing?  None of the gay men I know have piercings - not even ears.

Nate from J.L. Langley’s My Fair Captain has a Prince Albert.  I’d call the space regency m/m romance rather than erotica.

One of the hero’s in Laney Cairo’s Bad Case of Loving You has a genital piercing, but it’s not a Prince Albert.  It’s (forgive my spelling) an apadravya.

And a heroine in an older Emma Holly has pierced nipples.  Velvet Glove, maybe?

Gah!  Heroes, not hero’s.

Sorry about that!

In Cherie Feather’s The Art of Desire the hero has a Prince Albert piercing.

As for Romans and that Wiki article, I’m not sure why I know this, but I think in Roman culture the foreskin was pierced with a ring as a primitive form of birth control. Um, ouch.

Possibly a confusion of two things, here.  Infibulation, that is, passing a metal closure through the foreskin, is certainly shown in Roman art applied to satyrs, well-endowed mythical beings.  While I would not like to say that it was never done in real life in Antiquity, I seriously doubt that it was often seen in the Roman Empire, since body-piercing, other than the piercing of women’s earlobes for earrings, was almost certainly looked down upon as a barbaric custom, as was tattooing.  Satyrs were, by definition, ‘barbarous’, half-animal creatures.

However, similar infibulation, ‘locking’ the foreskin beyond the tip of the glans so as to make it impossible for the penis to become fully erect, was certainly current in Victorian Britain, not as a contraceptive device, but to prevent young boys masturbating.  Masturbation was considered so unacceptable that extreme measures were sometimes taken.

Contraception was not a major issue in the ancient world, probably chiefly because infant mortality was so high, and also because unwanted babies could very easily and legally be given away, but some birth-control methods did exist, and were rather more sophisticated than infibulating the male.  Most involved plugging the vagina with a tampon made of sheep’s wool soaked in olive oil,  honey or other oils and liquids.  These would have worked.  There were also magical methods - amulets and charms - which probably did not work.

I once read a Blaze that had the heroine with quite a few piercings, but for the life of me, I can’t remember the title.

Oh - I have just remembered - I think male slaves were sometimes infibulated in the Roman period.
Not, therefore, something that a free Roman would want!

I just finished reading Kresley Cole’s Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night where the heroine Mariketa has a pierced navel, much to the interest of the hero.

Side note, this is the second book in this series I’ve read and I’m loving them.

In Deborah Smith’s When Venus Fell the heroine has a navel ring, and wears round-the-waist belly jewellery with it.  The hero likes it so much he gets his own.  It was actually pretty moving.

I gave the hero in DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY and A MATCH MADE IN HELL a pierced nipple, in part because he’s such a good boy most of the time, and I wanted him to have a hidden bad side.  :-)  For some reason, I find the idea of a man with ONE pierced nipple very sexy, while the idea of TWO makes me ick.  Any piercing of the genitals is a definite ACK! for me.  LOL

The Greeks on some occasions tattooed the foreheads of slaves and criminals but it wasn’t decorative. 

Not Romance but one of Jennifer Roberson’s Tiger and Del novels Tiger ends up (unintentionally) with his head covered with tattoos and a number of ear piercings.  I seem to remember Del finding it attractive.

Deborah Smith’s When Venus Fell

She was an interesting character, and I liked that while she lost the crazy hair she kept her piercing.

Any piercing of the genitals is a definite ACK! for me.

You might want to skip this scene from Sarah McCarty’s Conception. (NSFW)

Oops, the link cut off.  Anyway, if you want the eye-watering scene, google:
sarah mccarty conception “thick gold hoop”

Wow. Until this thread I had no clue there were so many different types of male genital piercings. I have spent some time on Wiki, openmouthed with wonder (while simultaneously wincing).

I truly lead a sheltered life.

submit word certain35. I’m certain I’ve learned at least 35 new things in this thread alone.

Not that it helps at the moment, but my current WIP features a pierced/tattooed hero. I’m excited about it. *g* Hopefully it’ll see the light of day. :)

Just a quick caveat for those who want to test the erotic possibilities of body piercings, either in writing or in real life:

I was recently told by someone “in the know” about a real-life m/m pairing that ended in the emergency room when the tongue piercing of the first party became inextricably entangled with the genital piercing of the second party.

It’s all fun and games until somebody loses a… well, you know.

I have so totally read a lot of erotica showcasing pierced individuals. :) I’ve had a rummage through my gay erotica ebook collection for you all.

There’s a series by Willa Okati. Starting with In the Strangest Places.

Also Laney Cairo - Bad Case of Loving You. (excellent book)

Toybox: Piercing edited by M Rode. (short stories - I’ve not read this one but have enjoyed some of the others in the “Toy Box” series)

Switched by Sean Michael. (m/m and m/m, fantasy erotica)

Secrets, Skin and Leather - Sean Michael.

Gemini - Chris Owen. (“twincest”)

Keep You - Cindy Rosenthal. (a little on the dark side)

The Greeks on some occasions tattooed the foreheads of slaves and criminals but it wasn’t decorative.

Indeed.  Compare the tattooing of domestic livestock with ownership reference numbers (like ear-tagging or branding;  slaves were also sometimes branded, and not only in Classical Antiquity).  Tattooing people for reference purposes also has some very, very grim 20thC associations.

I am fairly implacably opposed to physical mutilation of both animals and humans, but don’t mind me.  I do have pierced ears, but I had that done when young and thoughtless.  :-D

Hmmm…thank you all for the recommendations. Some of them I recognize, but the book is still elusive.

I just remember loving that the author had the hero with a tongue piercing. I remember that he was big on tats as well.

Elizabeth Wadsworth: I was recently told by someone “in the know” about a real-life m/m pairing that ended in the emergency room when the tongue piercing of the first party became inextricably entangled with the genital piercing of the second party.

That can definitely happen. When I had my tongue piercing done, the piercer warned to be careful with other piercings. My bff had her tongue done as well, and less than 2 weeks later had to go to the emergency room b/c her boyfriend’s row of prince albert piercings had gotten caught on her’s. Pain was abundant.

This is slightly OT, but AGTigress, I was wondering where you came across the facts you cite on piercing/tattooing in the ancient world?  Any books I should read?  I’m just curious about the subject.
The only piercings in fiction I’ve come across have already been mentioned—the vis bulla,  Sandtiger in Jennifer Roberson’s books, Seth in Wicked Lovely. . .  I tend to read more fantasy than erotic stuff, I guess.  But all the books I’ve mentioned were great!

Jake and Tor from Bareback and Natural Disasters (M/M) also had genital piercing (their form of wedding rings)

And Bent by Sean Michael also has multiple piercings and tats.  (M/M and bdsm)

Straight romances are far less likely to have body piercing or tats.  I can’t think of any that include anything other than ears.

Kimberly, I’m afraid I can’t give you straightforward, individual references.  I have been a professional Classical archaeologist and museum curator for over 45 years, so some of my comments above are simply things that I have gleaned from many different sources, both ancient and modern, and have known for a long time.  It is not a subject that I have studied specifically, though I have worked and published on the wider topic of Graeco-Roman erotic art.

Because of the recent (last 25 years or so) increasing popularity of tattooing and piercing, I am sure there are many books now (and websites, I assume) about the history of these practices, though I suspect that many of them lack academic rigour. 

Sorry I can’t be more helpful.  :-(

Gemma already suggested Toyboax: Piercing. I’m one of the authors.
Toybox: Sounds has one of my stories with the same characters, who are both multiply pierced.

I write a lot of pierced characters in my stuff. Of my own:
Nikolai has a couple of pierced characters. The sequel has our anti-hero getting pierced as well. (futuristic)

“Paying Forfeits,” and “Singing up the Moon” both have a character with a nipple ring.
There’s a fairly lengthy piercing scene in “Color of Magic/Color of Money.” (contemporary/paranormal)

Piercings are not ahistorical. Nipple rings were very much in vogue in the Victorian era. mothers would generally pierce their daughters when they started to blossom.

And I see a LOT of body-mod in the gay community, especially at Pride, where all the men are walking around shirtless. Nipples started coming into vogue in the 80s and drifted to the straights. I know guys with septum rings and tongue barbells and snakebites and you name it.

my word: straight24…uh, Not EVEN.

There are a couple of Blazes by Cindi Myers about siblings who own a tattoo shop (Do Me Right is the sister’s story, Good, Bad…Better is the brother’s). I don’t remember if either had piercings, but I remember liking both stories quite a bit.

I haven’t finished reading all the comments but I just gotta say…ya’ll are causing me to speculate about oral sex and tongue piercings.  Huh…never thought about that one before.

And there’s a space regency subgenre?  C’mon, y’all made that one up!

On a slightly related note:  this 40 something person had her first interview last year with a young person with a pierced eyebrow.  Did my best not to stare…have conventional pierced ears myself.

I loved Lora Leigh’s Dangerous Games and was thrilled to see a hero with a penis piercing! Very edgy.

To blow my own horn: my hero in Out of Control has a tat and the heroine a navel ring. One of my heroes in an as yet unpubbed book has a pierced foreskin (it’s a sign of his royalty). All of my heroes have at least a tat and my heroines usually do too. I think they’re erotic as hell!!!

OT, but personally, I have 4 tats, with plans for at least 2 more and have a nipple, navel, and ears pierced.

smartmensabitch:  Not made up, JL Langley’s My Fair Captain is actually a fair read (ha, I made a punny!).  I wasn’t sure it would be, it all sounded a bit odd but I took a chance and ended up really liking it.  Space regency, who’d have thunk it?

spaminator word:  looked84 Dear god I hope not!

This is one of those “Real Life impinging on what I find romantic and/or erotic” things, but my son was told he should avoid tongue piercing because it would endanger his health.  He was born with a congenital heart defect and had three major surgeries by the time he was 3.  He will be 23 next week and has been told over the years he can do pretty much whatever he wants to do, but tongue piercings were definitely on the Don’t Do Ever list.  Unlike the ears or the nipples or navel, the tongue is an organ, and the likelihood of infection in the mouth is much higher than those piercings on the outside of the body.  So every time I read of a character in a book or see someone in RL, I cringe.  I know that this is my issue, but it’s definitely not something I can ignore.

OTOH, another son has a number of tattoos, so I’ve come to appreciate those.  One of the most beautiful photos I’ve ever seen was on a pamphlet from the American Museum of Natural History in New York.  They had an exhibit on body adornment, and the photo is of a Japanese rickshaw driver holding his baby.  All you can see is his torso, but it is entirely covered with tattoos that look like a classical Japanese painting of waves and fish (evidently it was a tradition for rickshaw drivers to get tattoos).  The contrast of his beautiful artistically enhanced skin with the infant’s smooth glowing baby skin is lovely.  Plus the man had a nipple ring—don’t know if those were traditional too.

I have a Loose Id multiple-m tale coming up in which one of the m’s has “hafada” or scrotal piercings.  (Don’t squirm too much. It’s only the skin that’s pierced.  Yeah, I can hear guys saying, “Only?”)

BTW, nipple piercings on men can be damned HAWT. Depends on the chest, of course.  (I have characters coming up with those, too.)  Check out the interwebs if you don’t believe me!  ;-)

Another vote for My Fair Captain; the Prince Albert took me by surprise, but in a good way.  Gay Regency in space…hee!  And I agree, it was a pretty decent book compared to some of the other m/m romance/erotica crapola out there.

One other point about Roman culture, if anyone is interested:  circumcision was also a mutilation associated with ‘foreign barbarians’, and ‘decircumcision’ surgery to restore the semblance of a prepuce was available.

I can recommend A Hell of a Yarn as a lovely story with assorted piercings. 

(It’s m/m, and if stories featuring real people squick you, it’s also a pop fandom AU.  However, as it’s an AU, it’s also pretty much self-contained and you don’t need to know anything about the source to enjoy it.)

(My captcha is ‘looking18’.  Ha!  I wish :-)

I think a heroine with a belly button ring would turn me off. No offense to those that have them but personally I think It’s a trend whose time has come and gone.

I agree with that. Most young women who get them really do NOT take good care of them. They end up rejecting (duh, its a surface piercing, it isn’t like piercing your ears! you silly girls!) or being really gross. I’ve seen some horrifying pictures on bme and ack, its just scary.

I only have one “weird” piercing, and that is my septum. I got it almost 2 years ago (when I was 19). I really have never read a romance novel where either the male or female lead has a septum ring. Where is the septum love?

I would love to see more male characters with facial piercings. I don’t care about the tongue piercings too much, but why not something nifty like an eyebrow ring, a septum ring, or a labret?  All of those are so freaking sexy on a guy I swoon just thinking about them.

And on the subject of tattoos - usually guys have something on their arm or something small and “tough man.” Where are the big giant pieces that take up space? What about women with lots of ink? That seems to be one thing that is really weird in our culture - its normal for a woman to get a tramp stamp or butterflies, but there are never women who have more than some crappy cutesy thing. Rawr.

Okay, must stop typing now, I could go on and on about this stuff, lol.

For those who are intrigued by the idea of Regency in Space, you have to read the Liaden Universe books by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (http://www.korval.com/liad.htm).  No piercings or tats, though, but really great stuff. :)

O_o I’ve never met a straight dude with a tongue piercing.  Trufax.  I don’t think I would believe the hero of romance novel was straight if his tongue was pierced, either.  His name could be Straighty McNotgay and I would still have difficulty believing his heterosexuality.

Can I give a medical perspective…? Beyond that of the pain and infection issues…

Although body piercings may be a fashionable form of self-expression; in medical, and especially psychiatric circles, body piercings are widely regarded to equate to sexual promiscuity (more risks, more partners, etc). 

Personally, I’m not a fan. Professionally, I’ve had to extract quite a manky few…

O_o I’ve never met a straight dude with a tongue piercing.  Trufax.  I don’t think I would believe the hero of romance novel was straight if his tongue was pierced, either.  His name could be Straighty McNotgay and I would still have difficulty believing his heterosexuality.

You might not be running in the same crowd as the pierced folk then, lol. An ex of mine had a pierced tongue and he was definitely not gay.

Shae said:

...its normal for a woman to get a tramp stamp or butterflies, but there are never women who have more than some crappy cutesy thing.

What’s a ‘tramp stamp’? 

I have frequently seen young women with enormous and elaborate tattoos;  literally just this morning I saw one who had one leg covered with polychrome designs (lots of green and yellow as well as black, blue and red) from ankle to knee (probably hadn’t got round to getting her left leg done yet), both arms completely covered with designs, some random motifs on her midriff and upper belly, which, of course, were on public view, and a gigantic, hideous red rose above each breast.  No doubt there was more under what clothing she had deigned to put on.  I agree that such a degree of coverage is still fairly unusual, but even single visible motifs - the roses and butterflies and other ‘girly’ images - are now far more likely to be 4 inches across than one inch.  At least, that’s the case here in London.

I am also very struck by the ‘it’s normal’ statement in the quotation from Shae’s post above, because I have no doubt it is true, and this is such a revolution from even thirty years ago that it is remarkable.  Both tattooing and piercing have been around a long time even in our cultures, but they used to be a minority taste with some rather complex, occasionally contradictory, social symbolism.  In any case, they were often hidden in normal everyday life, personal secrets to be revealed only to intimates, within a private circle.  I can even understand the appeal of that. 

As they approach the point, today, where they are the norm, chosen by the majority, the average, the members of the common herd, and are placed on open view to every passer-by, I wonder if there will be a backlash in the future, in which the total absence of tribal mutilations will mark out those who want to show individuality and independence of mind?

I guess I’m just too practical. I’ve occasionally thought of getting a small tat in an inconspicuous place, just for me. But for some of this stuff, including the large tats and piercings, I look at these kids (and usually it is kids though not always) and think, “and what will that look like when she’s 60 and fluffy and saggy…”

Not to mention what a PA would look like on a wrinkled, baggy 70 year old…

Eeeuwww.

What’s a ‘tramp stamp’?

I’m being kind of mean, but basically (pulling this from bmezine.com’s wiki) - “Tramp Stamp” is a derogatory term for lower back tattoos on women. The term originally applied to lower quality, often flash based designs (simple tribal work, butterflies, kanji, and so on) that were displayed seemingly to attract attention to partial nudity and to emphasize sexual availability, but the term can also be used to apply to all lower back tattoos that ride on the pant-line.  - (click here for the page).

I see a lot of gorgeous large tattoos in real life, but never see them in books. Its a shame.

I wonder if there will be a backlash in the future, in which the total absence of tribal mutilations will mark out those who want to show individuality and independence of mind?

Ooh, I love the idea of that. I’d say that would be so far in the future, but it’d be interesting to read. It kind of reminds me of a YA series by Scott Westerfeld (Uglies) where everyone has plastic surgery and in certain cities its cool or trendy to look like you haven’t had all that work done.

Also - apologies to anyone sick of reading comments by me, I love this kind of stuff so I can’t help but speak up. :D

eaeaea: I think psychiatry probably needs to update its perspective just a bit.  I think it’s more common than we know, because a lot of it is so hidden.  But then, I’m not in the ER, extracting strange things from weird places, so what do I know.

AgTigress:  A “tramp stamp” is the tattoo women get (guilty) in the small of their back.  Apocryphally, supposedly prostitutes used to tattoo themselves or be tattooed there to indicate their profession.  Some of us just think it’s a sexy place to be tattooed.

And my tattoos aren’t there to look good.  They’re to mark certain points in my life in indelible ways (my first child, my personal philosophy, my sexuality) and I have never for a single instant regretted any of them.  I’m not worried about what they’ll look like when I’m seventy, because they’ll be a part of me, like my wrinkles and age spots, and will show what a fabulous life I’ve led.

And having seen a PA on a number of old guys, they look great, too.  It’s all in how you wear it and how you use it and how much a part of you it’s become.  If you feel uncomfortable with it, you’re going to look like a dork, even if you look like Brad Pitt.

Tara Janzen has a hero that’s tatted all up his back, and a heroine with a lightning bolt tattoo down her body in her “Crazy” series.

Tats and piercings don’t to much for me IRL but I like how they are used in some books to give a character an edge.

I have to say that it suprises me that alot of people…

1. don’t see a lot of straight men with tongue piercings…maybe b/c its a younger generation thing (but i am 28 and know quite a few guys that have them—-who are all white collar so maybe you wouldnt notice?!?)

2. dont know what a “tramp stamp” is…or maybe its just the term? I have one….that i got when i was 20….tattoo on my lower back (along with a few other ones that i can hide).

I am also in the medical field but i think for the most part if you are clean and have good hygiene there normally isnt a problem with piercings unless something unusual occurs (like the above mentioned). My best friend works as an ER nurse and we swap stories a lot. SHe doesnt come across too many piercing incidents. Its more insertion incidents if you get my drift.

I loved my belly button ring and never had the first problem with it. It’s gone now because I’m pregnant, but I’m hoping once everything is somewhat back in its proper place (haHA! wishful thinking!), I can wear it again. My belly looks so weird and naked without it. Of course it looks weird anyway, having reached gargantuan proportions.

The heroine in my debut (Unleashed, April ‘09, Samhain) has one. She did it to celebrate her divorce. :)

I’ve promised myself a second tattoo when I sell my first book.

And my tattoos aren’t there to look good.  They’re to mark certain points in my life in indelible ways (my first child, my personal philosophy, my sexuality) and I have never for a single instant regretted any of them.

Yes!  I got mine after accomplishing something very…extraordinary that I thought I could never do.

The heroine of my book (coming out in October!) has a “tramp stamp” and she poses nude for a painting.

The hero of a different book (long shoved back in my hard drive) has a full-color back tattoo of a western-type fire-breathing dragon.  The flames wrap around one arm to his elbow and the tail wraps around the opposite leg to his knee.

This is a fabulous site:  Inked Inc. (very Flash heavy site, totally safe for work otherwise), about tattooed professionals.  I’m going to pose, when we can connect our schedules.

Thanks to those who defined ‘tramp stamp’ for me.  Naturally I am very familiar with lower-back tattoos:  one sees them everywhere, frequently revealed by very low and skin-tight nether garments, but I didn’t know the term.  Of course, ‘tramp’ has a different meaning in British English, and even though I understand the American definition, I simply didn’t make the connection.  In earlier generations, a visible tattoo of any kind on a female tended to be associated with ladies of easy virtue:  visible markers of that kind had associations with those who were outside the mainstream of society.

This underlines my point about the future, now that these practices are evidently becoming mainstream, at least in North America and parts of Europe.  The urge to be different, to stand out in some way, is quite a natural one, so once the skin-patterns and metal hardware are universal, some other indicators will be found.  Especially if skin markings were to become compulsory, imposed by an authoritarian government.  This may not be quite as improbable as you might think.  Tattooed numbers, implanted bar-coded microchips, things that identify an individual permanently, whether they wish it or not, would have a strong appeal to some administrations, and would be justified by their usefulness in fighting crime and terrorism.  Fingerprinting has been with us a long time:  iris scans and DNA databases are rising stars of the movement to have every individual numbered and docketed.  The moment when every newborn babe is officially tattooed with its permanent, lifelong identity number may not be far away… 

;-)  :-D

You might not be running in the same crowd as the pierced folk then, lol.

Or, the straight folk.

maybe b/c its a younger generation thing (but i am 28 and know quite a few guys that have them—-who are all white collar so maybe you wouldnt notice?!?)

Dude, I’m 28, too.  I just apparently only know gay people, LOL.

Sarah, thank you for the link to Inked Inc - a most interesting and well planned site.  Considering the time and expense (and, presumably, discomfort) that extensive tattoos must represent, why do you think the general artistic standard is so mediocre?  The very best have a kind of naive folk-art charm, like flower-painted furniture, but a high proportion are, to my eyes, fairly ugly patterns in themselves, and often remarkably banal.  There was only one design - a monochrome one - shown in that gallery of pictures that I thought had some intrinsic artistic merit, but in my view, it would still have looked better somewhere other than on a bloke’s arm!

:-)

This underlines my point about the future, now that these practices are evidently becoming mainstream, at least in North America and parts of Europe.  The urge to be different, to stand out in some way, is quite a natural one, so once the skin-patterns and metal hardware are universal, some other indicators will be found.

I think in some ways the backlash has already started - to wit, the term “tramp stamp.”

AgTigress, well, it’s all in your perspective, I guess.  I’m not personally a big fan of “typical” tattoo design, and I’ve seen a lot of these tattoos elsewhere, so a lot of them are definitely stock images.  (Mine are not, FWIW.)  But I think Marissa’s and Sarah’s tattoos were beautiful on Inked Inc.

There are some stunning tattoos out there.  I really think it’s a generational thing.  So I don’t think we’re really going to agree! ;)

I really think it’s a generational thing.  So I don’t think we’re really going to agree! ;)

Not just generational, though that is one important element that affects perceptions.  Taste in graphic design and art is also very variable and personal.  So, no, I’m afraid we won’t agree!  On the other hand, people have a perfect right to bedizen themselves with coloured ink or metal rings and studs, if it gives them pleasure.
:-)

I think in some ways the backlash has already started - to wit, the term “tramp stamp.”

I’m pretty sure the term “tramp stamp” predates the current acceptance of tatoos.  Hickeys (sp? I mean kissing marks) used to be called tramp stamps, so I’d guess the term represents a more old-fashioned distaste for tatoos, piercings, and anything referencing sex.

just for a younger opinion I asked my 17 yr old brother what he thought tramp stamp meant or why that term was used.. and to sum it up he said….

“because girls get tattoos on their lower backs purposely so when they bend over guys will look at their ass” He added, ” on some girls….they’re hot!” lol
(assumming they are wearing tiny, tight shirts and low-riding jeans)

He also mentioned that “cougars” get tramp stamps to try and be younger.  I laughed at that one.

For those of you that dont know what a “cougar” is—its slang for a single, hot, over 35-ish woman, on the prowl so to speak.

Jaid Black has a book called “One Dark Night” which is a contemporary story about a surgeon being stalked by a serial killer.  She has both nipples pierced and is secretly interested in the Dom/Sub lifestyle. I’m not usually a fan of JB, but this was a pretty good read.

Not to pimp myself at all, but in my book Torn (available through http://www.krysiaswebbooks.com LOL..,.), the female lead has 2 nose bones and a tatt. ;)

Dont know if it was mentioned yet, but Willa Okati’s In the Strangest Places has piercings and tats up the wazoo. Its m/m, and very, very good. Written very interestingly, too (present tense, IIRC).

Piercings and tattoos freak me out.  I just can’t imagine liking one thing enough to have it on me forever.  Plus I once had a nightmare I got the stupidest tat ever and I couldn’t scrub it off in the shower and I was mad.  Erm, on topic:

the heroine of Gina Showalter’s To Catch a Mate has a belly ring.  Fantastic book. Slightly kinky sex, which made the ring seem dangerous to me, but then, all these sexy piercings seem dangerous.

Not that I want to stop others from getting them, of course.  Go do whatever you want- but they do freak me out.

Crossing Borders by ZA Maxfield. One of the heroes, Tristan, has a tongue piercing.  Very cute m/m.

I’m going to check out these books –I love tattoos and piercing.

Can I give a medical perspective…? Beyond that of the pain and infection issues…
Although body piercings may be a fashionable form of self-expression; in medical, and especially psychiatric circles, body piercings are widely regarded to equate to sexual promiscuity (more risks, more partners, etc). 
Personally, I’m not a fan. Professionally, I’ve had to extract quite a manky few…

I kind of disagree with the psychiatric circles –primarily because I am one with multiple piercing and tattoos lol –nose, ear, nipple, belly and hood ring; the “tramp stamp” on going around my lower back and belly –it covers stretch marks amazingly well, forearm tattoos as well as my wrist, ankle and foot, and back of my neck.  I’ve gotten good at concealing them so I rarely get question about them lol.

Here’s another m/m one: Bad Case of Loving You. One of the protagonists has an apadravya, a piercing that passes through the glans of the penis (ouch!), and both nips done.

For the story itself, not terrible for this genre in writing and plot, though the characters aren’t very developed and it ends rather abruptly. Contains mild B/D/D/s.  Heavy on medical terminology, almost to the point of distraction.