ABSTRACT
The definition of “body modification” is very wide and covers a variety of practices — temporally, geographically, and anatomically. It is necessary to define body modification with regard to the aims of this chapter and in relation to human biological identification in general. We regard it here as the intentional alteration of the human phenotype. However, there are a number of caveats surrounding this definition with regard to this chapter. First, the definition between surgical intervention and body modification initially seems to be clear. However, as the more extreme forms of alteration are considered, the line becomes less distinct. Extreme modifications (tongue splitting, penile glans splitting, penilectomy, etc.) may involve anaesthetics and may utilize the services of a trained surgeon. Therefore, this chapter does not attempt to address the issues of extreme body modification but is restricted to those practices that are performed by nonmedically
trained artists or practitioners who frequently do not retain detailed patient records. We are, therefore, focusing on the more common forms of body modification undertaken in a nonmedical environment. Thus, we also exclude plastic and cosmetic surgery and orthodontic treatment from our definition and subsequent discussion (however, see Chapter 8 for further discussion of this). Second, while we acknowledge that body modification has been an important sociological factor for thousands of years, for identification purposes we restrict our definition to what is current in Western society today, acknowledging that concepts alter with the passage of time, the popularity of different procedures, and the introduction of new trends.
