AUTHENTIC BODIES: SUBCULTURAL REACTIONS TO THE MAINSTREAMING OF BODY MODIFICATION By Derek John Roberts A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Sociology 2012 ABSTRACT AUTHENTIC BODIES: SUBCULTURAL REACTIONS TO THE MAINSTREAMING OF BODY MODIFICATION By Derek John Roberts Once a hallmark of Western deviance, body modification has undergone drastic redefinition in recent decades. If body modification is increasingly seen as being an aspect of mainstream culture, it begs the question of what will happen to the subculture which once claimed the practice as its own. This dissertation investigates how members of a body modification subculture are responding to the mainstreaming of body modification through a qualitative analysis of a virtual community designed for those with an interest in these practices. By researching how and why the body techniques of the subculture’s members have changed following the mainstreaming of body modification, I hope to further the understanding of how group boundaries are actively (re)defined‒‒ particularly within an internet context. I also discuss the role of style and non-body modification related phenomena in the subculture’s efforts to remain a distinct group. In addition to contributing to the sociological understanding of subcultures and the role of rituals in community maintenance, this dissertation contributes to the growing area of the sociology of the body. Copyright by DEREK JOHN ROBERTS 2012 For all those who look beyond appearances to see what lies in one’s heart iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are no self-made men, and this dissertation could not have been completed without the help of more people than can be listed in these pages. I thank my Mutti and Boss for having the patience and vision to permit their college graduate to move back home, work the midnight shift at 7-Eleven, and spend countless hours studying words nobody ever uses. Dan Martin sparked my interest in Sociology at Arkansas Tech, and I hope to be a similar inspiration to future students. I will never forget: DYB. Toby Ten Eyck turned out to be the perfect chair for a graduate student whose life resembles the disc in a game of plinko. He has given me the flexibility to pursue my own interests, despite the fact that they do not comply with the major areas of study in our department. If not for Ralph Pyle, I would probably still be searching for a research topic. He was a great professor to work for. Alesia Montgomery is perhaps the most intelligent person I have ever met, and I thank her for challenging me to become a true scholar. I also thank Nicole Ellison for joining the committee of an absentee sociologist. Like the rest of my committee, I appreciate her willingness to continue working with me as I left Michigan to attend seminary abroad. Of course, none of this would have been possible were it not for the American tax payer, without whom I could not have racked up mounds of student loan debt. Though he cannot read this, I also acknowledge my beautiful Golden Retriever, Jӧrg. More than a service dog, he has truly been this man’s best friend. Saving the best for last, I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It does not matter if you are a bougie academic, a lower class tattoo freak or something in between, He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and his grace is enough. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1 Virtuality and the Modified Body........................................................................................3 Research Objectives.............................................................................................................5 Plan of the Dissertation........................................................................................................5 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW..............................................................................................................11 The Subculturalist Approach.............................................................................................12 Analyzing Discourse..........................................................................................................19 Psychosocial Shortcomings of Western Body Modifiers..................................................27 The Exaggerated Health Risks of Body Modification.......................................................30 The Postmodern Body........................................................................................................33 The Media’s Role in Body Modification...........................................................................37 How Mainstream is Mainstream?......................................................................................39 The Forgotten Practitioners of Body Modification............................................................43 CHAPTER 3 MODIFIED METHODS................................................................................................................48 The Virtual Field................................................................................................................48 Strengths of Chosen Data...................................................................................................50 Limitations of Chosen Data...............................................................................................52 Data Collection and Analysis.............................................................................................53 Reflections.........................................................................................................................61 CHAPTER 4 CHARACTERISTICS OF A MODIFIED PEOPLE.....................................................................64 Demographic Patterns........................................................................................................64 A Subculture’s Repertoire on the Body.............................................................................70 Discussion..........................................................................................................................76 CHAPTER 5 VIRTUAL COMMUNITY AS A TOOL FOR SUBCULTURAL BOUNDARY MAINTENANCE..........................................................................................................................82 Reasons for Modifying One’s Body..................................................................................82 The Subculture Goes Online..............................................................................................84 A Virtual Death..................................................................................................................87 Inauthentic Motivations.....................................................................................................92 Responding to Popular Forms of Body Modification........................................................97 Criticizing People with Modifications.............................................................................102 Conflict with Other Users................................................................................................108 Offline Lives....................................................................................................................112 vi CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................116 Limitations and Contributions.........................................................................................123 REFERENCES............................................................................................................................128 vii CHAPTER 1 Introduction Voluntary body modification in Western culture, such as tattoos, piercings and elective plastic surgery, has a long history marked by varied social (re)definitions. Throughout much of the last century, the definition was often tied to deviant behavior and social undesirables. During recent years, however, there has been a shift in the acceptability of body modification, as scholars and reporters are quick to point to members of the middle class modifying their bodies for numerous reasons, including identity salience, rebellion and aesthetics. The tattoo, for example, has “undergone dramatic redefinition” (Irwin 2001:50), shifting from a form of deviance to what younger generations of today consider an acceptable form of expression. There are a number of factors contributing to the growing acceptability of body modification, including reasons related to a demographic shift of body modifiers in the second half of the twentieth century. Steward (1990) revealed that tattooees were predominately illiterate males in the 1950s, but that had changed by the mid 1980s when nearly two-thirds of tattooees had completed at least some college and tattooing was spreading across gendered lines (Sanders 1988). Steward (1990) noted that females were rarely tattooed in the 1950s, but by the end of the century one in three tattooees was a female (Sanders 1988). This trend has continued as women and men are now equally likely to be tattooed (Fisher 2002). According to a 2003 Harris poll of the US public, 16% of men and 15% of women have been tattooed (Kang and Jones 2007). The inclusion of women and more educated individuals among body