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Notes -
Just because I was reminded by the comment in the main thread, do pierced septums, tongues, and gauges give anyone the major ick? Nose studs? Fine. Belly button piercings? A little wierd but fine. Any non-face tattoo? Fine. But hoooooly crap does anything more than a tiny septum piercing make me uncomfortable. Not just like, “oh that’s weird” but almost I find it physically repulsive that larger ones I find it hard to even look. Ear gauges also, anything bigger than a button. Tongue piercings in any size. Is this just a human “looks like that would hurt” reaction, or is there some other component maybe? Curious if others feel the same but are more/less vocal about it, or if it’s just a personal issue.
I was raised as conservative Christian (how conservative? Useless question, too relative) but in liberal Oregon, if relevant, so at least it’s not purely a lack of exposure thing.
I think people are getting distracted by considerations of class and aesthetics but I don't think it's purely those factors as you said that you're okay with little nose studs and non-face tattoos. I don't like jewellery, piercings or tattoos but I don't have that visceral reaction you're describing.
Maybe it's along the lines of being bad with the sight of blood. Most people would flinch if they saw someone with a rusty bit of metal sticking through their hand, so seeing an eye-catching and sizeable piece of foreign matter penetrating a facial feature might be triggering the same reaction even if it's intentional and meant to look "good". Or maybe it's a bit more of a body horror thing where you're uncomfortably aware of the chance of the piercing catching on something and causing a horrible accident. I get quite uncomfortable when I watch power tool videos on YouTube where the people are carelessly changing over blades without disconnecting the power. I know it's not going to happen because the video was uploaded without a bait title and thumbnail, but it's unsettling nonetheless.
Yes. I get visions of something tugging on them really hard. I dont like tattoos either, but those arent uncomfortable to look at.
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