At A Glance Author krystyna Contact krystyna@bme.anon IAM krystyna When Six months ago Artist Jody Studio Anatomic Location Vancouver
I can remember when I was younger and piercings of any variety other than the ear lobes were nothing but bizarre and frowned upon. This being only about ten or so years ago. The only times I was subjected to 'different' piercings was on TV shows like Ricki Lake. Then, teens with pink hair and eyebrow rings were placed on a stage with their ashamed parents and forced into a terrible, unrelenting make-over. All of this taking place in an hour wonderfully dubbed "Turn My Teen Freak into Something Chic". And any piercing of the genital type was restricted to the more serious shows of 'Donahue' and 'Believe it or Not'. Needless to say, along with the rants of my mother, my young mind was formed around the idea that any piercing aside from the standard lobe was not to be messed with. So naturally, a genital piercing was not in my future plans, that is, not until the recent past.
Finding BME and IAM seemed to be just the antidote to my narrowed views of genital piercing. I was introduced to wonderful and beautiful images, creating a whole new concept of female sexuality for me. Growing up, my mother never talked to me about my sexuality, or the beauty in being a woman. My father, on the other hand, believed in the hyper-sexual idea of women. Pornography and the like was easy to come by in my house. Never the less, I grew up with a very misconstrued idea of feminine sexuality. After discovering BME and becoming nicely engaged with several IAM members around my town, I began to think of my body, and my vagina more precisely, in a different light. I guess you can say I became comfortable with it. The images of genital piercings became images of statements; proud statements. The next step was inevitable. I had to get one, as both an asthetic and purposeful reason. I was proud of my sexuality.
The next question was, which piercing was right for me? I poured over the images in the BME galleries relentlessly, immersing my self in vaginas, so to speak. With every image I looked at, the one that stuck out the most was the vertical hood. I loved the simplicity of it, and of course, it was beautiful. It was exactly what I wanted. I decided to get this piecing for myself as a twenty first birthday gift, the year of fully coming into womanhood in most cultures. I felt that it would be the most meaningful moment in my life to have something like that done.
The choice of shop and piercer was inevitable to me, as always. I wanted Jody, an IAM member I had become quite comfortable with, to do this piercing for me. Her studio, Anatomic, was the one studio I could fully trust to provide me with a safe and super clean atmosphere. The next step was to call her up and make an appointment. My hand was slightly shaking as I dialed the number. After several minutes, it was done. My appointment was set for two weeks later.
Time came and went, and finally it was the piercing day. I woke up a ball of nerves and almost contemplated not going through with it. I had heard horror stories of the incredible pain, plus my friend had told me how much of an idiot I was. Not being one to care much about stuff such as that, I shrugged off their comments. I dragged myself out of bed and got myself ready. I was super paranoid; I made sure I wore loose pants, thought maybe I should wear a skirt, no, to cold. I was scared that I might kick Jody in the face, or even pass gas as she pierced me (I was that paranoid). I had spent an ungodly amount of time in the shower, making sure every last hair was removed from my area. I wanted to be all neat and tidy.
My sister had agreed to drive my to the studio, I didn't want to and my paranoia had led me to believe that taking the bus would be a big mistake. We hopped in her jeep and took off for the hour or so drive into Vancouver, allowing for many smokes in an attempt to settle my frazzled nerves. After what seemed like no time at all, however, we there. After a quick bite to make sure I had something in my stomach, and another smoke later, we walked into Anatomic Adornments and greeted Jody.
Jody had a huge smile on her face. She asked my to have a seat while she prepared her room. I sat on the blue chairs and talked with Teagan, the shop's apprentice. She assured me that I could do this with no problem, it would be easy for me. I sighed and agreed but was still all butterflies on the inside.
After not much time, Jody reappeared and said she was ready for me. I took a deep breath in and walked into her room. She had me sit on the doctor's bench while she thoroughly explained the aftercare, warning me about perfumed soaps, sexual or oral contact, etc. She made sure I completely understood every tiny detail about how I was to care for the piercing before we commenced. After I told her I did, she had me undress. This was a little awkward, but I got over it as soon as my shirt was off. This part is not as difficult as you would think. Frankly, if you can't handle the naked part, you shouldn't be thinking of a genital piecing. Jody placed a lavender infused swatch of gauze on top of the fan in the room, telling me the aroma would help soothe my nerves and relax me. She then handed my another swatch to hold under my nose and breath the scent directly in. She then proceeded to get her instruments ready, changing gloves each time she touched something new. After everyth ing was laid out as she wanted, she had me lie down, spread my legs, and put the soles of my feet together. She inspected me to make sure I was built properly for the piercing. I was, sigh of relief. She then marked the entrance and exit points of the piercing, showed them to me, to make sure they were ok, which they were. She changed gloves again and handed me the pen she had used to keep as a 'souvenir'. And, of course, to show me that the same pens were never used twice. She then placed the receiving tube under my hood, explaining everything she was doing as she did it it a calm, soothing voice. This felt strange, cold, and some what uncomfortable, but nothing unbearable. The only way to describe it is it felt like something under my hood. It was unlike any feeling which is where the uncomfortable issue came in. She then had me begin breathing. She was going to pierce on four. In on one, out on two, in on three....and the pain. The most intense, true pain I have ever fe lt in my entire life. I let out a semi-loud "ouch", weird for me, sinc e I have never been vocal during a piercing before, but this was slightly different than any other piercing I had. It was direct and sharp, but amazingly quick. It didn't even last a second. She told me it was over and tat she was sliding in the barbell. This part I barely felt. I was surprised at the quickness of it all, and how easy the jewelery insertion was. She handed me a mirror and told me to take a look, and, there it was: my new, fancy vagina. I was i love with it. I was also amazed at how I was in no pain. I stood up without a problem and put on my clothes. All of my paranoid thoughts were groundless. She gave me a strawberry candy and a hug, I paid her and went on my way, without any problems. I happened to ask her about the passing gas thought. Turns out that people have done it during the piercing. Sure glad I wasn't one of them.
The car ride home was a tad bit awkward, but nothing unbearable. When I got home, I checked it out. It looked completely fine, and hardly bled at all, just a few spots on my panties. I washed it twice daily in the shower with pure, castille soap and water, and kept my boyfriend away from it for two weeks. Following Jody's guidelines allowed my piercing to heal beautifully and with out any problems. No flare-ups, no soreness, nothing. These piercers are professionals for a reason, listen to them. All in all, it's a terrific piercing. Surely not for everyone, but if you're interested, it's wonderful. My vagina feels quite beautiful now, all decorated. I felt slightly empowered and proud. I want to thank Jody again for the wonderful job she did. Not only did she pierce me, but she helped my come to terms with my sexuality and myself, and that means more to me than I can ever describe in words.