Men's piercings

Male Body Piercings

The following piercings have mix of fact and fiction behind their names and placements, but they all have one thing in common. You must be possessing biological male anatomy to wear them. Men’s body piercing has much sexual innuendo around it, a mix of promised enhancement or implied virility.

However in modern piercing, reasons for any of these piercings is most likely a mix of personal reasoning. Given the intimate nature of the body parts being pierced, it is recommended that anyone wishing one of these do research not only on the history behind the piercing, but also into the skills and experience of the chosen body piercer.

Ampallang - Male genital piercing placed horizontally through the head of the penis, often also going through the urethra.

Apadravya - Male genital piercing vertical through the head of the penis. This piercing often also goes through the urethra.

Cleopatra - The name sometimes given to a “reverse” Prince Albert. The placement is similar to a PA, but done so as to align over the top of the penis.

Dydoe - Male genital piercing that are placed through the crown of the head of the penis. Most often small barbells are worn in these piercings.

Foreskin - The name for any piercing in the foreskin. Obviously, only uncircumcised males can have these piercings.

Frenum - Shaft skin piercing perpendicular to shaft just below the head of the penis. A ring or barbell can be worn in this piercing.

Guiche - Male genital piercing made in the flat area just behind the testicles. The placement most closely corresponds to the location of the first chakra discussed in Eastern healing systems.

Hafada - A piercing placed in the loose skin on the side of the testicular sack. Most often a ring is worn in this piercing. Sometimes this is called a scrotal piercing.

Prince Albert - Male genital piercing that goes through the shaft, just under the head, going through and exiting via the urethra. Despite many stories that Victorian consort Albert himself wore one of these piercings, there is no actual history record to confirm this. Nonetheless, this is one of the most popular modern-day men’s body piercings.

Trans-Scrotal Piercing - These rare and dangerous piercings run through the center of the scrotum, and result in a healed tunnel of skin that connects the outer surfaces of the skin. Infection rate is very high and should only be done by experienced piercers.

Whereas I can't host pictures here to further illustrate these piercings, I do have some I have hosted elsewhere. Mature viewers only, please.

Persons who decide to have such personal piercings done must also be prepared to interrupt their intimate life activities and allow for a period of healing, some of which can be weeks to months in length. Be sure to speak with your body piercer about aftercare BEFORE you get the piercing done and make sure you understand the proper way to care for your new piercing and for how long the care regime must be maintained.

Flesh Hooks and Suspension

The recent Reuters headline ran “Kids dangle from meat hooks for fun” but in fact, this practice has roots that run deeper than that. A fusion of body piercing and spiritual practice, suspension and flesh hook pulls are slowly making a comeback in alternative communities. The ancient precedents for this type of behavior can be found in a variety of North American Indian tribes, or the religious practices of the Tamil of South Asia. These practices are tied to shamanism, as the effects of the great pain and stress on the body induces altered states.

The Native American Sundance most often happened around the Summer Solstice. The best documented is the Sioux version, whereby dancers are pierced with wood or bone through the pectorals, with lines running to a tall pole. The dancers slowly pull, often for three or four days, until the piercing rips free. The gift of one’s own body is seen as being the greatest form of sacrifice to the gods.

The Tamils of South Asia have piercing practices are part of their worship of Murugan. Again you honor the god with your body and your offerings. The large frameworks of sharp spears, called kavandi, that devotees used to wear have been replaced in more modern times with hooks set into the skin of the back. Pulling against ropes, the worshippers walk for multiple miles to the temple site, their suffering an offering to the god along with being a sign of their devotion. Many also have a thin spike called a “vel,” symbolic of Murugan’s lance, pierced thru both cheeks or the tongue for the ceremony as well.

In the 1980s, Australian artist Stelarc did a series of suspensions in Japan whereby he hung by multiple hooks embedded in his flesh. These were staged at art galleries as formal artistic performances. One fascinating rigging involved rocks as counterbalances, so that the artist was suspended in a near-cross-legged position surrounded by a circle of floating rocks.

These practices have been introduced to a much wider audience via the performances and presentations of Fakir Musafar. Considered the “Father of the Modern Primitive movement” this 74-year-old has engaged in just about every kind of body modification known to mankind, and being a photographer, has well-documented his experiments and experiences over the years. Thru his seminal 90s publication bodyplay, Musafar covered not only the history of many of these rites, but showed ways to adapt them for modern neo-pagan spirituality. He has led public and private ceremonies, incorporating ball dances, flesh hooks and the act of bearing kavandi into performances and group rituals worldwide.

Texas-based Traumatic Stress Discipline has taken hook hangs and pulls and staged performances nationally and internationally. One of the founding members, Allen Falkner, performed at the San Francisco Fetish Ball in 2003 where I took the pictures that accompany this article. Speaking to him at the opening party the night before, he mentioned how people upset with this style of performance had filed legal motions attempting to stop the group, but that the judge in the case had ruled the performances “body art” and saw no grounds that would make them illegal.

In the recent encounter in Islamorada, FL, law officials called to the scene were surprised to find a group of young people doing a hook hang via a bamboo tripod erected near the water’s edge but admitted that no laws were being broken. One of the best lines in the article said that according to authorities, the girl hanging from the tripod when sheriff's and Coast Guard officers arrived “did not seem to mind the hooks.” For such practices, modern piercing techniques are used, and many observers are often surprised there is little or no blood. Despite the personal objections of whomever called the police, no laws were being broken and no citations or legal actions were taken

Exotic Ear Piercings

Ears can be pierced just about anywhere from the lower lobes to the thin rim that runs around the entire shell of the ear. Modern piercing techniques allow for easy piercing and more successful healing, especially for cartilage piercings. In order to distinguish one type of ear cartilage piercing from another, a wide array of new piercing names were born.

The ear is the part of the body that is the most accepting of the "if it protrudes, pierce it" school of piercing. Many individual parts of the ear can be pierced and healed successfully. In the picture shown here, the red letters indicate the location of a wide variety of ear piercing variations.

A - Anti-tragus - This piercing is through the thicker cartilage piece adjacent the tragus, attached to the rim of the ear.
C - Conch - also, conk. This term refers to any piercing through either the inner or outer shell of the ear.
D - Daith - This inner ear cartilage piercing is just above the opening into the ear canal. The name comes from the Hebrew word meaning "wisdom."
H - Helix - Outer cartilage ridge piercings. This is a popular location for multiple rings, which can be set around the rim, or through the ridge itself.
L - Lobes, stretched - These are bigger gauge holes, usually lower down on the lobe. The smaller the jewelry gauge number, the larger the hole. Jewelry for these can be like tiny tubes or plugs and go up to about an inch and a half in the more commonly found largest sizes. Authentic, tribal jewelry is wearable in these sizes with elaborate, hand-carved pieces crafted from materials such as bone, stone or wood.
R - Rook - These ear piercings goes through the stiff ridge in the fold of the shell of the ear.
T - Tragus - This piercing is through the cartilage chunk just next to the opening of the ear canal. If you are fond of ear bud style head phones, be careful how you set this piercing, as placement deeper into the tissue or a larger gauge ring can interfere with how the buds seat themselves in the ear conch.

An Industrial is when multiple ear piercings are aligned so that one piece of jewelry, usually a barbell, is worn through the two holes. Helix piercings are easily paired this way, especially when the piercings are done specifically for this purpose but any two adjacent piercings that can be comfortabley connected will work. This style has also been called an Ear Orbit when it is done so that a ring is worn through the two holes.

A Transverse piercing runs across the length of the lobe, rather than through it, like a surface piercing on the ear. Placement of this unique piercing usually works best on the lower lobe where the tissue is both flat and flexible