The more and more I see videos of people doing it the more I feel I have to do it. Has anyone here tried it? anyone in socal know of groups who do it locally?
hehe, well not that extreme, just with 5 hooks on my back, it seems like its the most common and "beginner" position
I know a mess of people who do it here in the Dallas area. Generally your "first" would be just two hooks in your scapular area (called a suicide suspension). Your best bet would be to check at www.suspension.org and see what groups are closest to you.
Jeez I remember when Fakir Musafar and Jim Ward were the only people doing this, claiming that it yielded a spiritually-oriented body high. Long time ago. Then along came Re/Search's "Modern Primitives" and now people are doing it for audiences? I dunno... Seems like the original contexts are lost if it's just sort of a sideshow, but maybe I'm missing the point?
4 years ago here in Portland I did a ten point facing down, with 8 hooks in my back and 2 in each leg, which was presented to me as the standard beginner's position. Despite liking mods and such, I am not at all active in the piercing community, and found the event to be really sceney and unappealing. I wanted more of a personal ritualistic experience (which I have had in intentional group settings in other communities), but there was only space for exhibitionism as far as I observed, and crass exhibitionism at that. I was glad I could check it off of my to-do list, but overall it was a lackluster experience. Really you just hang there and swing around a bit. Maybe I'll do a Sun Dance one day.
Wow, a much different take on it than I have heard. Most people I have seen on natgeo say its a very spiritually satisfying experience...but I'm sure its different for every person
My quesions are: Do you end up with big honkin scars on your body from doing this? Do they stick the hooks through muscle tissue? I would think just skin would rip. I don't have a tattoo or hole in my body, so this is for sure purely curiosity!
From what I know so far just skin- so yes the only big risk with this is if it rips through (given that sanitation is immaculate to prevent hepatitis), so the hooks can't just go anywhere, they have to be in strategic places that will support you. And yah there will be some scarring, but its only going to be the size of the fish hooks entry and exit points.
Perhaps, but I'm not a hypocrite. Back on topic, I have a few friends that have done this to varying degrees of liking/not liking it. There is a suspension group in the DC area that I had debated going to see but I'm not sure I want to make a further spectacle out of it. I also started to think its more of an attention thing for most people than the more spiritual or endurance test that I know people had sought it out for. I miss re:search, I had a few of those back in the day, not sure what I did with them. I agree its kind of 1995.
If I recall correctly, hooks don't just pierce skin, they actually go beneath musculature such that the body is actually hanging from muscle, not skin. The practice originated as part of the Native American Sun Dance ritual of some tribes. It was explored by non-native persons as a sort of underground experiential trip. Public awareness increased in the late 1980s concurrent with the boom in tattooing and body piercing. Because this thread piqued my curiosity (and because I've been out of touch with this sort of thing since the mid-90s) I did a bit of research. I mean no offense to anyone else who is practicing it or interested, but I can't help but think that this business of doing it as a "show" in a public context is complete B.S. and frankly a little offensive, given the spiritual NDN origin. I can appreciate non-native interest but again, doing it as a freak show sort of thing is really lame and shallow in my opinion. A private ceremony would be something else. The original non-native explorers of this sort of thing didn't intend a for-show spectacle at all.
I think its so far removed from the original aspect that at this point, and in any of the modern primitive/body mod/industrial scenes I've seen it that it really isn't disrespect or any removal. I personally am not spiritual at all and was never drawn to body mods or this sort of practice to see anything other than the power of the human body itself. And everybody loves a freakshow even if they don't admit they want to look. I think a lot of it does get to the "look I'm cool" aspect but what out of this human experience doesn't. Isn't facebook and the like more of an invasion into the private lives than some sort of performance. Also, there were a lot of other examples of suspensions etc besides just the native american aspect, and I recall reading about ones when younger that were done in a very public performance sort of way. That knowledge has sadly been eradicated by useless grown up matters. And yes... scars from what I have seen and what eventually lead me (among other things) to have no desire to partake based on how I heal.
Good point and a fair rebuttal. I'm kinda laughing at my own attitude here, because I helped Vale and Andrea promote "Modern Primitives," thought Fakir was a nice chap and was pierced by Jim Ward (during an aftershock of the Loma Prieta quake LOL.) Although I had my own personal ideas about a spiritual connection to things done back then, there were never any delusions of "going tribal" or getting in touch with my Cherokee roots. Maybe I just need to lighten up. Get into toys or something.
You don't need spirituality to produce Endorphins, just pain. I'd assume flesh hooks give a semi similar whole body high as a broken bone, gunshot, or stab wound without the nasty physical trauma, extreme lasting pain, and shock. Its about exhibitionism imo. Once the flesh hooks are out there likely is a nice Endorphin based "high" without requiring a Hospital visit. Biggest risk is likely Hepatitis as opposed to bleeding out or dying from shock.
I worked with Stelarc in college, he had already moved on to totally different stuff by then...but I think this really is an outdated/overdone thing. it was shocking when he did it, but now it's just sort of silly - no?
Yes, but I guess it depends on why you are doing it.?. I was too young at the time for a lot of stuff that was going on but got into piercing etc and by now have all but left it behind. I still have the random metal/stone in my body, but I only get ink now.
