If you walk through a shopping mall , you are sure to see some people with earrinhs , nose and even pieces of metal stuck to their tongues and navels! In recent years , this is a common sight in cities in North America , Europe and Asia . But don’t be fooled that the practice is new. For over 4,000 years , people in different parts of the world have been doing the same thing.
We call the act , or practice , of making a hole in a person’s skin ‘body piercing’. In the past , body piercing was usually done to show courage , endurance and even power. Today , it is more about making the person fashionable and more attractive , especially when beautiful or expensive jewellery is worn in the holes.
And the idea of modifying the body to look beautiful is not new either. In northern Thailand , some people consider a long neck a sign of beauty. So , they put metal rings round young girls’ necks , adding a new ring each year. The heavy rings push the girl’ shoulders down and thus make their necks look longer.