Deviance as an historical artefact: a scoping review of psychological studies of body modification

Abstract

Body modification is a blanket term for tattooing, piercing, scarring, cutting, and other forms of bodily alteration generally associated with fashion, identity, or cultural markings. Body modifications like tattooing and piercing have become so common in industrialised regions of the world that what were once viewed as marks of abnormality are now considered normal. However, the psychological motivations for body modification practices are still being investigated regarding deviance or risky behaviours, contributing to a sense in the academic literature that body modifications are both normal and deviant. We explored this inconsistency by conducting a scoping review of the psychological literature on body modifications under the assumption that the psychological and psychiatric disciplines set the standard for related research. We searched for articles in available online databases and retained those published in psychology journals or interdisciplinary journals where at least one author is affiliated with a Psychology or Psychiatry programme (N = 94). We coded and tabulated the articles thematically, identifying five categories and ten subcategories. The most common category frames body modifications in general terms of risk, but other categories include health, identity, credibility/employability, and fashion/attractiveness. Trends in psychology studies seem to follow the shifting emphasis in the discipline from a clinical orientation regarding normality and abnormality to more complex social psychological approaches.

Motivos y características del tatuaje corporal en mujeres mexicanas

“…Las modificaciones corporales son alteraciones deliberadas que se realizan con la intención de cambiar o transformar visiblemente la apariencia del cuerpo humano y pueden realizarse por razones médicas o no médicas e incluyen escarificaciones, implantes subdérmicos y transdérmicos, amputaciones, división de la lengua, modelado de orejas, enganchamientos de carne y suspensiones, perforaciones y tatuajes (Owens et al, 2023). En este estudio nos enfocaremos en el tatuaje corporal, debido a que la evidencia reciente indica que, la tendencia a realizarse un tatuaje ha aumentado significativamente entre las mujeres adultas jóvenes (Alter-Muri, 2019;Hill et al, 2016;Notara et al, 2021) y que la edad se correlaciona positivamente con el tatuaje (Geller et al, 2019).…”