WESTSIDE COVER STORY : Body Language : From Fashion Models to Students, Piercing Has Gone Mainstream

Ra gets funny looks in the shower room at the Santa Monica Family YMCA. And why not? The young man is pierced--from crown to crotch--with metal.

“They’re getting used to me,” he says. “I’m a good person. I’m not a mass murderer.”

And what about his friends? “I bumped into an ex-girl(friend) I was with,” said Ra--his real name is Raul Hernandez, 24. “She said: ‘I don’t want to hear about it.’ ”

But we are hearing more and more about body piercing. And seeing it too--from Madonna’s bellybutton to Axl Rose’s nipple to Dennis Rodman’s nose. Not to mention the young people who follow their rock and sports idols down the path to piercing.

Sometimes, they may be searching for individuality through conformity. Other times, it is a fashion statement, nothing more.

If Los Angeles is one of the nation’s most popular spots for body piercing, the Westside might be, well, the bellybutton of Los Angeles. From Venice to Hollywood and West Hollywood, the phenomenon has spread from its murky origins in the practices of faraway peoples to become an element of fashion, high and low, and an issue in Sacramento, where Gov. Pete Wilson last year vetoed a bill to regulate the practice.

Piercing has become so popular that there’s even a discussion group on the Internet (rec.arts.bodyart) that devotes attention to it, including a frequently-asked-questions list explaining the proper gauge of metal for piercing various body parts.

No one really knows how many members there are of this new tribe of urban “primitives,” but Jim Ward, president and founder of the Gauntlet, a chain of piercing parlors with outlets in West Hollywood, San Francisco, New York and Paris, says business has been doubling every year for the past three years.

“When fashion models are doing this, how much more mainstream can you get?” he asks.

Even at staid Pepperdine University in Malibu, Professor Jon Johnston said that he has been struck by the spread of the phenomenon on the Christian campus overlooking the Pacific.

“A lot of (students) are covered (by clothing), so it’s hard to say,” said Johnston, 55, who teaches anthropology and sociology. “But I asked the question the other day and some (students) came up and admitted to having navel rings and nipple rings.”

Why the run on rings, studs and other piercing jewelry?

Johnston, who is also a family therapist, said the spread of piercing--once, like tattooing, a symbol of marginal status--could have something to do with the alienation of modern youth in a society of broken families and uncertain futures.

“Conformity is a response to insecurity, because it assures security and acceptance. So they’ll do anything to be well thought of,” he said. “They’re looking in any way they can for attachment, because they’re fearful and they’re angry. If these kinds of rather radical overtures are required to be accepted by their group, so be it.”

It’s also fashionable. Literally.

Although practitioners claim roots in the rituals of ancient India and other Third World countries, some say piercing in America really began in the hidden circles of gay sadomasochism some 20 years ago. From there, they say, it spread to the heterosexual S&M; scene and later to the punk and rock music crowd. But it went very public when fashion models Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington appeared with bellybutton rings two years ago.

And for those who do not care about social acceptance or current fashion, piercing offers a daring minority another powerful lure:

Sex.

A piercer called Baba, who operates the L.A. Tattoo parlor in Hollywood, dismisses many recent converts as “little girls from the Valley” who just want a bellybutton ring to freak out their parents.

Speaking with d sounds where there should be th sounds--he has a Lucite column the size of a crayon stub through his tongue--Baba, 27, said he got into it for nothing less than “kinky sex.”

“I don’t want to be one of those idiots with piercings all over my face that are basically just cosmetic,” he said.

Ward also said that fashion slaves are missing what used to be the point of piercing--especially since rings through the navel, nose and eyebrows, while shocking in some circles, are hardly erogenous.

“I have very mixed feelings about it,” he said. “On the one hand I have a very great sense of satisfaction that we set something in motion that has touched a lot of people’s lives. I think the downside of it is that the whole thing has changed so much that people are missing that erotic aspect.”

Once a piercing has healed, Ward said, especially in a sensitive area like the nipples or the genitalia, it acts as a sort of “amplifier for sensations one experiences during sexual activity.”

But doesn’t it hurt? Surprisingly, many people with piercings report no more pain than the unpleasantness of a onetime pinch or an injection, although the discomfort depends on what part of the body is being pierced. The septum, for example, is a notably sensitive area and one that carries added health risk because it is close to the brain. Thus, special care must be taken with any piercing in the nose area.

Once a hole is made, a ring, tiny barbell or other jewelry item made of an inert metal--often gold or corrosion-resistant steel--is inserted. Scar tissue forms, but after a few weeks to several months, the cells regenerate and wearers have a skin-lined channel through their flesh.

They often speak of it as a sort of addiction--having had one, they can’t wait to have more. “Why? Why not?” said Dave Trevino, 21, a habitue of L.A. Tattoo, who wears a steel ring under his tongue as well as a column through it.

“I tell people, ‘You give me two good reasons why not and I’ll give you 10 good reasons why.’ I never have to go that far because they can never give me two good reasons why not.”

Well, here’s one reason: The risk of careless infection.

“You see enough people on the street that look like they’re having problems with (pierced areas), especially now that they’re taking their clothes off. They look inflamed,” said Barbara Zachary, director of patient services at Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital. “But we haven’t had anything here at the hospital.”

Indeed, local hospitals and free clinics report few complications that cannot be cured by the application of an antiseptic cream.

Gov. Pete Wilson relied on such assurances from an association of county health officers when he vetoed the bill in September that would have regulated body piercing, tattooing and permanent cosmetics--the practice of decorating the face with non-removable markings that look like eye shadow and mascara.

The measure would have required county health departments to enforce sterilization, sanitation and safety standards--and authorized them to charge fees to pay for it. But after it cleared the Legislature, Wilson refused to sign it. “There is no evidence to suggest there is a public health problem,” he said.

The California Conference of Local Health Officers opposed the bill as unnecessary at a time of reduced budgets and more immediate dangers from other public health hazards.

But its author, Assemblywoman Valerie K. Brown (D-Sonoma), said she was appalled by the veto of “an extremely moderate measure to deal with industries that pose high risks to public health.”

The hollow needles that are used in piercing and tattooing, she said, can carry hepatitis, tuberculosis, the virus that causes AIDS and various skin diseases, if not cleaned properly.

“In light of the risks, and the extreme popularity of tattoos and pierces, it is ludicrous that it is easier to set up shop as a tattoo artist or body piercer than as a manicurist or barber,” Brown said.

The bill will come up before the Legislature again next year. It is supported by statewide organizations of barbers, cosmetologists and physicians.

One doctor who has seen his share of piercings is Drew Pinsky, chief of medical services at a psychiatric hospital in Pasadena and co-host of KROQ’s Love Line, a late-night talk show aimed at a youth audience.

Pinsky, an admittedly square-looking 36-year-old, said he has asked his tattooed and pierced co-host, heavy metal music promoter and VJ Riki Rachtman, to explain the phenomenon. But Rachtman told him that if he understood it, then so would parents and “it wouldn’t be worthwhile.”

Until recently, Pinsky said, there was a strong correlation between aggressive piercing and significant character pathology, often connected with a history of childhood sexual abuse.

“One guy told me, ‘You want to mess with yourself before someone can mess with you,’ ” Pinsky recalled. “But now you can’t generalize because it’s become so common.”

“I’m sort of resentful” about the lack of regulatory oversight, he said. “Here I’ve trained for 20 years and the government is questioning me on the simplest thing I do, and these people are introducing foreign objects into body cavities without any supervision at all.”

Although people with pierces are often seen in trendy areas like Venice and Hollywood, a recent Love Line show featured teens from as far away as Moreno Valley calling in to talk about it.

They asked about infection, how long they would have to wear a Band-Aid, and how they should deal with their parents, some of whom apparently had given their blessings.

“If your mom says it’s OK, why would you want to do it?” Rachtman wondered.

One young woman said she got an infection after she pierced her own bellybutton with a safety pin.

Baba, the Hollywood-based piercer who was a guest on the show, advised her to take it out, let it heal up and then have it redone by a professional.

As for Ra, who has pierced his penis, nipples and parts of his face, he is not stopping there.

Hoping for a career as a piercer, he has mapped out a plan of adornment that includes a “whole body suit” of tattoos depicting his internal organs, bones and musculature.

He plans to add piercings “wherever I can imagine.”