The Pierced Consumer

The Short Answer:  Absolutely Not!

I get this question a lot.  Mostly from people who’ve never met me in person as, obviously, when they know me, they can see that I’m no spring chicken.  In fact, I got my first body piercing (except for lobes, which do count!) at age 45.  You can, too.

I started my body art journey with tattoos in my 30s.  One of my tattooists also did piercings, and he told a story about  piercing the clitoral hoods of three “little old ladies from the old folks home,” and how much they enjoyed their new jewelry.  This comment simmered in the back of my brain for years, until it surfaced to compel me to seek out a body piercer.  If they could do it . . .

The perception that only teenagers or students  get piercings is a hard one to overcome. I’m here to tell you that there are far more people into piercings than you may realize. Mature people.  Professional people.  Old people, even.    I regularly correspond with people in their 50s, 60s, and even 70s who are active piercees.   Even though we may “buck the trend,” older piercees are often better informed and do more research before getting a piercing, and have the resources to purchase quality jewelry.  That can only be a good thing, in my opinion.

Younger people tend to start with facial piercings, both because they tend to need to visually express their style, and because minors cannot legally get genital or nipple piercings.  That means that younger people’s facial piercings–labret, eyebrow, etc.  get seen–a lot. In contrast, older people’s motivations tend to be different and they tend to get “hidden” piercings. Most of us are in the workplace where discretion is necessary, and piercings that can be hidden under clothes are ideal.  Further, many older piercees are motivated by a desire to spice up their sex life, or enhance their self image in mid-life.  It’s not unusual at all for a 40-something (or even older) to get a genital piercing, say, a Prince Albert, as their first piercing.

Special Concerns of Older Piercees

Let’s say you are interested in getting a piercing, but don’t know where to start.  None of your friends have piercings (or else they’re not telling).  How do you find a piercer?  Who do you talk to if you have a problem?  How do you get up the courage to walk into a piercing or tattoo studio and talk about jewelry for your nipples or your penis with a scary-looking stranger?

If you are not a teenager or 20-something, you may be concerned about how you will be perceived by your family or friends if you get a piercing. Will you be ridiculed?  Will they think you’re just in the grip of a mid-life crisis? Lapsing into second childhood? I always tell people, you have to have thick skin to be pierced (speaking metaphorically). Don’t think so much about what other people think, and make up your own mind. It’s your own body, after all.

In my experience, older adults who get pierced tend to be less experimental with their body art, and plan to keep their piercings permanently, so there is often a concern about removing piercings for medical procedures.  In addition, older people’s skin loses collagen and is not as supple, so there are also questions about whether or not they are suitable for a piercing.  They may be self-conscious about less-than-perfect bodies, citing beer bellies, baby-chewed breasts, and the ravages of time.  So who do you talk to?

Help is out there. Many of these concerns are shared by all piercees and there are resources available.  There’s information on this site that can help you.  If you have questions, just post them on the comment section, and I’ll be happy to help you if you can. I also highly recommend internet forums, particularly the Tribalectic forum, as a great place to get answers to your questions and “meet” other people who understand.  ETA:  Also check out the wonderful folks at the Steel Navel forum, who complained that I left them out!

Whether you are interested in enhancing your sex life or self-image, expressing yourself in a new and fun way, or have just always been intrigued by the concept, I say go for it!

Pic of “old lady with birds” from closelyobserved.com’s photostream at Flickr.  Pic of old couple at Warwick Castle from lisalamb83’s photostream.