Piercing is a controversial subject among the baby boomer generation as they are used to a curved barbell and other types of this activity being hidden from the mainstream both by placement of piercing and by the parlors that would provide that type of service.  However, Generation X and Y have embraced curved barbell jewelry and, in total, this idea of body beautification and flaunt it with great pride!  The two fail to come to anything near a compromise when it comes to deciding what it and what is not socially acceptable, keeping the younger generation from obtaining gainful employment in certain sectors as well as being subject to unfair and, in some cases, inaccurate judgments.There’s an old American saying that states “Don’t judge a book by its cover”.  This means that it is usually not feasible to accurately judge whether or not a book will be a good read just by assessing the attractiveness of the book’s cover.  Likewise, this philosophy has been applied to the wisdom, or lack thereof, that we as individuals use to assess someone’s self worth, ability to do, or not do something and to predict their actions in any given situation.  These “prejudices”, if you will, that we acquire from the experiences we have in our lives leave us susceptible to making quick judgments about people that we do not know.  Most times these judgments are simply wrong.

The term “gothic” or “Goth” has been used to label those individuals who choose to wear all black most of the time, who have tattoos and wear large black and silver jewelry, who color their hair a deep, shiny black and possibly wear black nail polish or black makeup.  Among other characteristics normally associated with this type of individual, the assumptions are made that these people are lazy, wear tattoos and curved barbell jewelry, like the one above, are moody, like certain types of music, hang around a specific type of crowd or are loners or “recluses” and participate in illegal or otherwise lewd activity.  The first thing we notice is not their eyes, but the curved barbell they are wearing from their chin.  The truth of the matter is, this type of self expression may in fact be a very outward sign of rebellion against what society sees as acceptable, or, it may be a phase that someone is going through.  It also may be tribute to a certain event in a person’s life.

“Janie” recently lost her grandmother.  Being her only known family, Janie’s grandmother’s passing left Janie in a state of mourning.  Knowing how much her grandmother loved rose flowers; Janie pierced her cartilage with a rose flower barbell in her honor and dressed in black for the remainder of that year.  It was interesting to Janie how differently she was treated during this time.  Although she did not wear black makeup, she did wear a long, black trench coat, (a gift from her grandmother one winter when she could not afford a winter coat) a color job was done on her hair, black of course, not because of her grandmother, but because her friend who was very special to Janie, was in her first year of cosmetology school needed a “head” to practice on (this went very bad, but, being the wonderfully supportive friend Janie was, they both had a good laugh about it!) and she also was forced to wear black boots most of the time… simply because she couldn’t afford new ones after burying her grandmother.

 Working full time at a local bookstore, Janie was an above average student, graduated from a private college with a Master’s degree in Political Science, of extreme intelligence and worked very hard at providing and taking care of her grandmother.  Never really able to maintain a romantic relationship due to her school schedule and her dedication to her grandmother, her friends were many, as Janie was a likeable person and very interesting to talk to, Janie was totally devoted to making everyone’s life happy.

A curved barbell or deeply black hair with fair skin would automatically produce fear in the baby boomer generation.  However, the curved barbell is simply a conversation piece for generation X and Y.  Get to know a person before judging them…you might meet a life long friend.