Piercing or body piercing means "to pierce" superficial parts of the human body in order to introduce objects from metal, animal bone, precious stones or other materials, for decorative purposes or ritual.
Ever since ancient times, people have felt the need to decorate and change their appearance in different ways. Piercing is one of the oldest and most interesting forms of body modification. It is estimated that this technique is over 5,000 years old. Usually, piercing was a form of representing different qualities, such as wealth, courage and strength. Over time, this technique has been adopted and adapted in different cultures around the world.
The history of navel piercing is not very clear. The Egyptian pharaohs pierced their bellies as an initiation ritual, representing a symbol of the transition from life on Earth to eternity. The history of umbilical piercing has often been misinterpreted, especially because of the myths promulgated by Doug Malloy in the pamphlet "Body & Genital Piercing in Brief". For example, according to Jim Ward, Malloy's colleague, he claimed that in ancient Egypt, pharaohs and royal families were the only people allowed to wear jewelry in the belly, as they represented their highest position in society. All the simple people who violated this rule were killed, unless their belly was considered perfect, for which they had the chance to improve their social status. Although this historical interpretation has spread and has become quite popular, some sources claim that there is no concrete evidence to prove this form of piercing.
The appearance of bikinis in 1953 revolutionized women's lives, with the release of their clothes, and caused quite a stir, because the belly was considered provocative because of its resemblance to female genitalia. Later, in the 1980s, Madonna resorted to public appearances in which she had the exposed navel area. The navel was and continues to be recognized as an erogenous area for women, and the possibility of manifesting their sexuality in the eyes of all gave women more power and self-confidence.
The process of emancipation of women also continued in the 1990s, when the navel jewelry became a fashion that quickly spread. The first public appearance of a woman wearing a navel piercing is attributed to the American model Christy Turlington. She climbed the podium at a London fashion festival in 1993, exposing her belly in which she had an earring. The reactions were not delayed, and the next day Naomi Campbell appeared with such an accessory. Subsequently, the two models took part in an Isaac Mizrahi show, where they displayed their piercings. Then other stars adopted this type of women's accessory, among the first being Madonna, Cher and Janet Jackson. Also, the popularization of navel piercing is also attributed to the video of the rock band Aerosmith, the song "Cryin'". The video, broadcast intensely by MTV and other musical stations, presents the story of a teenage girl, played by Alicia Silverstone, where the adolescent begins a period of non-conformism and manifestation of her own feminine personality, symbolically marked by the piercing she performs in her navel, at a specialized salon.
In the following years, more and more women began to wear jewelry. Belly piercing is the second most common piercing found in women, after piercing the ear lobes. It is one of the few forms of piercing adopted by both adolescents and adult women. One of the main reasons why it has become so popular and has become a mainstream culture is that the jewelry can be easily hidden under clothing when the woman does not want to expose it, under certain circumstances and for different reasons.
In Romania, the appearance of this fashion took place in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Among the first women who had public appearances in which they showed their belly earring were Rocsana Marcu and Adina Halas. Later, some pop and dance music singers, such as Delia Matache, Lili Sandu, Andreea Antonescu or Andreea Balan, appeared in the videos of their songs wearing navel piercings.
Women who choose to decorate their bodies with such a jewelry usually have an inner motivation. The reasons why women wear body jewelry are varied, they can be aesthetic, sexual, symbolic, spiritual:
- a way of beautifying the physical aspect, to highlight the body and the lost area;
- way to increase sexuality;
- symbol of the modern woman;
- symbol of femininity;
- way to increase self-confidence;
- way of expressing the feminine personality;
- way of expressing power and / or invincibility in a certain context;
- symbol of rebellion, non-conformism (especially in the case of teenagers);
- way of delimitation within a group or within the company;
- way of expressing courage;
- way of expressing the desire for dominance;
- symbol of independence from men;
- symbol of the emancipation of women in society;
- symbol of a significant event in life, etc.
