Who's Readyż
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Who's Readyż
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Despite the bone through his nose, his shaved head
and pierced face, the 25-year-old pacing a seedy stretch of New York
sidewalk admitted he was terrified of what he was about to do.
But after a few minutes, a couple cigarettes and several deep breaths,
he sat in the basement of a storefront tattoo parlor, closed his eyes
and let a friend split his tongue down the middle with a scalpel.
The latest trend among teens and 20-somethings who indulge in so-called
extreme body modification, forking one's tongue like a serpent's "is an
art form," said T.J. McGillis, who offers the service for a $250
charge.
"Everybody wants to get it done. It could be the next mainstream thing
aside from piercing," he said.
That may be an exaggeration. The number of people with split tongues is
estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 people by the editor of a Web-based
magazine devoted to body modification, but the trend is attracting enough
attention that a few U.S. state legislatures have moved to ban the
procedure.
Ian, the young man with the bone through his nose who did not want to
reveal his last name, opted for tongue splitting after earlier
adventures left him with huge rings in his ears, silver barbells piercing his
face, myriad tattoos and who-knows-what-else under his baggy shirt and
pants.
"I like the way it looks," he said, listing his reasons. "Two, I think
it will be more fun during oral sex and the girls will get a kick out
of it. Three, everyone and their mother has their tongue pierced and
four, I'm an idiot."
The process is nothing short of gory. In Ian's case, his tongue was
clamped in place, numbed and slit 2 inches (5 cm) up the middle, looking
uncomfortably like a piece of raw liver freshly cut by a butcher.
Other methods entail tying increasingly tighter pieces of thread
through a pierced hole or cutting with a laser.
Blood gushed out of Ian's mouth and over the silver barbell in his lip
for a few minutes, then abated with several doses of mouthwash.
"Go home and pull it apart," McGillis ordered him, suggesting a regimen
of separating the two halves each morning and night to prevent
reattachment.
After splitting his tongue, Emrys Yetz, 20, said it wasn't long before
he could move each half independently and do party tricks like picking
up pens and pencils.
"It's done to better yourself," he said, opening his mouth to wiggle
each half like a snail waving its antennae.
Yetz argues tongue splitting is no different than a far more socially
acceptable face lift or breast enhancement. The only downside, he said,
is eating ice cream, since it's harder to make a scoop of your tongue
when it's split in two.
Not surprisingly, doctors say there are more downsides to
tongue-splitting than dripping ice cream.
"There's the potential for life-threatening hemorrhage and the
potential for life-threatening infection," said Dr. Lee Pollan, an oral surgeon
based in Rochester, New York.
If that's not enough, he added, tongue-splitting can damage speech and
taste and cause permanent numbness.
And reattaching a split tongue can be a complex process of
reconstructive surgery and skin grafts, he added.
Dire warnings notwithstanding, tongue splitting is kids being kids,
said psychology professor Stephen Franzoi at Marquette University in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who specializes in issues of physical attractiveness
and body esteem.
It's a form of self-expression, alienation, rejecting mainstream
culture and asserting independence, he said.
Comparing tongue splitters to young people wearing long hair and ragged
jeans in the 1960s, he said: "This is the same psychological process,
albeit more extreme.
"We encourage kids to be independent and express themselves and find
their own personal identity," he said. "Every generation has a different
way to find themselves in our culture. Some of them are more extreme
than others."
After splitting his tongue, Ian made plans to pierce each tip, even as
one waiting friend dampened his hope that the girls would love it.
"I think it's gross. It creeps me out," said hairdresser Jill Johnson.
"I've dated guys with tattoos all over. I've seen it all, but that's
too much for me. Imagine when you're 60 years old and you have your
tongue like that."
But for believers in modification, a split tongue is merely a start.
Split penises, sliced lengthwise in half, are not unheard of among
aficionados.
and pierced face, the 25-year-old pacing a seedy stretch of New York
sidewalk admitted he was terrified of what he was about to do.
But after a few minutes, a couple cigarettes and several deep breaths,
he sat in the basement of a storefront tattoo parlor, closed his eyes
and let a friend split his tongue down the middle with a scalpel.
The latest trend among teens and 20-somethings who indulge in so-called
extreme body modification, forking one's tongue like a serpent's "is an
art form," said T.J. McGillis, who offers the service for a $250
charge.
"Everybody wants to get it done. It could be the next mainstream thing
aside from piercing," he said.
That may be an exaggeration. The number of people with split tongues is
estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 people by the editor of a Web-based
magazine devoted to body modification, but the trend is attracting enough
attention that a few U.S. state legislatures have moved to ban the
procedure.
Ian, the young man with the bone through his nose who did not want to
reveal his last name, opted for tongue splitting after earlier
adventures left him with huge rings in his ears, silver barbells piercing his
face, myriad tattoos and who-knows-what-else under his baggy shirt and
pants.
"I like the way it looks," he said, listing his reasons. "Two, I think
it will be more fun during oral sex and the girls will get a kick out
of it. Three, everyone and their mother has their tongue pierced and
four, I'm an idiot."
The process is nothing short of gory. In Ian's case, his tongue was
clamped in place, numbed and slit 2 inches (5 cm) up the middle, looking
uncomfortably like a piece of raw liver freshly cut by a butcher.
Other methods entail tying increasingly tighter pieces of thread
through a pierced hole or cutting with a laser.
Blood gushed out of Ian's mouth and over the silver barbell in his lip
for a few minutes, then abated with several doses of mouthwash.
"Go home and pull it apart," McGillis ordered him, suggesting a regimen
of separating the two halves each morning and night to prevent
reattachment.
After splitting his tongue, Emrys Yetz, 20, said it wasn't long before
he could move each half independently and do party tricks like picking
up pens and pencils.
"It's done to better yourself," he said, opening his mouth to wiggle
each half like a snail waving its antennae.
Yetz argues tongue splitting is no different than a far more socially
acceptable face lift or breast enhancement. The only downside, he said,
is eating ice cream, since it's harder to make a scoop of your tongue
when it's split in two.
Not surprisingly, doctors say there are more downsides to
tongue-splitting than dripping ice cream.
"There's the potential for life-threatening hemorrhage and the
potential for life-threatening infection," said Dr. Lee Pollan, an oral surgeon
based in Rochester, New York.
If that's not enough, he added, tongue-splitting can damage speech and
taste and cause permanent numbness.
And reattaching a split tongue can be a complex process of
reconstructive surgery and skin grafts, he added.
Dire warnings notwithstanding, tongue splitting is kids being kids,
said psychology professor Stephen Franzoi at Marquette University in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who specializes in issues of physical attractiveness
and body esteem.
It's a form of self-expression, alienation, rejecting mainstream
culture and asserting independence, he said.
Comparing tongue splitters to young people wearing long hair and ragged
jeans in the 1960s, he said: "This is the same psychological process,
albeit more extreme.
"We encourage kids to be independent and express themselves and find
their own personal identity," he said. "Every generation has a different
way to find themselves in our culture. Some of them are more extreme
than others."
After splitting his tongue, Ian made plans to pierce each tip, even as
one waiting friend dampened his hope that the girls would love it.
"I think it's gross. It creeps me out," said hairdresser Jill Johnson.
"I've dated guys with tattoos all over. I've seen it all, but that's
too much for me. Imagine when you're 60 years old and you have your
tongue like that."
But for believers in modification, a split tongue is merely a start.
Split penises, sliced lengthwise in half, are not unheard of among
aficionados.
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 242
From: Ferndale, MI 48220
i read about this somewhere else. where does it end? I say seek professional help before you feel the need to do this. If you still want to do this after say.. 4-5 years of therapy... Ill hold the knife for you myself
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Who's Readyż
But for believers in modification, a split tongue is merely a start.
Split penises, sliced lengthwise in half, are not unheard of among
aficionados. [/B]
Split penises, sliced lengthwise in half, are not unheard of among
aficionados. [/B]
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