“This is elegant, this is vulgar…” This is narrow minded and mean, actually.
Nothing grinds my gears more than this video trend. And that’s actually the whole point, it’s pure rage bait. And it works soooo well. “This is vulgar, this is elegant” is so classist and often there are some racial undertones that I can’t ignore. So, to do my part in being part of the solution, and not the problem, let me tell you something: I have a belly button piercing and I wear it proudly.
I’ve had it since I was 16.
It’s a reminder of my crazy youth. It’s a reminder of becoming a woman and feeling sexy for the first time. I’ve had this piercing before I had my heart seriously broken, before I had a degree, before I met my husband, my career, my life overseas, my dogs…
Funny personal story, I had just broken up with my boyfriend of over a year (first love heart break) and started dating a new guy who spoiled me, he wouldn’t let me pay for anything and was so much fun. I told him I wanted to get it done and he said that he thought that they were cool, and said he would pay for it. It wasn’t super expensive but I was 16 and $30 was a decent amount of money in my tiny NZ town.
I was so excited, I picked out a sparkley blue banana bar, lay down on a table and within a minute, it was done, and then I almost fainted 😂
16 going on 18
No I did not ask my parents, that’s the wonderful thing about being in a boarding school in a small town, the only people who know what’s going on are the boarding school matrons who’d pass on quarterly positive reports about you.
I lasted 4 years in boarding school before constantly running away to be with my boyfriends got too much for the matrons and I had to go into home stays (basically got kicked out) and live like an international student.
I was then taken out of public school and put into private school on a different city where I had a year to clean up my act and get good grades so I could go to university.
It’s always the women who are polished as adults who were reckless in their youths. I know many and am yet to find one without an eyebrow raising youth!
Anyway, you might look and judge, “why hasn’t she taken out her belly ring? Isn’t she meant to be classy?” Oh Lord. Elegance had a stereotype but it is not black and white. The black and white stereotype of elegance is beyond boring and shows absolutely no personality whatsoever. You have one life on this planet, do you really want to stick to a made up rule book so that no one ever calls you vulgar?
These tattoos we get, while some people do get them removed, you don’t have to, because they are part of your story.
David Beckham is covered in tattoos and he looks so elegant. Elegance really is an attitude and an “over all” look. It’s not something that can be spoiled by one artistic element of expression.
Long nails, tattoos, piercings can often run deep in a persons heritage too.
I’m from NewZealand and the Māori culture is famous for its beautiful tattoos that swirl around the body, telling the story of that person, their family, their culture and accentuating the human physique in the most striking way.
Many indigenous cultures have tattoos. Having tattoos does not take away elegance.
I know these content creators just want to grow their account, but it doesn’t make the world a better place.
