Body Modification

Body modification is the deliberate altering of the human body for any non-medical reason, such as aesthetics, sexual enhancement, a rite of passage, religious reasons, to display group membership or affiliation, to create body art, shock value, or self-expression.

There are various types of body modifications:

• Explicit Ornaments
• Surgical Augmentation
• Removal or Split
• Applying Long-term Force
• Branding

One of the most insane tribal modifications are done by a tribe called Kayan.

The Kayan are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic minority in Myanmar most famous for the many brass coils that the women wear around their necks, elongating them to unusual proportions. Because of conflicts with the military regime, many Kayan tribes left Myanmar in the late 1980s and early 1990s for Thailand, where the women’s long necks have become tourist attractions.

The brass coils are placed around girls’ necks when they are about five years old. Each coil is then replaced with longer ones. The neck is not actually lengthened as much as the weight of the brass pushes the collar bone down and compresses the rib cage. Once placed, the coils are only removed to replace them with even longer ones.

It is impossible to know what the true story is since there is no written history of the Kayan culture, however the tradition is likely to stretch back to at least the 11th century. A full set of neck rings weighs about 10 kilos.

We live in a myth thinking that the world has modernized in its own way but the truth remains that there are still people who are not letting their traditions die away. Though this kind of a body modification is more painful as each time it is stretched and elongated. Such people are prohibited and are considered Taboo.