Floral Edits Pt2- A Conversation Continuation

A two blog post week it seems! Last Monday I decided to do something fairly out of character- I skipped my usual post schedule to publish a blog post early. It discussed the subject of heavily editing photos of genital piercing work in order to skirt Instagram filters and post them. I had been working on the blog post for a few weeks already- I pushed it out early as discourse about this subject was happening across the piercing industry. To me, it felt important to do so as it featured voices that I was seeing excluded from the conversation that was happening- namely the voices of clients who felt uncomfortable with these edits, or who have personally had instances with lack of proper consent surrounding them. My hope was to start-well, continue- a conversation. And that’s exactly what it did! Here are some of my biggest takeaways in the week since.

I changed my mind….kinda.

The original blog post was titled “Unpopular Opinion: The Genital Edits Need To Stop.” Today I might change that title to “The Genital Edits Need To Be Done Differently.” Now, what do I think needs to change (and how did I get there?)

One of my main complaints in the original post was a lack of consent. Both from the client and from the people unknowingly interacting with the content. There were documented cases of clients who were not allowed to properly consent to the edits as they were done, and the result ended up being harmful to the client. Multiple transgender clients agreed to have photos of their work- often gender-affirming work- taken, only to have it edited in a way that did not align with their gender identity, or led to them being misgendered to a platform of possibly thousands. And on that platform, the viewers had no ability to consent to seeing the images. Folks might be scrolling to find a cute photo of a helix their piercer did and be greeted with a bevy of edited genitals- including minors.

Darcy Spring, the talented mind behind High Noon Handmade, was the first person I can recall seeing suggest using a cover image, or two cover slides, on these posts. Ones that clearly stated it would be an image of an 18+ piercing, and thus allowed folks to choose to swipe to view the edit or not. This would allow people who are viewing the image or checking out the piercers page to consent to interact with this work, rather than finding it all over the page. Amy Steel, a well-known UK piercer, suggested the same. She also discussed having more in-depth consent conversations with clients. This could potentially include a separate waiver for photography of intimate piercings that explained how they may be used, including the type of edits done. It would also clearly lay out that the edit was to be a collaborative effort between client and piercer, and only a final image approved by the client would ever be posted. This would give clients more agency over the edits, and allow them the opportunity to speak up if an image that made them uncomfortable was used for the edit. Currently, many clients do check yes to consent for photography, but the edits and the specific uses are not clearly outlined in that. Many piercers make and post the edit without first showing the client, leading to some of the issues I discussed in my last blog post.

Multiple piercers commented discussing posting edited images that were simply heavily blurred except for the jewelry or cropped in very tight, rather than using plants or animals to hide the piercings. These were also options that removed the issue of unintentionally enforcing a gender binary, or using images with racial undertones. Fortunately, basically everyone was in agreement that the monkey and gorilla edits had gone too far, and that various animal and plant images that have a racially and sexually charged history that make them inappropriate to use for these edits should not be used.

Darcy also discussed knowing your audience- if you are a studio that often piercers minors, and advertises to that (posting in mom groups, posting younger clients often, showcasing this work) maybe you aren’t the type of studio or piercer that should post these edits. But if these clients make up a minority of your services, or if you do not work on very young clients at all, then posting these images may align well with your business and branding. From there, it becomes the responsibility of the viewer to decide to engage with this content. Many piercers discussed that if they worked in slower areas or had smaller platforms, Instagram was a crucial way for them to advertise these services, and they needed some way to post about this work on these platforms so clients could find them for it.

Another main point in the original blog was that these edits do not allow clients to accurately assess the work being posted, and see the placement, angles, and skill of the piercing. Unfortunately, multiple people came forward to point out they had seen piercers using these edits to disguise unsafe and improper work and pass it off as good quality. This can and does mislead clients into trusting a piercer with a very, very intimate piercing, and possibly getting hurt. Multiple piercers discussed ensuring that if you are posting these edits, you also post an unedited version of each image on a private portfolio website, Twitter, Reddit, Bluesky, Patreon, or an accessible Google Drive folder where clients can view your work and actually be able to assess your skill levels and see if you are a piercer they want to see for these things.

I’ll be honest- I’m never going to be the person doing these edits. It's not my personal preference, and the issues I’ve already seen arise with them have left a bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing. However, I think I would be significantly less uncomfortable with them if they were approached more consciously. If the initial edit was made collaboratively between client and piercer, and the client had multiple opportunities to approve or decline the images being used for the edit, and the final result. If these images were posted with a cover slide that gave viewers the ability to consent to interact with them on the platform. If piercers were more mindful about knowing their audience and considered that in posting these, and if for every edit they posted they also had an accessible unedited version posted somewhere for clients to also access and view. I think all of these things would allow us to still share this work on instagram in a more intentional, consensual, and thoughtful way.

How Do We Acknowledge Harm and Create Change?

Another, very important part of this conversation is the way images and social connotations can subtly enforce a gender binary that can make folks feel uncomfortable. Of course, flowers, plants, and objects don’t have a gender. But as a society, we often use these images in a gendered way, and this can have unintended side effects for trans clients. While I don’t think the intention of most of these piercers was to misgender or harm their clients, that was still the end result in many of the cases, especially where informed consent was not given. This opens up a larger question about the ways we can unknowingly enforce gender binaries that are harmful, and how we grow and move past that. It’s necessary for me to pose this question because I have also caused harm in this way.

I’ve used and shared imagery that upholds similar gender binaries for cover images on my blog posts. While these were never images of a client's body the imagery still upholds the same gender binaries that the edits do and I have to acknowledge that. While that harm may not be direct to a single client, it does affect the trans folks who interact with my content. For that, I do apologize to my trans siblings. I'm still learning to unpack a lot of internalized gender stereotypes I held, as well as a lot of internalized transphobia I had to overcome via coming out. I stopped working with these images a couple of years ago but should have made the effort to go back and change them.

Which is exactly what I am going to do! I’ll be hosting an open call for Trans Illustrators who may be interested in doing some work for my blog and commissioning a line of more inclusive imagery I can use for my blog posts in the future. I’m excited to see what artists I can connect with and support with this project. The road of unpacking a lot of these internalized systems is a long and tireless one, and one where we are constantly making mistakes, learning, and growing. We say all the time that being a good piercer doesn’t mean not making mistakes, it’s how you handle it when you do. Do you correct it for the client? Are you honest about it? This goes for mistakes made inside and outside the piercing room. A thank you for those who pointed this out to me, and allowed this to become an opportunity to grow myself.

This brings me to the second half of this blog post, and the conversations (or lack there of) that occurred…

Community Means Having A Conversation

Now a lot of the interactions I had were positive, engaging, and kind, even when we had a difference of opinion on the matter. But plenty of them weren’t- and they weren’t even conversations. Rather, it was other piercers who had zero interaction with me, zero conversation, making disparaging comments and memes about my input on the issue. I was told I was soft for writing this blog, that I was making piercing uncool, and that I don’t care about the important things. Most of them bragged about not reading my blog or the points I was making in them at all. These were the kinder of comments made.

….When did it become a bad thing to be soft? In an industry where we are literally walking people through experiences that are often scary, painful, and intimidating, I want to be soft. I want to be worried about what my clients think and feel, inside my room and when they leave. If something I was doing on social media made my clients feel bad or uncomfortable I would want to know about that! And when I shared my original post I got over 200 story replies and messages from clients who did feel uncomfortable about these edits or the ways they were presented. Many folks said that posting this blog was taking away from “important issues.” As piercers, is there anything more important then the client that is in our chair? The person trusting us with their body? I’m a piercer, not a political commentator, but I assure you I have not forgotten that we live in a political hellscape or that major things are happening the the world that warrant our attention right now. I can hold space for that, and also hold space for important conversations within the industry surrounding client comfort, consent, and safety.

I was watching piercers get into heated discourse over these edits, and have long and in-depth back and forth over it on Facebook….and nowhere did I see the opinions of the clients whose bodies we were debating. The voices of clients seemed decidedly absent from the conversation, clients who I had seen speaking up about their discomfort with these edits in other forums, where many piercers did not interact. I took the time to reach out to clients who had felt harmed by these edits, listen to their experiences, talk with them, hold space for them, and use the platform I had to make sure their voices became a part of this conversation too. Not only that, but given the often ‘cool kids club’ mentality of the piercing industry, I spoke with peers who are smaller piercers and newer piercers, who had opinions about the harm of these edits, particularly the racial microaggressions occurring with the animal edits, but who were scared to speak up. Because some of the piercers who were editing images of monkeys over black bodies were popular piercers. And the smaller piercers I spoke to were scared of the pushback they would get from pointing out how gross that is. So I also utilized my blog to put these voices into the conversation anonymously so they could be heard but still feel safe.

I think Lola Slider said it best in a recent post “What if instead of talking about each other we talked to each other.” For as long as I’ve been in piercing, the chief complaint has been that it feels like high school, complete with a ‘cool kids club’, catty drama, and lots of rumors and gossip. Aileen Fritz also posted recently about missing the community that piercing used to be, where you could call up peers and talk to them, where people could disagree and still respect folks, when people actually talked to each other about these things.

I am grateful for everyone who did talk about this, who engaged with it, shared their opinions, and had thoughtful conversations about this. We shared different viewpoints, and discussed where we were coming from, and I think we often were able to come to an agreement that we all had the best interests of our clients and their well-being in mind, even if how we wanted to go about that looked different. My inbox will always be open. I will always take the time to talk to everyone I can, particularly fellow piercers and industry members, to hear their views, discuss my own, and see where we land. I don’t think my opinion is ‘the right one’ or the end all be all, as evidenced by my shifting that opinion after a week of discussions and interactions. But I think if we want this to be a community, we have to talk to each other. We have to engage with each other. Even when we disagree- especially when we disagree! I will never be ‘too cool’ to have a conversation with another piercer, and if you think you are, you might want to look within to see what community means to you.

Sincerely yours, proudly soft, and decidedly uncool

<3 Lynn

Special Thanks to Lola, Bridget, and those who gave feedback and helped me with this post.