The man hunched over the front hood of his car to steady his hand holding the magnifying glass over his left arm. He zeroed a pinpoint of sunlight through the magnifying glass onto the blueish tattoo, winching in pain as he watched his skin being seared off as the smell of burning flesh reached his nostrils. It was right before World War II and tattoos weren't cool then but he had been drunk when he had the first initial of his last name tattooed on his forearm. But what's the story about tattoos and body piercings at this dawn of a new Millennium? Why do people get them and what do people think about them? To come up with some answers I interviewed three ex strippers on the phone: 1. Kwinn, from Niagra Falls, Canada, who had once lived in the U.S., moved back to Canada, become a house dancer and a feature while parlaying her dancing earnings into two college degrees; Morganna, a bright and energetic aspiring artist from Illinois who stripped to pay her bills, and Delilah, a pretty Michigan girl who'd rather build a computer than strip, who retired from the stage at 27. These three interviews of three intelligent and knowledgeable strippers would give me unparalleled insight into why so many women get tattoos and body piercings. But readers, you are going to have to read through the interviews to get to my conclusion which I doubt any adult magazine would dare publish.

Interview number 1----Kwinn

Xtreme: "What do you think of tattoos and body piercing?"

Kwinn: "As far as I am concerned, tattoos only belong on bikers, truckers, and military personnel. For truckers it's "The life on the Road". I've associated it with occupations and lifestyles that exert a special bonding effect on the men leading them. Tattoos bond men into the military family by being a history of where they have been and what they have done. If you are getting a tattoo you gotta give it some meaning. Artwork belongs on the wall, not the body"

Xtreme: "Why do you think so many dancers want to get tattoos?"

Kwinn: "I think they want to be unique. Also, a lot of the girls have past issues where they had no control over their bodies and I think it's their way of saying: "I can do what I want now. It's my body." It's possibly also another version of self-mutilation or self punishment because they hate their bodies for what happened to them so the only way they can make themselves feel better is by torturing themselves. They can justify the tattoo as artwork but they are still getting the pain. Now they can say: "I've finally paid for what happened. Now I can look at it everyday and feel good."

Xtreme: "Do you find body piercing to be faddish?"

Kwinn: "Definitely. A long time ago I got my nose pierced, in a state where even men with a pierced ear were looked down upon. I had a friend in school and the school tried to kick him out for having pierced ears. It was "You either take that thing out or you come to school tomorrow in a dress." After I got my nose pierced three days before finishing the Dean warned me to get rid of it. I said: "What are you going to do since there's nothing in the school rules against body piercing." When I moved back to Canada in 1994, the only people I knew who had body piercings were the punk kids who were all by then in their late twenties or thirties. So people were looking at me and asking: "Ohhhhh, why did you got your nose pierced?" I replied "because it has a significance. " I've always found new cultural trends attractive but then you get into all the belly and nipple piercing. I remember when I got my nose pierced and this friend of mine got her belly button pierced. About two months after that I got my belly button pierced. Then she went out and got her nipple pierced. Then somebody else at work got her cookie done. She decided: "I gotta get that done too." And when tongue piercing came in everybody got their tongues done. And I'm looking at them, five of them in one day, saying: "Look at me. I've got my tongue pierced." "All of you?" I asked. "Yeah." "Together?" I asked again. "Yeah." And I'm thinking, "What a bunch of sheep."

Interview number two—Morganna

Xtreme: "Why do people get tattoos?"

Morganna: "A lot of people are displaying art on their bodies to give a more outward projection of their personalities. A lot of people who have alternate personalities have tattoos that express that alternate personality.

Xtreme: "Why does somebody want to do that?"

Morganna: "I know some people who get tattoos just for something to do. I had a date who suggested: "Let's go out and get tattoos. I don't personally have anything against tattoos–it's just that I change so much that a year after I get one I'm going to say: "I don't like it. I need to change that."

Xtreme: "As an artist changing art on your body has to be difficult?

Morganna: "Tattoos can be very dangerous. I know someone who is allergic to the ink. He had nearly all the skin scrapped off because it had gotten infected. Same thing's true about body piercing. Some people go out and get a tattoo and right away they have people touching it, not realizing they have opened up their bodies to all sorts of infections. One reason some people get tattoos and this is one thing I don't like about tattoos is to mark what gang they are in. Living in some parts of St Louis that I have lived in I've seen some girls tattooed by their pimps who have marked them with a tattoo. And unless they get that lasered off that mark is going to be with them for the rest of their lives.

Xtreme: "How much of that goes on?"

Morganna: "I used to almost be able to tell what prison a person came out of just because of his tattoo. Yes. A girl being branded by her pimp or a gang. What is really funny is when someone goes out to get a tatto that looks like a motorcycle gang's and they get busted for it. I used to date some guy in California and he wanted to be part of the Hells Angels but even the Hells Angels didn't want him. This guy was a fucking loser. So he had this tattoo with these wings on it and a little skull. Well, anyone who had any inkling of that society knew he had nothing to do with the Hells Angels so I fell over laughing when he came into a normal biker bar, displayed his tattoos and had the crap beat out of him."

Xtreme: "Do a lot of women get stigmatized from this since you saying that a lot of pimps mark their whores with tattoos and bikers marking their bitches?"

Morganna: "That happens pretty often."

Xtreme: "So I ask myself: "Where in the hell has she been?"

Morganna: "You can tell from her tattoos where she's been."

Xtreme: "I'm not a cognoscenti of tattoos so since I know nothing about them I might just tell myself: "Stay away from her."

Morganna: "You can look at it like that or you can ask. But I see what you mean if you really don't know why she got the tattoos. I remember out in California these girls l had the same tattoo of a little strawberry and they all had the same pimp called Strawberry. It's like branding. We brand our cattle and some women get branded. But I hate to stereotype and put out the bad without pointing out the good. There are some people who want to get a tattoo to show their respect to family members who have passed away. Or tell something about themselves. I know a guy who got an eagle tattooed on his arm after a divorce because his wife had clipped his wings and he wanted his wings back."

Xtreme: "So it's unfair to speculate that a woman's branding herself when there's all these other motivations for having one?"

Morganna: "My second husband had the brilliant idea of having wedding rings branded on our fingers instead of getting real rings. I feel that was a definite way for him to brand me. I'm not property."

Xtreme: "What effect do you think tattoos have on the marketability of dancers?"

Morganna: "I've seen guys go up to a girl's stage and tip the dancer just to get a look at her tattoo. I've also been repulsed by them. It depends on how they want to project themselves as an entertainer. One or two small tattoos might not be that noticeable and it might be helpful. It might be considered something interesting that was placed on the body like a small hair piece that was nicely done and classy in an interesting spot to be covered from the general public. This one girl danced in this club where they didn't have to go bottomless. She actually got a $50.00 tip when she said "if you want to see my pussy you have to look at my eyes." So she pulled down her g-sting and she had a perfect tattoo of a cats eyes and it looked like fur on a cat. She's a businesswoman now and she can cover that."

Xtreme: "How do you feel about body piercings?"

Morganna: "I have a few. Back in 1988 I had my clit pierced. I was in Germany one night with a friend when we got trashed on tequila. Being the wild young chicks we were we went to the red light district. Where it happened I don't know because I woke up on this bench in Dormstadt sore as hell between the legs screaming, "Oh my God, I've been raped." I got up and went to the dispensary, got undressed, put my feet up and the doctor told me: "Do you know that you got a new piercing?" I was never more embarrassed in my whole life. My friend, Wendy got a tattoo, a clit ring and her navel pierced so I think that drunk I had more sense than she did. I went home and my husband and I thought that was pretty interesting and nobody would ever see it but us. Then for years I never wore it even after I started dancing. Nobody knew until one day I put it back in thinking: "Okay girls, you think I'm weird, I'll show you what different is." So I put a little bell on it and went around tingling my ass. I haven't worn it since although I still have it but I had my nipples pierced. They got infected and I had to take the rings out but I thought maybe more people will come up to my stage and they did. They'd ask me: "Did that hurt?" I've seen piercings that were done pretty neat and I've seen some people going way overboard."

Xtreme: "What do you think of guys who wear ear rings, things in their noses, on their lips, etc.?

Morganna: "I think of the bull that has this great big nose ring and having the kind of mentality that I have, I have always wanted to pull them around through their bull ring."

Xtreme: "You are warped."

Morganna: "I am very warped."

Xtreme: "How about the guy who wears one on his lip?"

Morganna: "I'm not going to kiss him. I can probably use that ring to nail his lip to the wall. I see that kind of thing and I wonder: "Does he set off metal detectors as he walks through the airport?" I know this guy with a ring in his dick and you know him too. Jesse. I've seen him pick up a six pack of beer with that. I paid him twenty dollars to do it just because I didn't think he would."

Xtreme: "Was he drunk?"

Morganna: "No. He needed the money."

Xtreme: "We both like Jesse but what about other guys who wear dick rings?"
Morganna: "Well, I don't know what it is like to fuck guys who wear them so I don't know if it improves the sensation or not but it sure makes for an interesting conversation piece. And if you do have a small cock you may want something to talk about."

Xtreme: "You ever get this feeling that you wished you had this big powerful magnet?"

Morganna: "Yeah, I know (laughing)."

Xtreme: "Especially if it's a guy. I mean a woman just looks like she was born in Borneo and she's out hunting heads. They've got these things in their noses, through their eyebrows and in their lips. Guys in particular with all these things hanging out of them and you had this magnet with this powerful pull and you could just lead them around with that?"

Morganna: "I'd love to go to a concert with one of those magnets they use to pick cars up with just to see how many people I could get to stand up."

Xtreme: "Imagine us in a strip club together and the owner gives us total immunity to do whatever we want to these people wearing all those rings."

Morganna: "I would chain them all together by their piercings and call it a cluster fuck."

Interview number three—Delilah

Xtreme: Why do you think people get tattoos or body piercings?

Delilah: "It depends upon what kind of person they are. Some get them because they are into Harleys. Or it symbolizes something. It tells something about the person. I don't believe in getting a tattoo just because somebody wants me to. You can't just go out and make somebody do what they don't want to do. For instance, I might tell Sammy (Sam Stimmel whose club she used to work in) that I just got a new tattoo and he'd get mad at me because he frowns on the girls in his club having tattoos. So you do catch a lot of shit just for having them. And I think that people look at you differently."
Xtreme: Why does Sammy feel that way?

Delilah: "believe he thinks it's ugly and that guys don't want to see that on girls. I only got two. One is in memory of my uncle and the other one is the one I just got. Lee suggested it as a birthday present wanting me to get something that I would always have that would always be with me. Guess it kind of reflects on us.

Xtreme: "How do you feel about tattoos affecting the marketability of dancers?"

Delilah: "I would say it depends upon how many, what they are, and where they are at. I don't like tattoos on the arms or on the face. And if there are too many and they are gaudy, she's not going to do well. I've seen a lot of ugly tattoos but if they are done tastefully I don't think it is going to hurt their money but I don't think a lot of girls with tattoos would get into a magazine.

Xtreme: "Tell me about your body piercing?'

"Delilah: "One's in my belly button and the other's in my tongue."

Xtreme: "Where are body piercings that you find unattractive?

Delilah: "The eyebrows, the nostrils. You know they got this picture of a bull with this ring. The way they cut out their ears--I think that's gross. But the belly button can be sexy if you wear it right.

Jack: "What about the tongue?"

Delilah: Laughing....."Well, most people get their tongue done for sexual reasons. I didn't. This is kind of stupid. I got mine when my son bet me after his friends got it done. He told me I was too chicken to do it. I am not a chicken. The piercing in the tongue is not so bad. It's not in right now but I do wear it. When I put it in it keeps me from biting my fingernails."

Xtreme: "So now we have another reason for wearing one?"

Delilah: "I use it so I don't stick my hands in my mouth and bite my nails. And you can hide it easily. People don't see it unless you want them to see it. But a lot of people get them and they say it's for sexual reasons."
Xtreme: "I think those people are sexually inadequate to begin with."

Delilah: "Probably. It doesn't do anything and it's in the way. I think a lot of people get it because everybody else has got it and they want to be like everybody else. But it's not a cheap procedure and you are not going to keep it forever."

Xtreme: "Kwinn definitely distinguished between tattoos and body piercings."

Delilah: "I think that tattoos definitely symbolize something. I think people get body piercings just because it is the in thing to do. But I think it's crazy having all these piercings on the face and genitals."

Xtreme: "How does your ankle tattoo honor your Uncle Bill?"

Delilah: "A few years ago several of us were getting tattoos. My Uncle Bill was a tattoo artist and he was going to give me my first tattoo of a Foo Bear but no one could do one like he could. I looked for something else since he had passed away. They had this one of a little dog. I can't say it exactly reminded me of him but there was just something about it as if he was there with me."

Xtreme: "What about a twenty-one year old tattooing another person's name on their body?"

Delilah: "I wouldn't put anybody's name on me right now because who's to say that ten years from now I won't end up disliking that person.

There are a dozen PT's clubs in the United States, with the four St Louis Metro East clubs setting a "No tattoo or cover them up" standard. I headed out to Diamond Cabaret, generally regarded as the creme de la creme of this area's PT's clubs, for lunch. While eating my chicken parmigiana and salad I waylaid everyone in sight with questions about tattoos, then headed down to the PT's national corporate headquarters to inquire about the organization's official anti tattoo stance. "No way their receptionist is going to have a tattoo," I told myself. "She's just too much like the girl you want to introduce your mother to even though I wouldn't be introducing her to my mother since she was already married." The pretty receptionist greeted me cheerfully when I came into the office. I got lucky. Rich Overstreet who heads the four St Louis area clubs stood next to the receptionist when I came in. I asked: "Rich, why does PT's have a no Tattoo or cover them up policy?" Rich grinned and replied: "Because the older generation, and that's the one that spends the most money in our clubs, frowns on tattoos in general."

I asked the receptionist: "Do you have any tattoos? Dawn showed me a nicely done smallish tattoo at the base of her neck. She then asked me: "Who's the man who tried to burn his tattoo off his tattoo?" "My father," I replied.

Conclusion

This one's for the ladies who either have tattoos and are considering additional ones or who are getting a tattoo for the first time. It is my gift to you, so at the risk of pissing off a lot of very good friends who happen to already have tattoos, who I just happen to like very much, this is my advice to you. DON'T DO IT. I can't think of a single adult magazine that would allow me to publish that. First–the free adult magazines that are completely financed by advertisers usually contain tattoo parlors ads. Second, these magazines wouldn't dare upsetting much of their readership–people who already have tattoos. Every tattoo you get diminishes your market value. Tattoos are the kiss of death in the adult entertainment business. Sure, some guys might like tattoos on a woman. But far too many of them don't, and the best adult magazines tend to steer clear of women who have tattoos. Magazines might still go with a model who has tattoos but you can bet that most of them are going to airbrush the tattoos out before they go to press. Every time you get a tattoo you are branding yourself. You are advertising the fact that "I belong to this person" or "I belong to this group" or "I consider this so important that I had it permanently etched into my body." People change and so will you. Would you want to have the same hair color and hair style for the rest of your life, knowing you could never change it? Remember also that most discriminating males don't like tattoos. Although you might fit in very well with a crowd that sports tattoos your viewpoints on who you want to hang out with later in life will often change. Don't limit yourself. As for women I know and like who already have tattoos, I like you for yourselves–for the person you have become and for what you are. But not your tattoos which I will overlook. I knew, respected, and loved my father also even though he had a tattoo but he changed and tried to burn it off. As for body piercings, you can get rid of those, but for now, "where's my magnet?" But the tattoos will mark you forever.