Branding: "represents the lifelong commitment"

[starang21]

Originally posted by Dedicated2Delta
If you don't think it is something you would do, that's fine. But don't judge someone else.

you'd be surprised on this site.

[Jill1228]

I have 4 holes in each ear...that is enough for me!
Branding? Ouch! No thank you! But that is just me...

[AOX81]

As long as it's voluntary I say do what you want to do!

[Dianne]

When I was in college, I hung out with a lot of Pi Kapps, and almost all of them had some type of Pi Kappa Phi-related tattoo. The letters, or the crest, or that star/sword symbol. It was a way to show pride and loyalty to their fraternity.

To me, branding accomplishes the same thing. But I do agree that it's riskier than going to a tattoo parlor. I certainly wouldn't have let one of my sisters give me a tattoo!! So to let a sister/brother brand you - wow, that's trust! Not for me, but I understand why people do it.

And as for it being dangerous, so is binge drinking - and lots of college students (greek or not) and many adults do that! And smoke cigarettes, and ride in cars without seatbelts, etc etc etc... A risky activity is sometimes more attractive because of the risk (not to say that's a good thing, just stating fact).

[Erik P Conard]

I don't care if you have a bone in your nose or whatever.
BUT don't blame it on loyalty, race, custom, etc if you cannot
find a job.
If you wanna wear a hair shirt or live around a university, do so.
Blame it on stupidity.

[rhochi2002]

I personally don't have a problem with the look on others.... but I don't want any of it myself... I prefer painless things myself...
I have friends with our symbols but none with the letters tattooed.

[L.O.C.K.]

I think it's ignorant to say that just because people decide to brand themselves that they're stupid for doing it.

Who cares??? I know that a lot of people who have brands in NPHC orgs got it AFTER they became members, so please don't assume that this is what they do during their processes.

[rhochi2002]

I don't know of anyone that has got their letters permenantly on them that did it during pledging.
I think that would be completely disrepectful of the letters since tech. you haven't been granted permission to wear them.

[DST4A00]

Originally posted by L.O.C.K.
I think it's ignorant to say that just because people decide to brand themselves that they're stupid for doing it.

Who cares??? I know that a lot of people who have brands in NPHC orgs got it AFTER they became members, so please don't assume that this is what they do during their processes.

1. OF COURSE IT'S VOLUNTARY!! Nobody's holding you down (unless it's to keep you from flinching)

2. It's never done during the process. Black greeks DO NOT allow "pledges" to wear their letters before becoming full members.

3.

Originally posted by texas*princess
Branding does not represent a "lifelong commitment"... it represents stupidity.

If you want to show a lifelong commitement pay alumni/ae dues and/or join an alumni/ae association.

THEY USUALLY ARE ACTIVE BEYOND COLLEGE (it's what we do )

4.

Originally posted by AlphaFrog
It's also not fair to throw in piercing with branding.

Branding is permanent (unless you have skin that just heals really well, which some do)....my nose piercing would be gone tomorrow if I left the stud out.

Ears are permanent too

5. oh and honeychile, try this one instead

[honeychile]

FYI, I was avoiding the truly nasty photos of bad keloids. I have one from getting my ears pierced, but not as bad as the photo I showed - and as a freckled redhead who has survived one round of skin cancer, I think I qualify as fair (if not pale) skinned.

My mother is very fair skinned, yet after two heart surgeries, she has a keloid that stands roughly 3/4" out from her skin. Forgive me if I see doing the same on purpose as not the wisest thing one can do with one's skin.

[AchtungBaby80]

Originally posted by AOX81
As long as it's voluntary I say do what you want to do!

I agree. I am not against body modification at all (if I said I was I'd be a really big hypocrite!), but only if it's completely voluntary...no one should be made to do anything to their bodies that they don't want to do. However, I think if people choose to be branded, they need to do it safely as with any other kind of body modification, like others have already mentioned.

[kddani]

I guess it is each person's own body, but it bugs the shit out of me that people don't seem to think about what's going to happen down the road. Yeah it's fine to do some of this stuff in college, but what's it going to look like down the road? Like the lower back tattoos- do you know how ugly that's going to be after several kids and as you get older and wider/saggier? Brands seem to mainly be on the arm... which I think is scary because if it gets infected or something, screwing with your arm is a big deal. But it can be covered up in a business environment.

Sorry to you GCers who do it, but the ear stretching thing really annoys me, personally. It's a part of your body that can't be covered up easily, and you're doing something to it that would require surgery to fix. It's not like a piercing, which will pretty much heal itself in most cases, or only leave a small scar. But it's a big, huge hole in your ear. When you get out in the professional world, for most jobs that is not going to be something that's acceptable- a big piece of plastic/pvc/whatever or a big hole in your ear. Rightfully so, because it looks ridiculous, IMO (which I know i'll get attacked for, but it's my opinion). It's not a religious or cultural thing- like some of the tribes in Africa that you would see in National Geographic stretching various parts of their body, etc. In a lot of cases, it's middle class white kids from suburbia doing it, who do it just to be "cool" or "different" (lol, though I usually laugh at most things kids do to be "different" because in reality they're just the same as the others in their group).

[PhoenixAzul]

Originally posted by kddani
I guess it is each person's own body, but it bugs the shit out of me that people don't seem to think about what's going to happen down the road. Yeah it's fine to do some of this stuff in college, but what's it going to look like down the road? Like the lower back tattoos- do you know how ugly that's going to be after several kids and as you get older and wider/saggier? Brands seem to mainly be on the arm... which I think is scary because if it gets infected or something, screwing with your arm is a big deal. But it can be covered up in a business environment.

Sorry to you GCers who do it, but the ear stretching thing really annoys me, personally. It's a part of your body that can't be covered up easily, and you're doing something to it that would require surgery to fix. It's not like a piercing, which will pretty much heal itself in most cases, or only leave a small scar. But it's a big, huge hole in your ear. When you get out in the professional world, for most jobs that is not going to be something that's acceptable- a big piece of plastic/pvc/whatever or a big hole in your ear. Rightfully so, because it looks ridiculous, IMO (which I know i'll get attacked for, but it's my opinion). It's not a religious or cultural thing- like some of the tribes in Africa that you would see in National Geographic stretching various parts of their body, etc. In a lot of cases, it's middle class white kids from suburbia doing it, who do it just to be "cool" or "different" (lol, though I usually laugh at most things kids do to be "different" because in reality they're just the same as the others in their group).

Most of us go into body modification knowing full well that we have to go incognito in the work sector. My boyfriend has a tattoo on his forearm...no big deal, he wears long sleeves most of the time anyways (And he's planning a full sleeve for later). I'm planning a tattoo for the future, and I'm thinking about placement that will be good in the future (For the reasons you stated, which are all valid), considering the size I want it to be/detail it has to have. With ears, the current plugs I have in my ears do a good job of masking the fact that my ears are stretched. My ears are only 6 ga. (4mm), but if I take my earings out you can see daylight through them. By wearing plugs with a solid color front, it just looks like I'm wearing flat earings. A professor who I've known for 3 years now didn't even realize that my ears were stretched till I took my plugs out one day. These are what my plugs look like (I have ones that are made out of amber that I wear often too, but these are made out of pyrex glass)



Since I'm starting to get more jobs as a freelancer, I have to keep my body mods to a "church acceptable" level. At the same time, there's a bit of fun in knowing that you have this piece of art hidden under your clothing that only certain people can see, or that you reveal only in your "normal people" clothes. And I didn't stretch my ears for any tribal or spiritual reason...I did it because I like the aesthetic. I love the way it looks.

I think that a lot of non-mods think that we don't think about these kinds of things. With every piercing or tattoo that I get, I think about it. I know that I have to have a way to disguise it at certain points and other points I can relax and have it visible. The double life is not easy, but I've been able to live a successful and productive life with my mods visible 99 percent of the time.

[DST4A00]

Originally posted by honeychile
FYI, I was avoiding the truly nasty photos of bad keloids. I have one from getting my ears pierced, but not as bad as the photo I showed - and as a freckled redhead who has survived one round of skin cancer, I think I qualify as fair (if not pale) skinned.

My mother is very fair skinned, yet after two heart surgeries, she has a keloid that stands roughly 3/4" out from her skin. Forgive me if I see doing the same on purpose as not the wisest thing one can do with one's skin.

Se I wasn't posting it to be disgusting. I understand where you're coming from but My picture was to show what the brands look like.

[PhoenixAzul]

Originally posted by honeychile
FYI, I was avoiding the truly nasty photos of bad keloids. I have one from getting my ears pierced, but not as bad as the photo I showed - and as a freckled redhead who has survived one round of skin cancer, I think I qualify as fair (if not pale) skinned.

My mother is very fair skinned, yet after two heart surgeries, she has a keloid that stands roughly 3/4" out from her skin. Forgive me if I see doing the same on purpose as not the wisest thing one can do with one's skin.

and at the same time, not all brands keloid out or stand out like the picture(s) above. There's a guy at my YMCA who swims and his Omega brand is very visible, but it isn't raised out from his skin, it is just sort of "there". Keloiding is very dependent upon the individual, the size/gauge of the brand/piercing , and how they healed it. If you intentionally irritate a brand/scarificiation (intentional patterned cutting of the flesh) then it will most likely protrude from the flesh. Some people even rub inks into the scars to create a different tone. That's one thing that I will say about body mods, is that it is very individualized and unique to the individual,and you can't predict how one person will heal over another. Most people heal *fine* but others don't heal so well. It is part of the risk you take.