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I don't have any tattoos. My nipples are pierced. I have a magnet in my left ring finger, and an NFC chip in my left hand. I haven't mutilated my body. The nipples are for aesthetics. The implants are functional. Besides, piercing can be removed and tattoos not really. So if you consider any of it mutilation I'd say the tattoos are more mutilation than the piercings.

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>The [pierced] nipples are for aesthetics.

I'm sure tattooed people would say the same about their tattoos. People are very bad at uncovering the origin of their behaviour and very good at retroactive rationalization. The question remains is, which desires shaped those "aesthetics"? Was it a wish for self-harm or perhaps showing conformity with an in-group? Do you know other people carrying the same types of modifications?

And I would agree with tattooed people about the aesthetics. This definitely isn't retroactive rationalization. I thought about it for months before getting it done. Of course I know people with piercings and tattoos; I live in the United States.

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