Ok, I have a confession to make, one that seems very inconsequential, but for some reason has gotten me some very strong responses from people - feminist and non-feminist alike. Allow me to state some background before I begin...
During high school and college, I got a few select piercings - I have 5 my left ear, 6 in my right, and had my nose, navel, and upper lip (Monroe) pierced. When I began law school, I removed the nose and Monroe piercings out of a sense of "professionalism," I suppose. I kept the ears and navel in. Now, I often wear long jewelry in the navel piercing, so on some days, it's pretty clear that I DO have my belly button pierced. And sometimes, this leads to some very interesting interactions.
Now, with the exception of some people much older than me, I rarely get comments on my ears, even though they are far more exposed than my navel and have many more actual pieces of jewelry in them, I get comments on the navel, it seems, a lot more. And a lot of them are along the lines of "why would you do that?" or "Do you want men to look at you more?" I am not suggesting that my feminist or progressive friends are anti-piercing. In fact, they are usually among the most open-minded people I know on the topic of body-mods and often have a few themselves. I just find it interesting that a pierced belly button, as opposed to other piercings, seems to carry with it such a sexually loaded meaning, it seems. I also kind of resent the idea that it is a "trendy" piercing that one no longer gets for simple individual reasons. I got mind because it's pretty, sparkly, and I think the jewelry I can get for it is cute. That's it. I did not do it because Britney Spears did it, or any other public figure. I did not do it because it is a popular piercing in the sex or adult industry, or anything of the like. My reasons were far more simplistic.
I know a lot has been said on this site about "fun feminism" and setting how it's wrong to set beauty standards, no matter who they come from. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is this - I think a pierced belly button is sometimes nothing more than what it is. It doesn't mean a woman has low morals or should be regardless as loose, but nor does it mean that she wants male attention or plays to the male gaze all the time. Sometimes, it really is just a piercing that a woman (or man!) wants to get and does so. I don't think it carries any real other meaning besides that. Is a navel piercing a feminist act? I don't think so, but I don't think its anti-feminist either, even if a woman likes to walk around with her midriff exposed. I understand that sometimes, we should attach meaning to actions and events in our lives, but I think this is one that should just be left alone.
I don't know, though, if this experience is universal or if I am seeing something that isn't really there. If something is attractive to many men (like a navel piercing) or is capable of carrying a sexualized message with it, I don't think that should preclude women from doing it, if they so desire to.
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I have my septum done (and I don't plan to take it out when I go to law school -- I've already got a retainer in for work, and because the person who did it was a moron it's really difficult to change the jewelry) and I usually only get comments on it by people who are at least a generation removed. Of course, by and large the most frequent comment I get is "I don't usually like that piercing but it works really well with your face" or something along those lines.
I guess a nose piercing is a little different from a naval piercing in the "gaze" category because I'm asking people to look at my face rather than my belly (and really, I don't want people looking at my belly). However, I don't disagree with you, piercings are fashionable and people who have them get them because they like it. It's the same with tattoos. I didn't get any of my tattoos so that people would come up and talk to me about them: I got them because I like them and they mean something to me that people aren't going to understand just by looking.
Furthermore, it's certainly not anti-feminist to look the way you want to look.
I too have piercing, the most visible being my lip piercing. I work in a bar in London which is inhabited mainly by bankers and brokers, so you can imagine the responses I get. They vary from: "Oh, I think that's really sexy" (as if I should be bowled over by this MASSIVE compliment they've just paid me), to "Why on earth would you ruin your face with that." As a feminist working in The City of London, I have and do face many more overtly sexist acts and comments on a daily basis, so I just shrug it off in annoyance or bicker with them inconsequentially for a few minutes and go about my day.
The main reason i'm commenting is about REASON I have the piercing. I think most of these guys assume that I have it for their benefit (naively assuming, or fantasizing, that it improves fellatio or something along these lines). It's really not the case. The truth is, I got it when I was 13 to irritate my mother and to feel like a rebel. Now, at 22, my days of irritating my mother (whilst still very much alive) are no longer a deliberate priority and my days of being a rebel are well and truly over (i'm a final year undergraduate, i'm chained to my desk). I'm not really shocking anyone with this piercing (accept the easily shock-able and that's a fruitless task) and i'm pretty sure that most of my friends think it's about time I took it out, simply because it's not in keeping with my new academic/teachers pet persona. HOWEVER, that is exactly why I keep the stupid thing -- because it really IS out of keeping with this nerdy and anally organized young woman that i've become. I miss those rebellious days where I didn't give a shit.
The mistake everyone makes when they ask my "why" I have the piercing is to assume it's to get a reaction out of them. I don't want to sexually tantalize dirty old bankers, I don't want to shock old grannies.. I just miss the days when I did.
My tattoo is on my upper back, so my t-shirts or work clothes usually cover it. This usually protects me from critical strangers (although once I was in the library wearing a spaghetti-strap shirt and some random person came up to me and said "Can you move your hair so I can read your back?" I thought it was funny so I didn't mind.") but friends and family still give me shit. The biggest sources of irritation of irritation are the comments about how it's permanent, unprofessional, etc. (do they think I'm stupid?) and the questions about whether my boyfriend likes it. I don't really care what my boyfriend thinks. If he likes it, great. If not, too bad. If he dumps me for it I don't want to be with him anyway. I think because body mods can be so visible (especially on young women who are looked at more) people assume they are chosen with public consumption in mind.
Also, this is kind of off topic, but I hate blanket assumptions that tattoos or piercings are "trashy." I happen to think a tattoo of my favorite quote is very classy and meaningful, thankyouverymuch.
I got a lot of crap for keeping my navel piercing throughout my pregnancy, but nobody could tell me why it was necessary to remove it. There's no medical reason, as far as I can tell. I never got that big (I had her early and at 34 wks when I had her I looked like I was maybe 6 months prego), it never became uncomfortable, and my belly button never turned inside out, so I just left it in. Then when I was in labor the nurses were all amazed and acted disapproving, but couldn't explain why it should be removed. I think they just associate piercings with a form of sexuality that's incongruent with motherhood or something. But that's the strongest response I've ever gotten to it. I also have 6 piercings in one ear, and people mostly ask if they hurt, and compliment me on them.
I'm surprised bellybutton rings are even a novelty for people anymore. They've been around for, what, twenty years?
I had one about twelve years ago and had to take it out when I had a c-section (not sterile)and at that time it was considered a bit unusual but come on. People must just be really uptight.
I have a navel piercing. I don't wear navel baring outfits that much though so many people don't know I have one. I never experienced judgment on it though. Usually people just ask me how much it hurt when I got it done, which doesn't bother me. But like you, I also got it done just because I wanted it, simple as that.
Weird, in college, everyone wanted to know why I DIDN'T have my belly button pierced, since I was virtually the only woman on campus that I knew who didn't. I just didn't like the idea of having a piece of metal there all the time, it wasn't a statement or anything.
I have my belly button pierced for almost 2 years now and have gotten some comments on it similar to those already stated. I was always asked before I got it done why I already didn't have one and the truth was, I just didn't feel like doing it at the time. Then one afternoon down the shore I decided what the hell, you only live once. Some people have told me they think it's "really hot" and I should have gotten it done sooner. I really had no reason behind getting that part of my body pierced other than I was bored and wanted to do it at that time. It has nothing to do with wanting to draw attention to my abdomen - it's just something I did.
"The biggest sources of irritation of irritation are the comments about how it's permanent, unprofessional, etc. (do they think I'm stupid?) and the questions about whether my boyfriend likes it."
Oh GOD, I know! Even when I got my tatto, the tattooist told me, "You know, this is going to hurt." I was like, "Yeah, I kind of figured." He said, "It's never coming off." So I said, "I kind of figured that too." He gave me a doubtful look and said, "Okay, if you really want it." Well, DUH.
I don't understand this anti-piercing/tattoo mentality. Those of us born in the 1980's were a generation that really embraced body art on a wide scale. I mean, it's not just "punks and goths" (God, I hate labels) that get them anymore. Even the "preppy" kids are getting tattoos. So I mean, GET OVER IT already.
Punk and Goth meant something once, before some of you were born (pre-1980's)- it wasn't something easily dismissed as "just a label" by those of us that found meaning in it. So today many things are corporate stamped, meaningless, and "just a label"- but that doesn't mean it wasn't once something very powerful. If it weren't for those movements(the real deal, not this corporate crap they push now) I wouldn't be the (feminist, etc) person I am today.
As far as my thoughts on body art, as has been said previous to my comment- it's about the person bearing it, not the person looking at it.