Encylopedia of Body Adornment.pdf - Print My Tattoo

LIP PLATES 179
constitutional rights, safety issues, and morality. As is common when legislatures
have legalized tattooing, both states have since adopted new health and safety regulations
which include mandatory training in blood-borne pathogens, health and
hygiene standards for studios, and procedures such as single-use needles and ink,
as well as a minimum age and sobriety standards.
While there have been no cases of AIDS that can be traced to tattooing or piercing,
since the 1980s, AIDS has become a great concern, leading to more regulations
around the country. While many tattooists and piercers welcome many of these
regulations, feeling that it improves the industry when all tattooists and piercers
observe safe practices, some proposed regulations are seen as overly invasive. For
example, Oklahoma’s proposed new regulations may include a prohibition on
body modification businesses operating within 1,000 feet of a church, school, or
playground as well as a requirement for business owners to post a $100,000 bond
in order to be licensed.
Because of these concerns, a new organization has formed known as the Coalition
of Body Modification Associations. This informal coalition is made up of the
Alliance of Professional Tattooists, theAssociation of Professional Piercers,
and The Society of Permanent Cosmetic Professionals, and they are currently fighting
a proposal by the National Interstate Council of State Boards of Cosmetology
(NIC). The NIC oversees most cosmetic and beauty fields in this country (all of
which, with the exception of cosmetic tattooing, involve noninvasive procedures),
and is attempting to provide states with licensing exams to be used by the tattooing
and piercing industries. Furthermore, the NIC is lobbying to allow boards
of cosmetology to oversee tattooing and piercing, rather than the state boards of
health, which is alarming to many piercers and tattooists.
Other issues of concern to the industries include a California lawsuit filed
in 2004 (still active at the time of this writing) by the American Environmental
Safety Institute against the major tattoo ink manufacturers, which claims
that the inks expose customers to unsafe toxins such as lead and other heavy
metals.
See also: Alliance of Professional Tattooists; Association of Professional Piercers; Health
Issues
Further Reading: Sanders, Clinton. Customizing the Body: The Art and Culture of Tattooing.
Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1989.
LIP PLATES
Lip plates, also known as lip plugs or lip discs, are items made of clay, wood, stone,
bone, or metal that are inserted into a hole in the lower lip, or the area beneath the
lip, above the chin. Small plates or plugs are generally inserted after slicing open
a hole into the lower lip. After the hole heals around the plate, it is removed and
larger ones are inserted, gradually stretching the hole. (In some cases a plate is also
inserted into the upper lip.) Lip plates are usually no larger than 3 centimeters in
width, but the women of southern Chad wear extremely large plates, often as large
as 24 centimeters.