The Body Modification E-zine has grown by leaps and bounds since its birth sometime in 1994. What started as a small collection of user-written experiences, user-submitted photos and informative FAQs about piercing and tattooing has expanded into a large international community with at least a dozen experts, over 20,000 experience reports, well over 75,000 photographs (those are just the public ones, too!), and information on every body modification that's ever been thought of.
The site now contains much, much more than just FAQs, experiences and pictures. The IAM community lets users sign up and get to know each other and the experts of the vast field. Ask BME answers questions on any related topic. You can purchase an incredibly wide range of high-quality body jewelry and modification-related items/tools from their online store. Prizes are often given to the users who submit the most images annually. They even keep an eye on modification-related events in the news, down to the local newspaper level.
BME's Goal:
- To let people know they are not alone and to help them to understand who they are and what they are going through.
- To provide a space allowing people to share their experiences with body modification and manipulation.
- To politically and commercially encourage the ethical growth of body modification and manipulation.
- To generate revenue and succeed as a traditional business, and to reinvest a part of these profits in body-related projects.
- To educate the public about body modification and manipulation for the purposes of safety, history, culture, and good will.
- When possible, to unify people interested in body modification and manipulation subjects.
- To never judge one body modification or manipulation activity as more "right" than another and never succumb to public (mainstream or non-mainstream) pressure to draw this line.
- To act as a media liason to encourage accurate portrayals of body modification and manipulation and to encourage positive mainstream acceptance of body modification and manipulation activities.
- To work with other body modification and manipulation groups to further our common goals.
You name a form of body modification or ritual involving or related to modification, and BME's got it: Genital tattoos. Blood play, erotic and otherwise. Biomechanical tattoos. Genital piercings. Deep chest piercings. Scar and brace piercing. Scalpelling. Corsetry. Mad Max 4-point bars. Uvula piercings. Flesh plating, pocketing, stapling or coils. Piercing suspension in any position you can think of. Suicide suspension (that means you suspend really high up, supported by several 6"-long hooks stuck through the skin of your back and arms). Permanent (no, seriously) piercings. Dermal punching. Transdermal implants. Ritual cutting. Scarification. Ear sculpting. Nullification, subincision and meatotomies. Lip sewing. Cock and ball torture. Genital modification. Sounding. Lifting weights with piercings. Beds of nails. Play piercing. Flesh sewing. Branding. Couples who met through BME. Tattoo portfolios of popular body artists. T-bar piercings. And the list goes on and on...
The site got a new home a few years back; it can be found at www.bmezine.com. Most information can be accessed for free, but BME/hard (erotic and adult) and BME/extreme (heavy mods) require a subscription or information contribution to access more than just a few sample photos/experiences.
While the quantity and content of BME's information can be both daunting and frightening, it is an excellent resource for all who want to learn more about any form of body modification — parents, piercers, tattoo artists, or "experiencers."
References:
BMEzine: http://www.bmezine.com/