I once briefly knew a couple into body modification. FWIW, he was a Coast Guard NCO. They were 20 years younger than my husband and I. Yes, there was an element of trying to shock us, but we were curious, asked respectful, probing questions and they opened up, a little.
1) It is tribal and about belonging.
2) In the Coastie world, drugs are not allowed and alcohol is limited to time off. The NCO told us that *his guys* used piercings as an endorphin release. Evidently the pain is some sort of high when combined with the tribalism.
3) Since it is a trendy subculture, there is room for entrepreneurship. Both these people did tattoos and piercings (including those large excisions that later on receive plugs). The wife was an esthetician and incorporated all sorts of facials and extreme cosmetic procedures (needling, scraping, abrasion) along with cupping, acupuncture, you-name-it. Her clientele was heavily weighted to gays.
They had shelves of coffee-table books on the topic. There are conventions. Some of the body-mods are really extreme, more like serious surgeries. Some are just grotesque, like growing toenails so long the person needs to wear high open-toe platform shoes in order to walk. All this was 20 years ago, so I can barely imagine what that world is like now. It seems (and probably is) very uncomfortable. I think there is some sort psychiatric component.
I was thinking more of the subcutaneous inserts, including demonic horns, and the literal HOLES that some people want to make in their cheeks, exposing the interior of their mouths.
It is absolutely demonic. I don’t care how much they want to “belong.” And I can’t believe the Coast Guard wouldn’t have standards against this.
By the way, the way that dress and grooming standards have declined in the retail workplace is appalling. I was at one of the large grocery store chains in my city several years ago, and the dairy employee sported all sorts of spikes piercing various parts of his face. It was truly disgusting and alarming. I cannot believe what is allowed.
I was going to complain to corporate, but with a busy life that got pushed way down on my to-do list.