Body Modification as Self Authorship: Piercing and Queer Identity
Our bodies and our identities rarely work in perfect harmony. For those navigating gender, sexuality, and self expression, the body can feel foreign, something assigned, not chosen, and every selfie is a reminder of the distance between how we feel and how we appear.
This is where body modification stops being cosmetic and starts being a tool. When words can’t contain the complexity of gender euphoria or the pain of dysphoria, the body steps in to speak.
There’s a radical side to piercing that’s often left out of the discussion. For queer, trans, and non binary people, altering your body on purpose, and, most importantly, for yourself, can be an act of defiance. This act rejects the idea that our bodies should be accepted “as they are,” or that wanting change is a symptom of some greater societal ill. In truth, modification can bring clarity. It’s knowing what feels right and pursuing it, even when our culture tells you not to.
In this framework, every piercing becomes a small statement, “This body is mine.” Skin, needles, and jewelry come together, and the person in the mirror? Finally, more recognizably you.
Gender euphoria doesn’t always come from one grand gesture. Sometimes it’s the subtle shift, a septum ring, a healed scar, the hoop that changes how light hits your face. Someone gets a nostril piercing and sees beauty where dysphoria once sat. Someone else gets nipple piercings after top surgery, turning survival into a celebration.
These are not purely aesthetic choices. They’re acts of self authorship and living proof that you can shape your own image.
In our opinion, the piercing studio should feel sacred, not performative. For many of us, being touched or seen can resurface past trauma. As such, the piercing process must feel collaborative, and our space must hold your trust and make you feel safe. There’s ritual in getting pierced when it’s done with intention, the prep, the sharp milisecond of pain, the first peek in the mirror afterward, and the feeling of being safe and cared for in a vulnerable moment.
Too many LGBTQIA+ people have had their bodies treated as spectacle or inconvenience. At Cherry Bomb Studio, we treat trauma informed piercing as nonnegotiable:
Consent is ongoing. It’s not a just a form you fill out, it’s a conversation.
Names and pronouns are sacred. Respect isn’t politics. It’s care.
Needles only. They’re precise, clean, and line up with our commitment to community safety.
No assumptions. Every body, every story, and every piercing is different.
Body modification and the culture around it can help mark what we’ve survived and who we’ve become. When you get pierced, you’re not just adding adornments. You’re adding meaning. You are sayin, “I chose this.”
Mainstream piercing culture loves to sell aesthetics, which is part of the attraction, of course, but for many of us, it’s not just about looks of piercings. It’s about belonging and about making the body you live in feel more in line with your true self. Some piercings make us feel more androgynous, some affirm gender, some reclaim a body that’s been harmed, and some just make us excited or feel cool. Every reason is valid, and every piercing is personal.
Ultimately, body modification is about learning about yourself and unlearning your culture. It’s about the radical belief that your body can finally feel like yours. Piercings aren’t just aesthetics at work. They give you a choice and that is agency over ourselves and our identities.