Piercings, it seems, are the new Agent Provocateur lingerie. Rihanna has nipple rings, Christina Aguilera circa Dirrrty couldn’t stop talking about her down-there studs, and Drew Barrymore sported a tongue-stud to a premiere, of all places. What’s all the fuss?
If the idea of putting a sharp piece of metal near anywhere you routinely cover with underwear makes you want to cower behind furniture, you’re not alone. However, it’s often claimed that tongue, nipple and clitoral piercings on women enhance the whole sensual experience.
So, with that in mind, RESCU’s compiled our Top 7 Things You Need To Know About Intimate Piercings.
1. They’ve been around for millennia.
Not just piercings – sexually motivated piercings. Centurions in imperial Rome flaunted their strength by bejewelling their nipples, rather like Bondi Beach in high summer.
Tribes in Borneo have pierced their nether areas for thousands of years, and women in Malawi stretch their lips with plates to arouse men. It’s no new fad – far from it.
2. Their allure is often about secrecy rather than full-on sexuality.
Unless you’re Rihanna and walk around with a see-through top on, intimate piercings are a sexy little secret, shared only between you and your chosen partners. (Or, if you’re Abbey Lee Kershaw and Catherine McNeil, the entire readership of Australian Vogue.)
They’re also far more common than might be expected, particularly among suburban housewives. Piercings down there won’t get you fired from your job for looking ‘disreputable’. They’re the equivalent of good lingerie, except trickier to clean.
It’s also – for clitoral piercings – pragmatic. Stimulation becomes possible in positions where before it wasn’t.
3. There’s more variety than you think.
When people talk about ‘intimate piercings’, often they don’t realise just how much ground that covers.
For women, you can pierce your inner or outer labia, or your clitoral ‘hood’ (the small fold of skin over your clitoris). The hood itself can be pierced either horizontally or vertically, with a small bar. There are all sorts of variations: the ‘Christina’, which pierces the mound, the ‘Fourchette’, which is actually a sort of lip-ring for your vagina, and so on.
And then, of course, there is the clitoral piercing itself, which is a hole – yep – right through that tiny bundle of nerve endings.
4. Not all piercings suit all women.
Intimate piercings aren’t like earrings. There isn’t a template to fit everybody – and getting a piercing which doesn’t fit your type can result in disaster.
Unusual piercings, like a ‘triangle’ piercing (which needs to be inserted behind the clitoris itself), depend on the woman having very specific anatomy. Getting a piercing through your clit, similarly, requires a clitoris large enough to support a piercing – which is pretty uncommon.
You can’t just walk in to a piercing salon and flat-out demand a certain type of intimate piercing: you have to have a consultation, and if possible check yourself out first to see if you’re suitable.
5. The advantages aren’t just urban myth.
Men have long published their love for tongue piercings on their partners – which is great, but what about us? A ground-breaking scientific study published in America in 2005 showed that piercing-pundits touting advantages for women might be in the right.
Four scientists studied the vertical hood piercing, and found that pierced women, on average, have an increased intensity in sexual desire, frequency of arousal, and times per week in the sack. Sounds pretty awesome, doesn’t it? (No increase in orgasms, though, alas.)
A 2003 study said, coyly, that both vertical and horizontal hood piercings produce ‘intense sensation’ – provided, of course that you don’t lose sensation altogether…
6. There are some pretty terrifying risks.
The horror stories about totally losing sensation between the legs because of a badly-done piercing are, alas, completely possible. There are many nerves in the erectile tissue, and incompetent piercers can wreak havoc – which is why this is one area where it pays to find the best person around. DO YOUR RESEARCH, LADIES.
That said, it’s pretty much the same risk you carry with any piercing, ear, nose or navel.
The worst risk isn’t actually a misplaced piercing gun – it’s infection, whether from an unsterilized piercing studio or not caring for the thing properly. And that can get very messy.
7. They need proper after-care.
Sexy they may be, but unless you indulge your new nipple-rings, tongue-studs and vaginal decoration in strict hygiene aftercare – saline washes twice a day and avoiding all bodily fluids until the healing period is over, generally – you’re in for some serious pain.
Also, alas, sometimes genital piercings don’t ‘take’ – they reject, and that’s not fun either.
And no, ‘vajazzling’ doesn’t count. It also, by all accounts, is decidedly silly. Who wants their pudendum to look like an encrusted Hello Kitty purse?
Lady Friday xx
Taking the pillow talk out of the bedroom, every Friday…