Prompt 5

Due Monday
This week we begin to think of the body not only as the subject of argument, but also the means of making an argument. How might an individual use his or her body to inscribe an identity or resist a culturally-determined identity? BUT to start that discussion, I think it is important to track how body modification is perceived by those outside of its outside - you know, folks with a more traditional view of the body and its practices.
The first place I want you to visit is National Geographic pictorial on body modification. National Geographic is an interesting place to start because they have made an entire society - The National Geographic Society - based on the voyeuristic practices of gazing at other bodies.
The second place to find this viewpoint is on a national news program, and for that I want you to listen an NPR program, Marketplace's "Inc.'s a bit more at ease with ink".
After investigating these two cultural artifacts, I want you to
1. talk a bit about how these two sources approach the body
2. map yourself on to that argument. Do you agree with one of these viewpoints? Is tattooing and other body modification still an exotic practice? Is it, as Marketplace indicates, becoming less exotic?
Have fun!