I have a piercing that seems to subject me to constant judgment. Most try to deny it, but when you have a piercing—especially on your face—it’s very common to receive stares, remarks, and constant judgement from strangers. Even when I notice judgement, I tend to ignore it with a smile. Anyone who judges me for a piece of metal on my body is probably too closed minded to understand me anyway. Despite being criticized for the way I choose to decorate my body, be it with tattoos, or piercings, I still believe my body is a temple. Believe it or not, just because I have piercings does not mean that I don’t care about my body.
There is so much more to me than the ring in my nose. I am a student, I'm a daughter, I'm a sister, I'm a firefighter and no, my septum piercing doesn't define me. I am a caring, open-minded person and I have a septum piercing— mind blowing, I know! It has never held me back from receiving a job, it has never stopped a guy from dating me, it has never been my defining factor but to some people, mostly strangers it is.
One remark I receive rather often is how “proud” my parents must be.
My mother is proud of me for the things I’ve accomplished in my life. My mother is proud of me for being a hardworking college student— no piercing is going to change that. My mother is proud of me for being someone who accepts others, but she raised me to be that way, so she accepts me for who I have chosen to be and how I choose to express it.
I once had a woman, mind you, at my job say to me “You’re never going to find a job with that thing in your face” say to me “You’re never going to find a job with that thing in your face”
I have not one, not two, but three jobs that allow me to have my facial piercing. Fortunately for me, we don’t really live in a world full of closed minded individuals like her.
“You are such a beautiful girl, if only you’d get rid of that piercing”
Excuse me, but who are you to judge what is/is not considered beautiful? I think my piercing makes me unique.
On that note, I’ve also had a man tell me that if I didn’t have “that ring” in my nose, he’d put one on my finger.
While that is quite clever, I have no interest in being with someone who has a problem with something as simple as a piercing. If you can not accept a piercing I am one hundred percent positive you can not accept an open-minded person like myself.
Another woman looked me dead in the face and said “Why did you do that to yourself? And I responded with “I’m sorry if my piercing offends you.” Her response was “No, I’m sorry your face looks like that.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her because I genuinely don’t understand her concern with MY face. A random woman, who I met for 35 seconds of my entire life felt the need to make a point about something that has absolutely nothing to do with her and that is why I didn’t let her comment bother me.
I have a lot of people ask me if I’m ever going to take it out.
Honestly, I could wake up tomorrow and decide it’s no longer something I want or it could be when I’m 30. But right now, I love it. My piercing has become a part of who I am, it gives people a glimpse of who I am without having to speak a word.
Every single one of these comments says more about the person than my piercing says about me. If they took a second to get to know me, they would understand that there is so much more to me than my piercing and while they were taking time out of their day to openly criticize me, I was still trying to find the good in them.
