Modern primitives or urban primitives are people in developed, or modern nations who engage in body modification rituals and practices inspired by the ceremonies, rites of passage, or bodily ornamentation in what they consider traditional cultures. These practices may include body piercing, tattooing, play piercing, flesh hook suspension, corset training, scarification, branding, and cutting. The stated motivation for engaging in these varied practices may be personal growth, personal rites of passage, rejection of society, as a way to connect with antiquity, or spiritual and sexual curiosity.
Scarification is one form of modern western body modification adopted from what adherents consider traditional cultures.
Facial piercings and facial tattoos are popular among those who see themselves as outsiders to mainstream society.
Suspension (body modification)
Body suspension means the act of rigging a human body to hang from implements that have been placed through temporary perforations in the skin.
Indian man with hooks in his back at the festival of Charak-Puja
"The Cutting Scene, Mandan O-kee-pa Ceremony" by George Catlin, circa 1832
Two body hooks inserted in the back of a woman, to which suspension chain is yet to be attached
Topless men and women pulling a car using ropes attached to flesh hooks inserted in their backs. The participants are not suspended from top in this case. Scene from Doo Dah Parade, Ohio, USA, 2011.
