branding

[frenchy]

I came across this site looking for an anwser to a question for the marlboro quiz. WAIT- I know this is not where to post quizz questions but I do have a parenting concern question. Do any of you know about young teenagers branding themselves ? There was a question about cattle branding so I looked under google images and found sick, disgusting pictures of kids branding themselves. Evidently they take a wire hanger form a design and heat it up and brand themselves - I am just blown away. this is barbaric- have any of you heard of this? I am very concerned for my children - every year I hear about worse behavior.

[Hellion]

Not heard about this sort of branding but it segues nicely into another sort of branding. I've recently done a lot of work with young teenagers in out area about what they want from the community - their biggest complaint, all the bad things written about teenagers they said 'we're nice kids but no-one ever wants to write about nice kids' so don't get too hung up on all the things you see it really doesn't fully represent younf teen agers.

[Yinzer]

I saw a tv program about this a few years ago, although I have never met anyone into this. I have known tons of people into all sorts of crazy stuff, but I think this is very rare. Must be the same crowd who is into cutting themselves. You wanna hear barbaric, I stumbled upon this website with some old-ass german guy and his "vampire slaves" all 15-20 ish young women who he cuts and rapes and gives heroin in exchange for letting him do all this. Just remember that this is only a small percent of kids out there, and there are so many more teens who are studying well and helping others and who have good decision-making skills and high self-esteem. It's just easier to see these other ones because anything that is rare or in the minoriry is easier to spot. Like they say, "it sticks out like a sore thumb" (doesn't mean the whole world is sore thumbs)

[frenchy]

Thanks for the posts - I know this is not the norm but still very strange thanks for being so positive with the replys- I have a tendancy to worry too much about my children- but good parenting is the key to sucessful, well adjusted children. Have a great week.

[MuppetBabies]

Hmmm. As a young person who appreciates body modification, I also thought it was unusual when I first came across the whole branding thing, but this response is based on pre-conceptions, lack of knowledge, and a tendency for people to prefer judging rather than even attempting to understand things. There are three things I would like to point out: 1. Branding(I am sure there is a proper name for it, but I cannot remember what) when correctly and safely done in a licensed tattoo/piercing studio is a legitimate form of body modification. It may appear strange to you, after all tattoos don't make sense to many people, but it is legitimate. 2. It is nothing to do with self-harm. There are self-harmers who end up with visible scar tissue, but someone who brands themself like we are talking about is doing this to get the design on their skin, not because they feel they need the sensation that branding themself will bring. Self-harmers cut themself to actually experience the sensation of cutting, people with legitimate brandings do not. According to the reasoning above, people with pierced ears are self-harmers. 3. Branding yourself in your bedroom with a coat hanger is NOT the legitimate and safe branding I have discussed above. It's a bunch of foolish kids trying to get the effect cheaply and dangerously.

[frenchy]

I am not against tattoos(my husband has four), body piercings (I have my navel pierced) but these were all done in a clean sterile enviornment by professionals who knew what the proper procedures were. I guess what really disgusted me was that these kids were young- too young to go to a professional because if you are under 18 you need parental consent and they were to young to know the dangers- on several of the sites they showed the "brands" and many of them went too far down to the bone. Which caused infections etc. How can these children at 15 16 Etc know that they want to alter there body forever. What I saw was definatly self harm. Muppetbabies stated that self harmers cut themselves to actually experience the sensation of cutting- this also applies to tattoo entusiasts, body piercings and branders-I know people who think that the sensation that you get from getting tattoos is the most erotic sensation they ever felt felt many people get "off" on the feeling of piercings and when one heals they get another just to experience the pain/ pleasure. Muppet Babies also said that I lacked the knowledge , and I do, that is exactly the reason i made this post- with good parenting, understanding certain behaviors makes it easier to deal with when it involves one of your loved ones. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!