A Brief History of Piercings by Faye Neal

Piercings in skin have been in use as long as humans have been wearing jewelry. The oldest mummified body in the world has pierced ears. Ancient Egyptians used navel piercings made of precious metals to signify their wealth, Romans used genital piercings to keep male singers’ voices high and gladiators’ libidos low, the Olmec widened their lip plates for each kill in warfare, and Indian women pierced their noses for a variety of reasons relating to health and religion. Even Shakespeare had an ear pierced. But for a practice so widely known, it fell out of favor quickly in the West when Britain began to colonize India. Due to the British searching for reasons to label Indians as inferior and as material for colonization, they began to demonize Indian traits, including nose piercings. Piercings, for this reason, weren’t fashionable in the West for years after. Even slightly before this, ear piercings were worn in Italy mostly by sailors and sex workers, establishing them as an “othering” accessory. When rich Westerners wore earrings afterwards, they were often clip-ons. 

However, the social attitude towards piercing changed with one important event: Queen Elizabeth II piercing her ears. She was advised not to do so, but wanted them anyway, and then her style carried on to the rest of the world. Ear piercings became more and more commonplace, though the racist narrative towards other piercings persevered (preserved in part by appropriative white performers who would use piercings as part of a “costume” of a different ethnicity). Earrings regained popularity as one of their base original purposes; a display of wealth. Diamond earrings rose to fame with the rest of diamond jewelry in the early-to-mid 20th century. By the 60s, 70s and 80s, earrings were commonplace, but niche subcultures were discovering the value of other kinds of piercings. Hippie culture rose, and as Americans visited South Asia and appropriated much of their religion and culture, nose piercings returned. On the opposite end of the spectrum, punks took up facial piercings that had never been in style in the West (due in no small part to the racist attitude perpetuated by the British along with discrimination against indigenous American styles that involved piercings), to showcase their antisocial attitudes. 

In a cultural pivot, the 90s and 2000s saw many mainstream stars who purposefully marketed risky images, including piercings. Naomi Campbell had both her nipples and navel pierced. Britney Spears recorded music videos and did VMA performances in outfits that showcased her glittery navel ring. Along with many others, these two not only heightened the acceptance for non-earlobe piercings, but increased active demand. Many got their navels pierced because of Britney, and started stacking ear piercings as well. Though facial piercings are still rarely desired in white-collar jobs, they are no longer delegated to hardcore punks and rebels, especially now that celebrities have continued the trend. Many small ear piercings show up on 2010s models and singers, the septum ring has returned with ridiculous popularity, and the presence of internet-spread alt fashion has made the demand for bridge, eyebrow, and nose piercings higher. Though both academia and the workforce still have a long way to go in accepting piercings, they’ve made great progress. And plus, piercings just look really cool.

“Something Street” Write Up by Mo Mitchell

“Something Street” by Carolyn Ferrell takes place as Parthenia, with her black eye, watches her ass of a husband up on stage doing his ever famous comedy routine during his “Farewell Tour.” He’s invited to return to their old school every year to perform a routine. While she’s backstage we learn about two characters, Paul and Eboni, through Parthenia’s eyes as she watches her offspring(?) that we learn was just left on her doorstep. I enjoyed the Moses reference even though I’m not religious. We learn about the Sable Tea Sisters, which Parthenia was a part of, and learn of her upbringing to be a feminine and lady-like woman. We go through moments of Parthenia’s life with her kids, and through this we get a good eye shot of what her husband comedian is like behind closed doors. Spoiler alert: he’s an ass. We learn of her daughters lives and how they’ve turned out, as well as what her husband has been accused of by multiple accounts. Obviously he’s getting around with ladies who don’t want to be gotten around with. The novel ends with Parthenia handing her offspring(?) over to her driver Clarence and his “cousin” (or so we’re told) to take care of while she works her own way through life to find who she really is, and not just her husband’s wife. There’s a fight, which leaves Parthenia to sit and ponder, when Eboni walks up to her and Parthenia finally gets to show Eboni who she really is, behind the black eye. (“ She looks away. Then says to me, I always pictured you different. Maybe it’s the black eye.”- “This girl is going to meet me for the first time, even if she doesn’t yet know it.”) 

The chronic tension is our lovely Parthenia’s husband being, as I called him, and ass so not to get too specific. The acute is the offspring(?) and Parthenia’s realization of what her life is at the moment and how it’s a no go for her. 

I personally have seen some abuse in my life from someone you’re supposed to love, so I was understandably dead inside while reading this story. That being said, this story was amazing. At first I was barely getting through it, and then I was done with it. As Parthenia goes through her character development and comes to find the truth about her husband, you read through all the things he’s already done and in some morbid way that keeps you reading. In the back of every human’s mind there’s that little perverted section that craves inhumane things, this scratched that for me without me having to actually go through it. 

I think something I really picked up on, was that through the narrative the lines the characters were speaking were just in italics. There were no quotation marks around what they were saying and it left you in a state where you could just picture being inside Parthenia’s mind while reading the story. I think this feature made the story super unique and honestly it’s definitely something I’m going to borrow in the future. (Get it… “Tell me if I’m repeating myself” and “That gold’s mine”? Okay anyways-) 

(examples for above, my lovelies:

“Once upon a time there was dark-as-night wide-hipped sassy-lipped Mama Love and her famous flat iron. She was my mama, and she raised us all on Something Street. Craw Daddy walks the stage as he narrates…”

“(A side whisper: That is, if we remember to put the cast-iron pan inside our britches for protection seeing how Mama Love could swat you for days, and the lack of that pan meant certain death of the booty so can I get an AMEN?)” 

“The woman Gladys says something along the lines of Well if it was my man out there doing that, and they shut her down instantly. Close your got-damn trap, Gladys. You bought a ticket same as us. He is our man, he will always be our man.” “His teeth bare white into every soul in the house. Mama Love, she made me who I am today. Y’all tell me if you heard this one before.”) 

1. What do you think humans find so great about being great? There’s an overarching theme of greatness in the story and what it actually means to be great, so what does greatness mean to you? Being famous, or living a good life, having a family, or being successful? 

2. How do you think the addition of Parthenia having to take care of and hold her offspring(?) through most of the story adds to her character and her situation? Since it’s not her kid and she doesn’t want to take care of it, while she’s also learning what she’s learning? 

I’m gonna add a quick hot take to this just because I might not be in class so you don’t have to read this, consider you’re part of this done. If I am in class, hey future me whaddup. So, this story (I keep wanting to call it a book when I know it’s not) absolutely threw me, I actually think I ended up on the floor at one point. While reading a story, even an actual horror novel, I’ve never felt the need to cuddle with a stuffed animal and sit in the fetal position but here I am. (Shoutout to Coleslaw the moose for cuddling with me while I died.) I dug a little deeper, just because I was curious, and in doing so I learned that Craw Daddy is actually a knock off, spin off, off brand Bill Cosby. I personally didn’t know if I should laugh or cry at that fact. And the hard focus on race, like, this story had everything I needed to cry and boy howdy did I. This story is just wonderful. 

When I first read the prompt, I remember so vividly I thought this story was going to be cute, and maybe about falling in love based on the way it started. From now on I think the phrase should be “Don’t judge a book by it’s first sentence” because damn. My expectations flew south for the winter even though it’s spring and my entire brain went on vacation for a second. I really read the first paragraph of this story and audibly went “oh no”. 

The Evolution of Barbie by Emma Hartman

History

Everyone likes to think that Barbie was the first of her kind, the very first fashion doll not in the shape of a baby or infant but before Barbie, there was the Bild Lilli doll, a German fashion doll from the company Greiner & Hausser Gmbh. Bild Lilli was all legs, fashionable clothing and perfect makeup and was originally sold as a novelty four years before the Barbie we know and love came onto the scene. It was only when the creator or Barbie, Ruth Handler went to Switzerland for vacation and met a Bild Lilli doll that the idea of a doll which could be used to display all of the latest fashions as well as inspire young girls to pursue careers came to Handler’s mind. She worked tirelessly for the next few years with the company Mattel and

50’s

On March 9th 1959, Barbra Millcent Roberts first made her debut dressed to the 9’s and mirroring popular stars of the time such Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth and Elizabeth Taylor dressed in red lipstick, black eyeliner, gold hoops and perfectly arched brows, a strapless zebra strapped swimsuit hugging her petite frame. Hair color included either blonde or brunette tied up in the trendy Audry Hepbrun ponytail. This very 1st doll, who was known as Ponytail Barbie, retailed for $3 then, roughly $27 now and Mattel sold over 300,000 in the first year alone making what would be over $8 billion dollars in today’s economy. Ponytail Barbie was the only Barbie made in the 1950’s.

60’s

But as the 60’s rolled in and fashion changed, so did Barbie as her hair went from bubble-cut to sleek and she swapped her bathing suit for the multi-colored styles of the Mod era. Her eyes were offered in softer shades of blue, eyebrows made less severe and was offered in the hair color “Titan”, a very popular red. Jackie Kennedy, Mia Farrow and Cher are all considered major influences into the 60’s styles that were modeled on Barbie and her friends during this era. In 1967, Supermodel Twiggy was the first celebrity to join the Barbie family. Cher, Audrey Hepburn, Diana Ross and JK Rowling—to name a few—would later join the ranks of celebrities made into Barbies.

70’s

In the early 70’s Barbie embraced the prevalent culture of flowy skirts, tasseled jackets and long wavy hair but with growing tension over anti-war protest and civil rights rallies, Mattel needed a new angle and “Malibu Barbie” was born. Malibu Barbie was different in lots of ways, with an open smile, sun kissed hair and bronzed cheeks, and her coy side-eye glance was turned forwards, making her look more approachable and relaxed in a time of tension. But by 1974, Mattel was almost bankrupt and experienced the lapse in judgement that was Growing Up Skipper. Sometimes desperation makes people smart : think of Disney and the film Cinderella. But this was very, very dumb. In the end it was all worth it when Barbie won the 1975 Winter Olympics for swimming skating and skiing and then a tear later was placed in America’s time capsule, cementing her place in American Fashion history. 

80’s

Under Ronald Reagan, consumption was put at the forefront of daily life and more women were working than ever, so Barbie went to work too. Gone were her swimsuit and Maibu days and instead came the era of Dr. Barbie, Day and Night Barbie, Pilot Barbie, and so many more. Along with all these different career paths, Mattel also developed their first Black and Latina Barbie’s in the year 1980 and they became the very 1st of over 40 different international dolls released to date, all with a different culture and outfit to match. Look, the 80’s were a crazy time for fashion and Mattel really seemed to want to project and display that so this is literally just some of my favorite looks from that era. 

90’s 

Known as “The Year of the Woman”, 1992 had Barbie head her first of six Presidential campaigns and her outfits were something else. Very patriotic. However much like the 70’s Mattel went under heavy fire for repeated offences in an effort to expand their line, which regretfully interfered with the campaign. In 1997, Mattel launched the “Oreo Fun Barbie” with both Black and White dolls dressed in trendy blue, white and balck outfits and small oreo handbags, which infuriated African-American communities nationwide and the dolls were recalled. I’d want one if they weren’t super racist. And then again with “Share a Smile Becky” a blonde doll who used a pink wheelchair and was intended to bring awareness to disbaled young girls but only highlighted all the things they couldn’t do as well as constantly rip out Becky’s hair. However, unlike the 70’s, Mattel was still flying high after all this and continued to profit off of dolls such as “Totally Hair Barbie” and “Mermaid Barbie”, among others. The 90’s also bred the iconic Spice Girls collection with outfits I would literally kill to own, modeled off of Sporty, Scary, Baby, Ginger and Posh themselves. 

2000’s

The 2000’s were the era where Mattel began spitting out movies by the handful, constantly one upping the costume design and beauty of each new film and doll. And why make a whole new line of creative dolls when you can just make merch for the films you’ve already come up with. Each doll was a perfect replica of her character and was often marketed with several different outfits to play with from the movie. This was my time and I remember it fondly. Very efficient. 

Present Day

The past couple of years bred two  of the most well received and certainly most inclusive lines in Barbie history with the Fashionisita’s line including seven different skin tones, representing African-American, Asian and mixed race features, 14 different hairstyles, and the very first bendable Barbie ankle providing the option of flats and the #dolleveolves line, which is aiming to end the stigma and supposed myth that Barbie’s body is unrealistic using three new body shapes, petite, tall and curvy, which can be mixed and matched with a number of skin tones, eye colors and hairstyles, including afro and curly red hair.

Fun Facts 

Barbie was considered too much of a sex symbol, so they made her friend Midge in 1963 to tone it down and the a year later her sister Skipper too.

Ken arrived on the scene in 1961 and is named after Ruth’s son 

Barbie has had over 200 careers and therefore over 200 career outfits as well

Barbie went to the moon 4 years before Neil Armstrong did 

The “Oreo Fun Barbie” is regarded as one of the most widely sought after collectors items even though they’re definitely super racist. 

The History of Doc Martens by Vera Caldwell

The Griggs family started making work boots in England in the early 20^th century and became very prosperous over the following decades. Meanwhile, after WWII a German soldier name Dr. Klaus Maertens made himself a shoe with a specially air-cushioned sole to protect a broken foot as he recovered from his war injuries. He went into partnership with a mechanical engineer named Dr. Herbert Funk, initially marketing the shoes for older women who wanted something comfortable for gardening or other such activities. They expanded marketing to the U.K. in 1959. The Griggs family noticed the company and bought the license, marketing the boots to workers. The famous 1460 boot debuted in 1960 for £2. Countercultural figures, notably Pete Townshend, began to wear the boot in attempts to bolster their working-class image. Throughout the rest of the ‘60s and ‘70s, the boot was adopted by punk, goth, skinhead, etc. groups in the U.K., and Americans who were involved in these movements brought the style back to the U.S. The boots became so embedded in alternative cultures that differently colored laces on the boots were used to communicate different ideas and identities. This was necessary because alternative cultures included (and include) very different people. For instance, skinheads of all leanings wear Doc Martens, but yellow laces indicate anti-racism while white or red laces indicate Neo-Nazism. Blue laces indicate that the wearer killed a police officer, and purple laces indicate gay pride. Though lace code has died out more recently, there was still an outcry when Doc Martens made an advertisement featuring boots with red laces. Meanwhile, as alternative cultures became more mainstream due to the increasing popularity of post-punk in the ‘80s and grunge in the ‘90s, Doc Martens also went more mainstream. By 2002, they cost $82 (adjusted for inflation, $140—a large increase from their 1960 price). They had a dip in the early aughts, nearly going bankrupt, but survived due to a boom in sales in the 2010s. Part of their recovery from this dip involved moving their production to China, where they are continuing to produce to this day. There have been recent complaints that the shoes produced overseas are of worse quality, but the company denies that the process of production has changed with the relocation. The name-brand recognition the Doc Marten company has continues to bring them business. This is an archetypal story of an item initially marketed to the lower class becoming co-opted by the bourgeoisie after artists adopted it and made it a trend.