Ill. Lawmakers Take on 'Eyeball Jewelry'

Ill. Lawmakers Take on 'Eyeball Jewelry'
By MARY TALLON, Associated Press Writer

Friday, March 4, 2005

(03-04) 17:16 PST Springfield, Ill. (AP) --


Some Illinois lawmakers want to make sure the twinkle in your eye doesn't come from jewelry.


Repulsed by a body modification offered at a Dutch institute — where tiny metal hearts and half-moons are surgically embedded in the whites of the eye — one lawmaker has proposed banning the practice in Illinois.


A House committee Thursday approved legislation that would make it a felony to implant jewelry in someone's eye.


"I don't think anybody should be messing with the eyeball," Democratic Rep. Kevin Joyce said Friday.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/03/04/national/a171611S81.DTL


First of all, YUCK!
Secondly, isn't this going to far by making this against the law?

...to legislate. Besides, we hope that time knocks loose bad ideas. I still have a few piercings, but gone is the tongue work and some of the stuff that seemed to be perpetually problematic...

greater than, say body piercing, than I'm pretty sure that making the practice illegal would be a violation of free expression.

And I agree - yuck.

but they should put a lot of restrictions on it, and make very specific requirements for the people who do this. Banning it is the wrong thing to do.

Yes, its too far to make it against the law without some reason other than they just don' tlike it.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!


Oh, I forgot. This isn't a free country any more.

:(

the past.

P.S. Your body only belongs to you if it is not gay, bisexual, female, or pregnant.

on other nations, yet we have the warmongers and thier tools busy chippig away at freedom here.

:mad:

unless they're US.

Remember that in the United States, you can go to prison for life for inhaling smoke of a burning herb. Your body is decidedly not your own.

Is the procedure safe, sanitary, sterile? Can it be made so? If the answers are yes, then it's a matter of personal choice--not mine, but lots of people make lots of choices that I wouldn't make, and if I don't like them I can just avert my eyes like anyone else.

It's just another form of keeping up with the Joneses, I guess. Once you've covered all body parts with tattoos and pierced navels, noses, tongues, ears, eyebrows, lips, nipples, and whatever I've left out, the whites of the eye must look like a blank piece of paper.

There's going to be a whole generation of people with wrinkles, sags, and regrets over the impulsiveness of their youth. But it's their choice. They can't say they weren't warned!

it's medically safe and done in a doctor's office.

De gustibus non est disputandum--there's no point arguing over matters of taste.

"The procedure involves making a tiny slice in the membrane covering the eye and slipping in a small, flat piece of metal. The result is a shiny shape in the white of the eye. The procedure is performed under local anesthetic.


Dr. Janak Koirala, assistant professor of medicine at Southern Illinois University, said he is concerned about the possibility of infection or other damage — risks that would last as long as the person kept the jewelry in their eye"

IMHO, anyone who takes a chance with their eyes, and their eyesight, is being very foolish. No one knows long term what the effects of such a procedure would be.

Also, I'm assuming that children and young adults would be the primary market for this procedure. Even if it's safe, they risk discrimination from potential employers and rejection from anyone who might not think having shiny metallic things in their eyeballs is a cool thing. Add to this the usual arguments against tattoos (mostly that a few years down the line, many people either wish they hadn't indulged or spend thousands of dollars undergoing painful laser surgery to remove them), and it looks like a bad deal.

I don't have any kids, but I'd like to think that I could cut a deal with them to wait till they're 18 and, if they feel the same way about it, then I'd either foot the bill or pitch in for it. It's really a lose-lose situation for parents, who are caught in the middle no matter what their decision or opinion.

Thanks for your post.

Kadie,
This is a weird one alright, and illustrative of the dilemma of these modern times we live in... should we just let America run wild, with scissors? Having worn glasses most of my life, and worked in a lot of factories too as a younger lad, where addtl eyewear was often mandatory, for excellent reasons, I've experienced or witnessed enough close calls to appreciate the whole concept of Reasonable Eyeball Protection in a perhaps special light... and I'm betting there are a whole lot of snarlin' one-eyed pirates out there who'd probably agree with this view, limited though it may be by its very nature...
On the other hand, if people really DO want to run with scissors, and they're adults, legal ones anyway, perhaps we SHOULD let 'em hurt themselves, even openly encourage it... Darwin certainly wouldn't have seen a problem here. And in this Country of the Blind, ruled by a mad one-eyed puppet king, does it really matter?
Still, didn't some sort of medical board used to rule on stuff like this, issue cautions or bans or condemnations, so that something like this couldn't become too popular TOO fast?
I do think considered high-risk behavior (mountain-climbing, f'rinstance, or at a further stretch, seat belt laws) should ultimately come down to individual choice; and making this eyeball thing a felony seems disproportionate indeed (though, at least for once, govt intentions here seem pure as driven snow.)
But it also sounds like a particular area of medicinal science any reasonable person would agree should be studied further.
I guess I'll stick with the old tried and true forms of ritual scarrification for now! No one ever went blind from a tattoo.
Unless they got it directly on their eyeball.
BLECCHH! That's the worst one yet.
Guess I'll leave on a high note.
D

I have an eye injury to my left eye. My cornea is damaged from playing peek-a-boo with my little girl. It wasn't intentional of course, she was almost two years old and caught my eye trying to pry open my hands over my face. But messing with your eyes can have loooonnnnggg lasting effects if it doesn't go right. Is that up to each person to decide? Of course, but they should know the risks. I can never wear contacts, have surgery to correct my vision, and I now wear glasses 24/7. Eyes aren't something to mess with.

PS: I'm new to the boards, and I hope this is not out of line... this thread is indeed on a serious subject, but possesses a certain silliness as well, somehow; and it seems to me we could all use a laugh now and again...
Anyway, though I know it's a BIT off-topic, I just thought I'd invite interested parties to see a wee fun lil' graphic of

Dick Cheney's Head Exploding!
at
http://www.presidentevilonline.com/sn_explosion.html
Hope you enjoy, and a great weekend to all!

D X Stone
dxs@presidentevilonline.com
"Hey, I LOVE horror movies, man... I just don't want to live in one."

:toast:

I enjoyed Cheney's exploding head very much, thank yoou!

Gosh, thank you very much, and you're very welcome as well...
Love your name, by the way...
D

I especially like The Scary News picture of Bushit!

Haven't seen that before. Found the bit about the evil old people and AARP......

If people want to stick things in their eyeballs why not let them, just don't provide free seeing eye dogs to them when their eyeballs cease working.

hey, if earrings and nose rings and tongue studs and belly button jewelry is okay, who needs to draw a line? the human body is resilient. there are far far worse things that people can do to their bodies. we wear contact lenses... they're putrid plastic pools of bacteria... what's wrong with a pure noble metal in the white of your eye? if doctors think it's safe, i say go for it.

Contact lenses, you see... often a pain in the butt (gas permeable -- never could get used to soft lenses). I'm sure when contacts were first introduced, people went batshit crazy: "I don't think anybody should be messing with the eyeball!"

Eye decos are not my cup of tea whatsoever -- my opinion is that it looks bizarre -- but if it melts your butter, it's your business.

So F-off Joyce!

All I can think of is that must be a real bitch to keep clean. And also, uwwww. Eyeballs! Now, I wear contacts but only because my eyesight is so bad that they actually help my sight (astigmatism compounded with nearsightedness and being over 40 lack of the ability to focus properly-my theory is that my arms aren't long enough <g>). But, eyeballs! I don't even like wearing mascara.

Having freaked out enough, if someone wants to do this to their body, well <shrug>, go for it. It may freak me out, but then tattoos bother me (long story having to do with my 92 year old grandfather and his tattoo). But again, it's not MY body. So I have no right to say anything. I thought Republicans were against government interference w/people's rights? Maybe I have that wrong.

am legally blind without glasses. I used to wear contacs and then got a really bad corneal abrasion/ bad infection from getting a piece of debris in my eye and almost got near losing an eye. Ever since then, totally forget vanity. I wear glasses. No makeup near the eyes. I would never get lasix. My eyes are too valuable to mess with. SO when you purposely get surgery to insert a useless decorative object, duh.

But, it's their bodies, their eyes, their money, blah, blah, blah.

good people with weird ideas sometimes, but who could be talked with, enjoyed and even invited to dinner.

This was in the days before they had the little Bush who thinks he is the "Burning Bush on the Mount"

I feel sure that these Republicans are still out there somewhere, they are just afraid...very afraid...to speak.

but I think if people want to mutilate themselves and possibly risk damage to their eyes, that's their business.

I find that a bit gross too

understand why people are doing this. And it has become so common. My niece has about 3 piercings over one eyebrow, about 5 or more on each ear, one on her lip, a tattoo on her shoulder and I look at her and want to say what in hell are you doing to yourself. I think she will regret this in a few years.

If the ears are pierced once in the usual earlobe spot it doesn't bother me. I don't understand the tongue piercing routine at all especially when the piercees sort of lisp because of it. Why does anyone want to draw attention to their tongue again? When I see the kids with all these piercings and tattoos, I also think they could have spent that on charity or done something else worthwhile with the money. I just don't get it.

As you can probably tell from reading this, I have no piercings of any kind, no tattoos, etc.

PS I also don't agree with parents who ear-pierce their little kids...let the kids have the choice when they grow up. I hope this fad wears itself out.

But again, if people want to do this to themselves, it's their bodies.

I've never understood why so many women feel the need to poke holes in their ears and decorate themselves like Christmas trees.

going to slug me. Thanks Skittles.

What do you make of it that people are doing this to themselves. My feeling on it is if someone offered a thousand bucks to put a little tattoo on me in an obscure place , I would say no way. I have read that people are trying to make themselves unique but we already are all unique. To draw attention?

none at all

sometimes get LOTS of piercings and tattooes b/c it triggers endorphins they've come to appreciate the effects of. There's a whole lot of other reasons for getting these, too, tho. My reason: seemed like it'd be sorta fun. It was.

For one, ornamental surgery is dangerous. Any sane society would want to regulate eye implants for the protection of its citizens from charlatans and hacks.

Secondly, we hardly need the liability and insurance nightmares that can result from people losing vision. Our courts are bogged down, and my insurance rates are high enough, thank you.

So, don't ban. Regulate. Regulate the hell out of it.

I'm all for letting people do whatever they want by and to themselves. But when you bring commerce into the equation, it's a little more complicated than saying "my body blah blah blah."

I can barely afford my insurance premiums as is, and I do not want to subsidize someone'e emergency eye surgery when the thing dislodges and damages their eye. I believe smokers have to pay higer premiums than non-smokers so why not raise rates on other types of risk takers as well.

BTW, I have had eye surgery (detached retina) and I cannot imagine anyone going for eye surgery on a healthy eye. I was scared shitless.

Perhaps it needs to be regulated, because it IS somewhat surgical in nature, but to out-and-out BAN it because some Grocery Store owner who admires Tom Delay thinks it doesn't fit HIS narrow POV of what beauty is...

I am really beginning to question just WHY us Midwesterners think that just because some middle-aged white guy owns the biggest grocery store, or car dealership, or farm in the county that makes him an absolute wizard in the smithing of Law down to the Statehouse....

Some people are happy modifying thier looks, Would you prohibit facelifts ,coloring hair and tummy tucks?
Thast too is body modification,just more"mainstream".

I myself are in process of becoming a cat person. Covering my body with feline markings in rainbows,whisker pierces and fanged teeth.I do this because *I like* it.*I *like the way I look.It's to me,beauty.And it's my body,my eyes,I don't regeret it.Age happens I'm 39 So?
BFD I'm not doing this for *other people*.

Ultimately when you die it's you all alone and frankly if you do not do what makes you happy in life because other people go"eeww" than you lived a lie and you lived for them and thier judgements..

I refuse to live a lie and I don't care what anyone says..I like what I like and the world can kiss my striped ass,if they dare to try to make me give up what makes me feel joy in my own heart and makes *me* feel beautiful..I am who counts most when it comes to MY own body.

I just turned 49 and I have ONE tatoo and regular ear piercing (one on each ear) along with two additional ear piercings on just one ear (one above the bottom one and one up where the ear curves). Also, I had my nose pierced and LOVED it, but my nose is funky in shape (too thick I'm told) to wear the jewelry well and got upset when I tried to replace the jewelry when I left it out for 2 hours the guy at the tatoo shop said he would have to repierce it because it had already grown up!! Said NOWAY I'm done if it only takes 2 hours to group up after 3 months of being pierced... :+

I'm doing a research paper for school that covers all of the latest and it's about the evolution of the human. Something along the lines of how we were all group/clan-minded in the beginning and have slowly evolved to become more and more independent. I believe in the end (and soon) we will see the ultimate grouping because of spirituality and the betterment of all things sacred while we retain our wonderful identity.

I just find this fascinating....all of what people are doing to experiment and be themselves. YES! We are each unique without needing any adornment or piercing, but I believe many find out more about themselves during these processes and MANY are spiritual journies.

I am not brave enough at this point in my life to take these journies, but I do so enjoy looking at what others choose to do and listen to their stories. However, I've said before, IF I was young I truly believe I WOULD be a part of this movement.

My hats off to those who buck the walls of society who tell you that it is not normal, it isn't right, you are wierd/strange... those who have the ability to tell us to all F...off because it is YOUR body and YOUR right!! I can understand why they do NOT want to belong to a part of today's society.

Hopefully, they will be our saving grace and help us to find our way back to Mother Earth and our origins and our TRUE spirituality!!

:loveya: :grouphug:

You wanna get surgically modified to go as far as to look like the Warthog in "The Lion King",or Lion-Oh from "Thundercats", go for it. If it makes me uncomfortable, I can always look away, right?

What I don't support, and maybe I did NOT make that plain enough in my first post, are laws that prohibit such things based on ONE person's esthetic likes and dislikes.

Regulation would help to ensure that your procedures would be carried out in manner that would protect you from infection and other problems. Prohibition based on some Legislator getting a phone call about "This horrible thing I read about in Dr. Dobson's magazine" is just plain wrong.

Good luck with your transformation. May it bring you much joy. :-)

in Illinois. This seems really critical.

I hear cosmetic trepanation is a big thing someplace--let's all get HOLES drilled in our heads to go with the eye charms. While we are at it, why don't we be sure and practice some REAL self mutilation--maybe some "cosmetic" castrations or clitorectomies...

I am amazed that they think they need to make LAWS about this kind of shit. IMO, this is yet another example of Darwin in action.


Laura

Without medical knowledge and training how is this politician able to make a medical decision like this. same as outlawing abortion IMHO.Both are medical procedures and need to be applied or disallowed by medical professionals not politicians.

What a really f*cked up world we live in.

If someone wants to potential screw up their eyesight, I say...let them.

people do things you wouln't do,or things you dson't understand.
The sessence of freedom is whoever you are you can be un-understandable to the"mainstream" and do things others would not do because you can.
The Fundies hate and seek to dominate all things they don't understand.
The fundies want control of culture and spirituality above all else.