The corporate transformations in adolescence through tattoos, piercings and extensions

Abstract

Tattoos, piercings and tapers have become common among teenagers in contemporary times. Although these forms of body modification have been historically related to exotic cultures and, more recently, to marginalized groups, these body transformations have acquired a new social status. Beyond the aesthetic matter, it is necessary to problematize these practices and what they reveal of modern adolescence. The aim of this article is to discuss body transformations in adolescence from the perspective of the psychoanalysis of Freud and Lacan. It is considered that such transformations can act as a strategy to deal with the changes in the body resulting from puberty and to constitute a body that can circulate socially, whilst it differentiates the self from the other.