Yesterday, en route to the MFN office, I witnessed a young child no more than 3 years old wearing large, chunky gold hoop earrings, hoops that I myself a blatent lover of tacky bling, would not have dared to wear. I’m not talking dainty little clip on earrings, I’m talking about a mammoth pair of heavy gold hoops. I felt incensed that the parents of this child had thrust these monstrosities upon her, and being that young, it was evident she wasn’t even able to clip them through her tiny earlobes.

It was also clear that the child was of an age where personal opinion, opinion not only about the size and shape of the offending items, but the actual act of having her ears pierced, was not a factor. This provokes the question; do parents have the right to modify a child’s appearance for cosmetic reasons?

Body modification is a fickle subject; I was only the tender age of 6 when I had my ears pierced, and this was only after badgering my parents for many months. Looking back I think it was a very young age to have a gun pierce and embed metallic studs into my ears, but it was essentially my body and my decision.

In England and Wales there is currently no statutory age limit for cosmetic piercing, the law only requires a parent or guardian present. But is this fair? Before seeing the infant sporting such oversized accessories, I had never really questioned parents’ rights to modify their children’s bodies. You see babies with tiny stud earrings, ok so they don’t evoke such public outcry as the case I have just stated, but children who are in their infancy are, let’s face it, unable to consent because they lack the ability to rationally form opinion. This leads me to question parent’s motives; why subject your child to a procedure which will undoubtedly cause them harm? Yes it will only be temporary but body modification procedures such as ear piercing don’t have health benefits, we’re not talking vaccine injections, it’s purely cosmetic.

I think that the root of my anguish is that there are some people out there who are so narcissistic even the smallest procedure will in their mind ‘enhance’ their child’s appearance. A child enters the world in the most natural, beautiful form and for someone to think they are enhancing their appearance by stapling jewellery to them is ludicrous. Of course as you grow older body modification is appealing, for many it becomes a form of self expression. Whether a person wants to adorn themself in piercing’s or tatoo’s or both, it all comes down to personal choice.

However, when there is no age restrictions a child has the choice taken away from them and it is left entirely in the hands of their parents. With such relaxed legislation, unfortunately many precious little ears will not remain intact for long.