BMEzine.com, Not what You’d Expect

While trolling the web for great medgadget news for you, the Medgadget audience, we’re always looking for new sources of information. This can sometimes lead to URLs that sound like they’d have great content, but aren’t quite what was expected. Take bmezine.com, for instance. A “zine” devoted to biomedical engineering, great! Not quite. It’s an “e-zine” devoted to body modification…

BME stands for Body Modification Ezine. BME contains the personal experiences of thousands of people all over the planet, in photo and text form. It serves to document the activities of the body modification community in as complete a fashion as possible.

In case you’re not down with the hip slang, body modification means tattoos, piercings and scarification (as demonstrated by the cute little robot pictured that was carved into someone’s skin). Browsing their galleries [some of which are NSFW] will either blow your mind at the painstaking detail involved, or just leave you disgusted.
Given the overwhelming mainstream assumption that this scene is rife with sketchy characters, they’re working as ambassadors to the “rest of us,” as shown in 2 of their stated goals:

5. To educate the public about body modification and manipulation for the purposes of safety, history, culture, and good will.
8. To act as a media liason to encourage accurate portrayals of body modification and manipulation and to encourage positive mainstream acceptance of body modification and manipulation activities.

But of course, the disclaimer puts it all in perspective:

BME contains documentation of dangerous and/or life-threatening activities of sometimes questionable legality — BME accepts no responsibility or liability for the actions of others and urges anyone interested in this subjects to educate them completely and seek professional assistance.
Attempting to replicate any of the acts seen on these pages, including body piercing, can result in serious injury and/or death. We STRONGLY urge you to consult a professional before continuing.

On many levels, bmezine.com really isn’t that far removed from the Medgadget audience. One could argue that tattoos are one of the oldest forms of medical technology (cosmetic surgery at least). Many of the crazy implants if properly designed are no small feat of materials science work. And, if all else fails, I’m sure someone in our audience could make a living working on technologies and procedures to undo some of this most hardcore of art forms. (That’s sure to generate at least one “don’t call this art” comment).
More from bmezine.com [Note: the mainpage should be safe for work, but some galleries should obviously be avoided as NSFW]…
Flashbacks: Pierced Eyeglasses; Pierced Toothbrush