Why my belly button piercing is a way of life for me

Why her belly button piercing is more than just body jewelry for our author.

Recently, a realization struck me, the deeper meaning of which only revealed itself upon closer inspection. I was walking down the street; it was one of those precious, rare summer days in Berlin when the sun actually shone. Including, it also shone on my bare stomach, exposed by my crop top. My belly button piercing—an extravagant model with a butterfly pendant, from which a small flower dangled—sparkled in the rays of the July sun, and I felt like a million dollars. However, that day, several people pointed out to me that I would have to remove it soon—pointing at my piercing. I'm pregnant , and my butterfly has indeed been fighting for its life for several days, barely able to withstand millimeter-by-millimeter stretching of skin. But parting with it? That awakened unimagined feelings in me. I gave up alcohol, sushi, and an intact digestive system without a problem. But my piercing? The fun always stops somewhere! Can this small piece of metal, which has adorned my navel for 20 years, be a defining element of my identity?

Historically, piercings have certainly been accorded such significance. The piercing of body parts has a history of at least 5,300 years and is deeply rooted in many different cultures, such as India, various indigenous tribes of Latin America such as the Maya or Aztecs, and diverse African countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, or Tanzania. They served not only the purpose of superficial body decoration, but were also markers of important spiritual events or stages of a person's development. Furthermore, they often symbolized status and wealth. In ancient Egypt, navel piercings were said to have been part of a rite of passage for the pharaohs.

In Europe and North America, piercings of all kinds have been considered a sign of rebellion against the conservative norms of the middle and upper classes in recent history. In the 1970s and 1980s, body jewelry such as ear, nose, and lip piercings were primarily prevalent in subcultures – for example, among the LGBTQIA+ community, where piercings of the right ear or the nasal septum, known as the septum, once served as a means of identification. Piercings also served as a statement in the punk movement, a distinguishing feature intended to suggest both group affiliation and separation from the mainstream. But today, piercings in this country have lost many of their rebellious connotations and are largely destigmatized even in more formal contexts – at least in big cities and outside the "conservative" job market and the long-established Hamburg law firm.

The belly button piercing has thrilled the millennial generation like no other body jewelry trend. In the 2000s and 2010s, the time when millennials were in their teens or their wild 20s, it experienced its absolute peak in popularity, having already gained momentum in the 90s. According to a study from 2008, 33% of all piercings in Great Britain at that time were belly button piercings. There are no concrete figures for Germany, but the situation is likely similar there. With the renaissance of the Y2K aesthetic of those years, the belly button piercing has logically returned to the spotlight of pop culture. Then as now, this is of course also due to famous role models. While Britney Spears , Beyoncé and Christina Aguilera made the belly ring popular in the 2000s, today it is singers such as Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish and Addison Rae. And even luxury fashion houses are currently paying homage to the accessory again: For the premiere of “Saltburn” in November 2023, Schiaparelli dressed Margot Robbie in a gown that gave the impression of a sewn-in navel piercing.

Why navel piercings increase the well-being of their wearers – and represent a new attitude to life

The US National Institute of Health also felt that this pop-cultural jewelry icon deserved closer scrutiny. In a 2022 study titled "Body Image and Self-Perception in Women with Navel Piercings," it investigated the extent to which navel piercings, in particular, influence the body image and self-perception processes of their wearers. The hypothesis: the "beautification" of the abdominal region, which women often perceive as negative, increases their well-being. According to the study, body image, i.e., the conscious mental representation of our own body, is not a one-dimensional experience but consists of several facets: cognitive (what we think about our body), affective (what we feel about our body), perceptual (how we perceive our body), and behavioral (what behaviors we exhibit when we are dissatisfied or satisfied with our body). Our body image therefore plays a significant role in our emotional and psychological self-perception. And the hypothesis was indeed confirmed in the course of the study. Women with navel piercings perceived them as a permanent, beautifying part of themselves and felt less attractive without them. The piercing increased their sense of well-being.

And here we penetrate the deeper layers of the skin – metaphorically speaking. We don't just adorn our bodies with rhinestones and stainless steel, which we eventually perceive as an inseparable part of ourselves. Even in times of depoliticized piercings, the navel piercing still has the potential to create a unifying sense of community. It's surrounded by a touch of youthfulness and the implied carefreeness that its famous wearers, like Britney and the rest, significantly embodied back then. A playful , adorned version of the "coming of age" feeling (see rite of passage in ancient Egypt!) that didn't feel too real, too threatening, too adult, unlike the nipple piercings of X-Tina (as Christina Aguilera called herself after her sexual emancipation from her teen image) or even the genital piercing named after her. No, no, the belly button piercing is sweet, playful, and flirtatious, and whoever wears it also tells a little about their history and their own pop cultural influences. Look: That was my socialization! Girl power, Britney, the Discman, and MTV, 90s baby forever!

Its emotional symbolism is why I'm so reluctant to give up my piercing, and why other women my age are only now getting them. In a way, it's an embrace of our growing up, a time that, in our fondest memories, doesn't feel nearly as long ago as it actually is. A small surgical steel anchor to our youth, one that we don't want to completely let go of even in our mid-30s. A clinging to an attitude to life, a memory of a better world, where everything was a little less complicated, less serious, and the sun shone for more than three days in July, conjuring up such beautiful light effects on the zirconia jewelry.

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