We seem to be living in the golden age of what some people consider body art. Everyone is pretty well accustomed to seeing people who have adorned their bodies with numerous tattoos, or a few non-traditional piercings, but there are always some people who like to take things up a notch or two. Some truly weird alterations have come onto the scene recently, and although we may tend to think it’s something “new,” chances are that you’ll find people who engaged in similar, or even more extreme body modification at some point in human history. We suppose everyone has their own reasons for making such racial changes to their body, and we certainly would agree that they have every right to do it. Whether you agree with this kind of behavior or not, it is interesting to many people, even if it might be considered a somewhat morbid curiosity by some.

1. Tightlacing

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This practice, which is embraced mostly by women, involves wearing extremely tight-fitting and constricting corsets over long periods of time to modify the shape of the body. The results an be quite dramatic, resulting in an extreme “hourglass” figure. The practice is not without controversy since there are sometimes concerns about what it does to the internal organs and muscle structure.