Culture Club:Cases of Mutilated Body

---

Elongation of the labia tablier was recorded for southern Africa and the Caroline Islands , and artificial defloration was found among Australian Aborigines and elsewhere. Because many cases of forcible female genital alteration were recorded during the late 20th and early 21st centuries see female genital cutting , the issue became the focus of international debates about the relative value of individual rights versus cultural traditionalism.

Constriction of the arms or legs by tight bands may cause permanent enlargement of the unconstricted area. Amputation of a phalanx or whole finger , usually as a form of sacrifice or in demonstration of mourning, was common among North American Indians, Australian Aborigines, San and Khoekhoe, Nicobarese, Tongans, Fijians, and some groups in New Guinea , South America , and elsewhere.

Amputation of the toes was less common but occurred in Fijian mourning. Modification of the skin has been accomplished in a number of ways. Tattooing introduces colour into the skin through the use of needles or similar instruments. The increase in piercing among late 20th-century Westerners was accompanied by a parallel increase in tattooing. In cicatrization , or scarification, raised scars keloids are produced by incision or burning, usually in decorative patterns.

Scarification occurred primarily among darker-skinned peoples in much of Africa, among Australian Aborigines and the Maori of New Zealand , and in many Melanesian and New Guinean groups and was practiced both for aesthetic effect and to indicate status or lineage. Another form of skin modification is the introduction of objects under the skin—e. Modification of the torso focuses on the neck, trunk, and breasts.

The Padaung women of Myanmar were famous for stretching their necks—by means of coiled brass neck rings—to a length of about 15 inches 38 cm , pushing down the collarbone, compressing the rib cage, and pulling up about four thoracic vertebrae into the neck. The shape of the breasts has often been altered for aesthetic reasons by compression e.

Silicone gel implants to enlarge the breasts came into use in the United States and other societies in the second half of the 20th century. Removal of all or part of the breast was known among the legendary Amazons, female warriors of classical folklore; removal of both nipples of both breasts was performed for religious reasons by the Skoptsy; and amputation of the breasts was a punishment prescribed under the Code of Hammurabi.

The shape of the torso has also been subject to modification.

Navigation menu

Among several African peoples Efik, Ganda, Nyoro, and others , girls were secluded at puberty for several months and fattened with special diets. In some cultures , as among the Saharawi of North Africa , this tradition continued into the 21st century. Women in Middle Eastern harems were also artificially fattened for aesthetic reasons. The reverse effect, extreme thinness, was popular among the elite in Europe and its colonies from at least the 16th century onward; it was achieved by means of caloric restriction and the use of tight-fitting corsets see also dress. Corset use diminished in the 20th century, although the aesthetic emphasis on thinness continued in much of the developed world; some attempts to achieve extreme thinness were linked to potentially life-threatening illnesses such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.

Incidents of necrophilia

We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles. You can make it easier for us to review and, hopefully, publish your contribution by keeping a few points in mind.

Your contribution may be further edited by our staff, and its publication is subject to our final approval. Unfortunately, our editorial approach may not be able to accommodate all contributions.

Our editors will review what you've submitted, and if it meets our criteria, we'll add it to the article. Please note that our editors may make some formatting changes or correct spelling or grammatical errors, and may also contact you if any clarifications are needed. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. It was her boyfriend, 27 year old Martin Johnstone from New Zealand, who had got involved in a ruthless international drugs gang.

She also informed the police that the man who carried out the shooting was Andrew Maher from Preston. Johnstone had become a millionaire dealing in drugs around South East Asia hence his nickname Mr Asia. He had been killed on the orders of a fellow syndicate member Terry Sinclair, known as 'Mr Big'. Hue was safely out of the way on a holiday to Spain with Pilkington when Johnstone was murdered.

Body Image in Byzantine Culture

She was told he was on business in New York and couldn't be contacted. However, when he failed to call her on her 22nd birthday she became suspicious. It was at that point when Pilkington, who was Maher's common law wife and knew of Johnstone's fate, confessed what had happened. Andrew Maher shot dead his boss and best friend Johnstone on a lay-by north of Lancaster.

The limbs and extremities

The exact location where the shooting took place was never established but the police had built up a strong case against those involved. Maher and another man Jimmy Smith took the body back to a garage in Leyland where it was mutilated with an axe, hammer and spade. They chopped off his hands and extracted his teeth in the hope he would never be identified.

The body was then dumped in Eccleston Delph quarry. Having told the police so much, the women they were then placed in police protection and the police set about bringing the culprits to justice. The following five men were convicted for their part in Johnstone's murder at Lancaster Castle in At the time it was the most expensive trial in British legal history because of the security. All were given life sentences. Four others were found guilty of drug dealing but Karen Soich, Sinclair's girlfriend, was cleared.

Christ and the Emperor. This was in contrast to the depiction of Emperor Constantine Monomachos — C.

Monomachos was depicted as being flawless with impeccable symmetry in his physical image. This depiction of the emperor was a reflection of the permanent power of the imperial rank. It was under this high status of physical beauty that ugliness was completely deplored. Facial disfigurement was a personal catastrophe and those that chose not to hide their deformity were shunned as being shameless.

In fact, in the fictional story, Rodanthe and Dosiklis , by Prdromos, a jester is one of the characters shown to have physical deformities. He is entertaining to the children through his laughable actions. For holding such high levels of esteem for body image, Byzantine society posed mutilation as a customary judicial punishment. Some minor sentences could include something like cropping of the hair. It was surmised that the fine tresses of hair were beautiful in nature. Cropping them would thus elicit a punishment of that beauty.

However, even more aggressive forms of mutilation would be just as readily utilized. Blinding, castration, and nose slitting were devastating punishment and would be strategically utilized by even opponents vying for the imperial throne as a political tool for advancement.

Mutilation was a major manner of eliminating a political rival in Byzantine court. As mentioned earlier, the emperor was supposed to be an almost divine office whose physical image could not be blemished with a physical disfigurement. As a representative of the divine how could something so pure not be perfect in physicality? Having only been emperor for a year from — C.

E, , Justinian was usurped by the strategos of Hellas, Leontios — C.

• Rock Climbing (Outdoor Adventures)
• C IS FOR CATNIP [A LUCKY PIERRE MYSTERY]
• Israeli-Palestinian Peace Negotiations, 1999-2001: Within Reach (Israeli History, Politics and Society)
• City of Iron (The Searchers Book I)
• Una ola de terror (Vampiratas 2) (Spanish Edition)
• Emperors in the Jungle: The Hidden History of the U.S. in Panama (American Encounters/Global Interactions)
• My Suburbia