T&P Group (Patreon)

"Primarily by placing classified ads in various gay and fetish publications, Doug (1) had made contact with a couple of dozen gay men in the LA area who shared his fetish for piercing. As a means of helping get Gauntlet launched, Doug proposed that we start a social group for these men. We would get together once a month for a potluck supper. After eating and socializing anyone who was interested could get pierced with what Doug called “the laying on of hands,” his term for the moral support of the rest of the group. This gave me the opportunity to do piercings under his direction and at the same time bring in a little money from the sale of the jewelry. On occasion we’d all meet at a local restaurant and reconvene at someone’s home afterwards for the piercing event. Initially Doug proposed calling the group the Society of Saint Sebastian for the saint who was martyred by being shot through with arrows. But that name thankfully never stuck. Instead it ended up just being called the T&P Group, short for tattooing and piercing." -Jim Ward, In the Beginning there was Gauntlet. 

I spend a lot of time waxing poetic about the transition of body piercing (in the West) being a pursuit of older gay men into Leather/BDSM to it's current place in youth culture and fashion; for the most part it's just me being an old man yelling at clouds, and I'm very much someone who believes that times do, and must change, but I'd be lying if I said I missed the days when a bunch of pierced and tattooed friends got together and let it all hang out. 

These photos were likely taken at the home of Louis Rove- aka piercing fan Indy- in the early 1980s.

1. Doug Malloy, aka Richard Simonton.