Toe Turkey (Patreon)

When it comes to explaining the gamut of body modification procedures with non-modified folk, nothing quite raises an eyebrow like the idea of voluntary amputation. A recent conversation about with a new friend had me internalizing my role, particularly via BME/Extreme, in removing much necessary context from the procedure. 

When Shannon and I first discussed the galleries on BME/Extreme, voluntary amputation was in the first round of subsections, but we were 22 and 23 at a time, and were more interested in the documentation than the context. 

Pre-extreme and Modcon, most of the people I'd met who were interested in self digit/limb removal had a fetish, almost exclusively sexual, for losing a limb, usually a very specific one. 

This was, of course, usually unattainable so they'd remove a small digit to experience the loss and have a permanent fetish (in the tangible sense) that would hold off the thoughts of doing something riskier like a leg. 

Devoid of context, and with the subculture growing around body modification trending younger and younger, extremity became currency.  I remember the first person who told me they were considering getting a 'yakuza' - a term they'd co-opted for finger amputation from the Japanese Yakuza practice of Yubitsume - finger shortening as atonement among the mafia class. 

This is all nebulous at the moment; something I've been thinking a lot about as I move into contextualizer phase of my archival and documentation; something Im thinking about writing more about in detail- unintended consequences and whatnot- and has almost nothing to do with this photo of Roger's "foot turkey" which was gifted to me in 1997. 

Roger is the eccentric 'self sculptor' known alternately as Toecutter, Subtracting, Stonehenge, and Chopoff who was documented removing a finger by BME's Shannon Larratt in the early days of the website. We streamed the doc during our Pandemic video meetups a few years back; it's... something. 

When I'd meet/interview amputees, I'd usually request a hand/foot turkey as a memento; Roger has since removed more small digits.