From the Archive:
Okay, I've found another book that mentions the "bosom ring" - it says that Victorian English women would go to France to get their nipples pierced.
This book is from the same era (1970s) as the other book that referenced Victorian nipple-piercing. It does not contain any direct quote from a first-hand source, but it does footnote where this bit of info came from:
a GERMAN text from 1912.
And even that is not a primary source - it is referencing ANOTHER GERMAN article.
So I have yet to find a primary source document!
Wouldn't it be funny - since this seems to stem from a German article about English and French women - if this were all a bit of pre-war propaganda on the part of the German press?
Did you make any more progress on this research? I have a blog at http://www.gibsonglamor.blogspot.com and I had been thinking of writing up an article about the Victorian nipple piercing fad as well... so far this is the only bit of serious research into the matter anyone seems to have done!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work!
Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't done any more research on this yet. I'd be interested to see what you turn up! It's such a fascinating subject, yet so little serious research has been done.
http://gibsonglamor.blogspot.com/2013/11/did-victorian-women-wear-nipple-rings.html
ReplyDeleteMy latest research... I think I might have found the same sources you did, but was able to trace them and find more info about them. It looks like the initial source for it all is a German porn novel about naughty English schoolgirls, albeit presented in common Victorian style as being "letters" from actual people (perhaps causing the confusion in Dr. Bloch believing it was true stories? Don't forget, Fanny Hill was portraying itself as a bunch of letters from a "woman of pleasure" as well.)
Hi, I am a content writes who writes about body jewelry and piercing and I think that you might have heard stories about nipple piercings are the most sensitive organ in the human body, and nipple piercing rings have been seen in crowds since time immemorial. They are usually denoted as sex symbols and are said to increase a partner's sexual gratification level.
ReplyDelete