Stigmata
Through visceral encounters with women who practice unusual forms of body modification such as tattooing, cutting, piercing, and branding, this videotape explores concepts of beauty, self-determination, and the outer limits of female sexuality. The women featured in this documentary include Raelyn Gallina, a professional piercer and jeweler; tattoo artists Cynthia Witkin, Deborah Valentine, and Lamar Van Dyke; Kathy Acker, writer and tattoo collector; and Dianne Evans, a longtime practitioner of corseting. Although they range from wives and mothers to radical S/M lesbians, these women share a desire and determination to use their own flesh as a tool for personal discovery. Rejecting both the antiquated ideals of feminine prudishness and modesty and the more recent dogma of conservative, anti-sex feminism, these women dare to investigate their own unique ideas of pleasure, beauty, and identity.
Description source: publicity materials
