Nose piercing .......

Con 2010
By Con 2010

RALEIGH, N.C. – A soft-spoken 14-year-old's nose piercing has landed her a suspension from school and forced her into the middle of a fight over her First Amendment right to exercise her religion.

Ariana Iacono says she just wants to be a normal teenager at Clayton High School, about 15 miles southeast of Raleigh. She has been suspended since last week because her nose ring violates the Johnston County school system's dress code.

"I think it's kind of stupid for them to kick me out of school for a nose piercing," she said. "It's in the First Amendment for me to have freedom of religion."

By FlyingAce• 17 Sep 2010 22:11
FlyingAce

The chocolate boy is back.... ;)

By snessy• 17 Sep 2010 22:09
snessy

LOL, I don't think it will suit you edifis ;-)

Adey, I'm sure alot of men will agree with you :-)

By edifis• 17 Sep 2010 22:05
edifis

What about a piercing for a belly button?

By anonymous• 17 Sep 2010 20:57
anonymous

adey, i can still here you clearly...lol

By adey• 17 Sep 2010 20:45
adey

I have a bit of a thing for women with pierced tongues!

:O

By pennie• 17 Sep 2010 20:43
pennie

Rishi...I had my ears done 'cos i like the choice of earrings,and clip on ones HURT!!!!

Simple as that!

By anonymous• 17 Sep 2010 20:38
anonymous

It was my heart that was pierced... with cupid's wicked arrow.... the pain was unbearable :(

By anonymous• 17 Sep 2010 20:34
anonymous

I too got my body part pierced.... :( strangely that too was when I was around 10

Its quite a painful experience I must say :(

By snessy• 17 Sep 2010 20:28
snessy

Girls, you're right. I don't remember it being painful either, I had both my ears done three times and my nose done - that's 7 piercings all together and I don't remember it hurting that bad.

Rishi, you're implying us women will go through lots of pain to look beautiful, unless you're willing to go for surgery it's really not that painful. Also, when I had my piercings done, I wasn't thinking they will make me look beautiful, I just liked them on others.

By anonymous• 17 Sep 2010 20:24
anonymous

pennie, why did you want your ears pierced...there must be a reason for that.

and you did your belly button as you wanted to be desirable to your hubby physically..i guess

i am just trying to undersatand if there is any other underlaying reason to go for piercings.

By anonymous• 17 Sep 2010 20:20
anonymous

ok snessy, i understand, peer pressure is an internal feeling and a desire to compete with others of the same age...as to how pretty or desirable one can be.

so, is it not again pointing towards same objective??

By pennie• 17 Sep 2010 20:18
pennie

Rishi...I had my ears done 'cos I wanted them done,but I had my belly button 'cos my husband likes them....he didn't ask me to....I surprised him! It honestly didn't hurt either,much to my surprise!

By Khawaga• 17 Sep 2010 20:14
Khawaga

The pain is temporary and not all that bad. Getting a tattoo is way worse. Besides, you can change your earrings, nose ring, tongue ring, etc. all the time to suit your mood.

By snessy• 17 Sep 2010 20:12
snessy

Peer pressure

By anonymous• 17 Sep 2010 20:11
anonymous

ok snessy, tell me a good reason why women go for body piercing by themselves knowing well that its going to be painful....leave the tradition or religion thing..

By snessy• 17 Sep 2010 20:02
snessy

Hhhmmm Rishi, I'm not sure I totally agree with you there...

By anonymous• 17 Sep 2010 19:46
anonymous

yeah snessy, women dont leave any stone unturned in their endeavor to look beautiful..:)

By pennie• 17 Sep 2010 19:40
pennie

I have my belly button pierced! But the thought of having my nose done makes me cringe!!! Nothing against them at all tho'! ;-)

By FathimaH• 17 Sep 2010 19:30
FathimaH

Bet your mom must look lovely though! No pain no gain, right?Give her my salaams.

By snessy• 17 Sep 2010 19:28
snessy

Thanks Khawaga :-)

Rishi...if women can give birth, I'm sure getting a piercing is a doddle.

By FathimaH• 17 Sep 2010 19:19
FathimaH

but sadly for me my husband finds em ugly and pleads me not to ever do it =(

By nowfelzz• 17 Sep 2010 19:13
nowfelzz

ohh man what is that? lip pierced? lol she has an ipod too

By FathimaH• 17 Sep 2010 18:46
FathimaH

I love nose piercings..so beautiful!

By FathimaH• 17 Sep 2010 18:44
FathimaH

Not your average girl next door for sure!

By edifis• 17 Sep 2010 18:34
edifis

Fatima talking about real toughies....have a look at these Mursi and Surma women!

By anonymous• 17 Sep 2010 18:31
anonymous

pierced before her wedding

By anonymous• 17 Sep 2010 18:20
anonymous

fathima, i agree, women are toughies..

btw, lets call this an ideology not a religion...

lol. edifis, that was a good pun..

By FathimaH• 17 Sep 2010 18:17
FathimaH

No they don't but we women are real toughies! Actually back home we get our ears pierced as infants..just a few days after we are born! Nothing to do with religion though just cultural.So there's actually a religion that makes piercings mandatory? wow!

By edifis• 17 Sep 2010 18:13
edifis

These girls are like Merry Pierce!

By anonymous• 17 Sep 2010 18:07
anonymous

a cold shiver runs down my spine to think how you girls happily go for body piercings...dont they use local anesthesia while piercing?

By anonymous• 17 Sep 2010 18:05
anonymous

Nose piercing is derived from Hebrew word 'Shanf'.

Mogul emperors brought the tradition of nose piercing in India in the 16th century. Since then many Indian females are seen with their nose pierced. Traditionally in some states, the size of the nose ring in the nose of lady of the house connotes the financial power and status of her family in the society.

http://www.jewelinfo4u.com/Nose_Piercing.aspx

By Khawaga• 17 Sep 2010 18:04
Khawaga

Don't worry, snessy. Your nose piercing is sexy!

By snessy• 17 Sep 2010 17:53
snessy

Ears are different, I got mine at around 10 too, but I think any other body piercings shouldn't be allowed before the age of 16. Hypocrite, I know :-)

By Khawaga• 17 Sep 2010 17:49
Khawaga

snessy: even ear piercings? I got my ears done at around 10, I think...

By snessy• 17 Sep 2010 17:47
Rating: 3/5
snessy

Personally, I don't think any piercings should be allowed in school. In the UK, you can get a piercing under the age of 16 if accompanied by a parent, but I still think it's way too young. I remember sneaking out at 16 to get my nose pierced, I managed to hide it from my parents for 2 whole days and then they obviously went went ballistic at me...

By FlyingAce• 17 Sep 2010 17:29
FlyingAce

edifis: girls look Bootiful in it.... ;)

By adey• 17 Sep 2010 17:27
Rating: 5/5
adey

The choices are that one has to accept all'religiouis' beliefs or none

RALEIGH, N.C. – A soft-spoken 14-year-old's nose piercing has landed her a suspension from school and forced her into the middle of a fight over her First Amendment right to exercise her religion.

Ariana Iacono says she just wants to be a normal teenager at Clayton High School, about 15 miles southeast of Raleigh. She has been suspended since last week because her nose ring violates the Johnston County school system's dress code.

"I think it's kind of stupid for them to kick me out of school for a nose piercing," she said. "It's in the First Amendment for me to have freedom of religion."

Iacono and her mother, Nikki, belong to the Church of Body Modification, a small group unfamiliar to rural North Carolina, but one with a clergy, a statement of beliefs and a formal process for accepting new members.

It's enough to draw the interest of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has contacted school officials with concerns that the rights of the Iaconos are being violated by the suspension.

The Iaconos say the school system is ignoring its own dress code policy, which allows exemptions on religious grounds. The effect, Nikki Iacono, 32, says, is that Johnston County school officials are setting themselves up as judges of what constitutes a "real" religion.

"We pretty much flat-out asked them, what guidelines are you following? What do you need to establish a sincere religious belief?," she said. "We were told that if we were Hindu, or she were Muslim, it would be different."

On Tuesday, after her first suspension ended, Ariana went back to school with her mother — and her nose ring. She was suspended again, this time for five days. If she comes back to school on Sept. 21 with the nose stud, she'll face a 10-day suspension or referral to "alternative schooling," Nikki Iacono said.

A Johnston County schools spokeswoman declined to comment on the situation, saying it's against the law to publicly discuss a particular student's disciplinary matters.

Richard Ivey, the Iaconos' Raleigh-based minister in the church, believes it's a case of officials dismissing something unfamiliar.

"They're basically saying, because they don't agree and because they choose not to respect our beliefs, that it can't be a sincerely held religious belief," he said.

Ivey describes the church as a non-theistic faith that draws people who see tattoos, piercings and other physical alterations as ways of experiencing the divine.

"We don't worship the god of body modification or anything like that," he said. "Our spirituality comes from what we choose to do ourselves. Through body modification, we can change how we feel about ourselves and how we feel about the world."

The church claims roughly 3,500 members nationwide, having started about two years ago, after adopting the name of a similar group that had been dormant for several years.

Sally Gordon, a professor who focuses on Constitutional law and religious issues at the University of Pennsylvania, said schools have the right to issue neutral rules on dress as long as there's a good reason for it and it does not target a specific religion. But she said the school district could may run into a problem with its religious exemption.

The Johnston County schools dress code policy prohibits several types of facial jewelry but does allow officials to make accommodations for sincerely held religious beliefs.

"One of the remarkable things about religious freedom is that people have all kinds of beliefs that look to others as bizarre but make internal sense to them," Gordon said. "We really can only claim to be a country that respects religious liberty if we respect the variety of beliefs that exist in the country — both new and old."

The Iaconos have contacted the North Carolina ACLU chapter for help, and legal director Katy Parker says the school is on shaky ground.

"We do think she has a right to wear her nose ring," Parker said.

Students' free expression rights are limited at schools, but Parker believes a legal category known as a "hybrid right" overrules those curbs. Essentially, the Iaconos are arguing that Ariana's right to free expression and Nikki's right to raise her daughter as she wishes are being abridged.

In 1999, a federal court in North Carolina ruled that the Halifax County school system had violated such hybrid rights of Catherine Hicks and her great-grandson by forcing the boy to wear a school uniform.

Hicks' religious beliefs held that uniformity is linked to the anti-Christ, a belief Halifax schools rejected. But the court ruled in her favor, and ordered the school system to include a religious exemption in its dress code policy.

A similar situation to the Iaconos' went to the courts in 2002, when a woman was fired from her job at a Costco store over her eyebrow ring. The woman was also a member of the Church of Body Modification, but the courts eventually ruled that her religious beliefs did not require her to always wear her jewelry.

The ACLU, like the Iaconos and their minister, hope their issue can be resolved without going to court. In the meantime, Nikki and Ariana pick up schoolwork for her to do at home while her peers sit in class.

"I hope they're going to stop suspending me and clear some of these absences from my record," Ariana said. "I want to get into a good college."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_rel_piercing_church

By edifis• 17 Sep 2010 17:26
edifis

I love girls with nose piercing.

By FlyingAce• 17 Sep 2010 17:21
FlyingAce

sneesy: totally agree with you.... :)

By Khawaga• 17 Sep 2010 17:19
Khawaga

She claims to be a member of the "Church of Body Modification."

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpps/news/weird/student-tries-religion-defense-to-keep-nose-ring-dpgonc-20100916-gc_9678110

By anonymous• 17 Sep 2010 16:56
anonymous

strange

By anonymous• 17 Sep 2010 16:53
Rating: 4/5
anonymous

...with any known religion. she's just looking for a loophole in the constitution to keep her stupid nose ring. She's a stupid, silly teenager and her parents aren't very proud of her actions.....at least they shouldn't be. If a school has a "dress code" that includes piercings, then she should adhere to it. If it doesn't include piercings, they shouldn't bother her. If she's allowed to go against a written dress code, what does she learn? The rules don't apply to her. I'm tired of this type of attitude with kids these days.

By gudone• 17 Sep 2010 16:20
gudone

wat has it to do wit religion??

By anonymous• 17 Sep 2010 15:27
anonymous

i would like to know the religion where 'nose piercing' is mandatory..

By snessy• 17 Sep 2010 15:23
snessy

Yay! I love being right :-)

By ghazalz• 17 Sep 2010 15:15
ghazalz

:))

By paradisevirus• 17 Sep 2010 15:13
paradisevirus

snessy, I third you! :-)

By ghazalz• 17 Sep 2010 15:07
ghazalz

snessy, I second you!

By snessy• 17 Sep 2010 14:12
snessy

I could be wrong here, but I thought nose piercing was more of a cultural thing and nothing to do with religion...

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