In the spring, I am going to be spending a great deal of time in my hometown of Albany, NY.  I find that I get really distracted and exhausted when I’m living in New York, and I am going to have some major work to do between promoting my book and touring, so I’d rather be based mostly in Albany for the spring.  As such, my fast-paced, rather social lifestyle I have in the city is going to slow down quite a bit.  But before I leave New York there’s one thing I really want to do:

I want to get my belly button pierced.  I think belly button piercings are really attractive and really cute, and I’ve wanted my belly button pierced for YEARS (since the eighth grade, I’ve wanted mine done).  I was going to get my belly button pierced when I turned eighteen, but I was really nervous about how much it was going to hurt (and I thought it would be kind of a cliche, coming home from college with a piercing that my mom didn’t want me to get).  But it’s time now!

I know a lot of people think belly button piercings are stupid and trashy.  So, if someone questions my judgment, I’m going to say that my piercing is a social statement: overweight women are chronically desexualized in our society, and getting my belly button pierced is a loud and proud statement that I am both overweight and sexual.  Even though the main reason that I want my belly button pierced, even though it’s admittedly not my style (I embrace of more classic model of femininity, of full skirts and dresses and Carrie Bradshaw–not Britney Spears) is that I really like how they look.

So, who wants to go with me and hold my hand?  I’ve heard from some girls that it doesn’t hurt at all, but one of my best friends got her belly button pierced during my sophomore year of college, and she said it felt like being punched–hard–in the stomach.

Anyone with pierced belly buttons out there want to weigh in on the pain factor?  Can anyone recommend a good piercing salon in New York City?  The ones on 6th Avenue in the Village are a little intimidating, but that’s half the fun, right?  And what do you think of my idea of belly button piercings as a social statement in defense of overweight women’s sexuality?  Personally, I think it works!  Haha…