Alexa Baiano

How does body modification affect the level of attractiveness of the wearer amongst students at the University of Tampa? Chose because interest in relationships, sexual attraction, and body art & modification Goals- answer question, analyze why, find correlation between body modifications and sexual attractiveness I care, having many tattoos and piercings-want to understand others’ perception of me Someone contemplating getting a tattoo or piercing may want to know if there are major negative connotations with it

Hypothesis It will be even in the number of males that find females attractive and the number of females with modifications that find males with modifications attractive It depends on the actual location on the body and design Males are more likely to have tattoos while females are more likely to have piercings Tattoos are more attractive than more extreme modifications such as horns Those with body modifications are more likely to find others with modifications attractive

Hypotheses into questions Which gender is more likely to have tattoos? Which gender is more likely to have piercings? “ ” extreme modifications? How will the number of males that find females with modifications attractive and the number of females that find males with modifications attractive compare? Does the location of the tattoo change the perception of it? Does the design affect the attractiveness? Are tattoos the most attractive of the three subcategories? (tattoos, piercings, extreme modifications) Does like attract like?

Critical Sources My question has been asked, however the study was preformed in a different location with different methods. It also only included tattoos (Wohlrab, 2009). I want to study the affects of ALL modifications and focus specifically on students at The University of Tampa. There is a large population of people with body art here. I want to compare my results to the findings in another study focusing on the stigmas that come with body modification among college students (Martin, 2010). Perhaps it will be easy to understand and therefore explain the desire for body art by understanding the origin and ancient beliefs for tattooing (Burgess, 2010).

Methods Collect a series of photographs of people ranging from completely covered in body art, everything pierced, and extreme modifications to nothing at all. Inform all participants about the nature of the study and my intentions (do I need consent if it is anonymous?) Present them in an anonymous online survey of students at the University of Tampa. Ask for gender, age, whether the person has any piercings, tattoos, etc., rating of the photos from most attractive to least attractive, and an explanation Allow for maybe a 2 week answer period Analyze based on those answers

Publications listing?topic=Social%20Sciences listing?topic=Social%20Sciences /10/05/announcement-and-call-for-papers/ /10/05/announcement-and-call-for-papers/ EBSCO, IJSSH if accepted to a conference, then therefore on Google Scholar

References Silke Wohlrab, Bernhard Fink, Peter M. Kappeler, Gayle Brewer, Perception of human body modification, Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 46, Issue 2, January 2009, Pages , ISSN , /j.paid Martin, B. A., & Dula, C. S. (2010). MORE THAN SKIN DEEP: PERCEPTIONS OF, AND STIGMA AGAINST, TATTOOS. College Student Journal, 44(1),