''Body Modification Ezine'' (''BME'') is an

online magazine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to an online only magazine was the comput ...

devoted to

body modification Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or human physical appearance. In its broadest definition it includes skin tattooing, socially acceptable decoration (''e.g.'', common earring, ear piercing in ...

, noted for its coverage of the extreme and fringes of body modification and erotic body play.

History and content

''BME'' was started as a web site hosted at Internex Online on December 6, 1994, by Shannon Larratt and was the first body modification website. BME was expanded in 2000 by the addition of ''IAM.BMEzine'', an

online community An online community, also called an internet community or web community, is a community whose members engage in computer-mediated communication primarily via the Internet. Members of the community usually share common interests. For many, on ...

, which hosts

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

s specifically for members of the body-modification community. In late 2005, BME added both a video sister site, ''BMEvideo'' and a body modification blog, ''Modblog.BMEzine.com''. The site often publishes hoax articles each year on

April Fools' Day April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool " at the recipient. ...

. Both Shannon and Rachel Larratt have cameo appearances in the

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. He came to prominence with the low-budget buddy comedy film ''Clerks (film), Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted i ...

feature '' Clerks II''. On May 14, 2008, Shannon Larratt posted onto ModBlog that he would no longer be an employee of BME. On March 15, 2013, it was announced that Shannon Larratt had died.

BME BBQs

Patrons of the BME website and its IAM community have often gathered for

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...

s where they can meet with one another. Historically, the largest of these BBQs, known as BMEFest, were held in or around

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

and generally on

Canada Day Canada Day, formerly known as Dominion Day, is the national day of Canada. A Public holidays in Canada, federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 1867, with the passing of the B ...

with hundreds of participants. The festivities of BMEFest almost always include suspensions, fireworks, grilled food both

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

and otherwise, and there is usually a commemorative T-shirt for each event. It is generally free to attend but it is encouraged to sign up ahead of time and may be exclusive to a private group.

Censorship

The BME site is blocked by many Internet filtering services intended to protect children (and workplaces), for reasons such as

nudity Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair, living in hospitable climates, and not ...

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

, and other adult content. It was banned by Germany's Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien in 1999 as a "danger to the youth" because BME did not include age verification or an entrance page warning users of potential adult content. In December 2005, the German agency forced

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

to remove the site from search results returned by www.google.de.Zentastic.com
Shannon Larratt writes in Zentastic.com: : When Germany came after BME for "endangering the youth" and demanded that I make changes to the site to comply with German law, my response was to simply not visit Germany again (and I'm a German citizen). When the US started to pressure us, we moved all of our servers and presence out of the country and backed off on plans to live in the US. No changes were ever made to the site, and no images were ever removed — if anything, the pressure made me push those areas even more.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bmezine Body modification Online magazines published in Canada Magazines established in 1994 MediaWiki websites Obscenity controversies in literature