What is your personal threshold for being grossed out by owning an object that was once part of a living being, and why?
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I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.
Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.
What makes one thing gross but the other okay?
I personally think keeping things that used to be part of someone else is a bit creepy at best. Bones, skin, feathers, fur, it's all not something I need to have in my home. For example, I saw this guy had turned a family member's bones into a guitar once and it just squicked me the fuck out.
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I mean... how far down the rabbit hole are we going with 'once part of a living being?' Leather/wool/down?
wrote last edited by [email protected]I think that's my question, but I am realizing it could be two or more questions.
Does owning/using something that was part of a living being gross you out?
Either way, what do you consider to have been part of a living being? I think this is an especially interesting question if you do say it does gross you out.
If some things gross you out but others don't, why?
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I personally think keeping things that used to be part of someone else is a bit creepy at best. Bones, skin, feathers, fur, it's all not something I need to have in my home. For example, I saw this guy had turned a family member's bones into a guitar once and it just squicked me the fuck out.
Hello comrade
Of the examples I gave pearl and coral are a hard no, but I was kind of surprised by how horrified I was at the idea of owning something with human hair in it. It made me wonder how other people draw that line.
I would also like to avoid bones, plz.
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I think human parts are a hard no for me, but I'm general good with anything, though usually much less so if the product isn't being produced incidentally.
This means cow leather is generally a okay, but crocodile is something I'll shy away from.
Here's a fun story... Mark Gruenwald, the creator of the Marvel superhero team "Squadron Supreme" (a pastiche of DC's Justice League) passed away.
As part of his will, he requested that he be cremated and his ashes mixed in with the black ink on a reprint of Squadron Supreme.
https://screenrant.com/marvel-comic-printed-creators-ashes-squadron-supreme-gruenwald/
His wife was also stamping his signature in books with the ash ink.
https://teddyandtheyeti.blogspot.com/2019/05/mark-gruenwalds-ash-o-graph-in-squadron.html?m=1
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Here's a fun story... Mark Gruenwald, the creator of the Marvel superhero team "Squadron Supreme" (a pastiche of DC's Justice League) passed away.
As part of his will, he requested that he be cremated and his ashes mixed in with the black ink on a reprint of Squadron Supreme.
https://screenrant.com/marvel-comic-printed-creators-ashes-squadron-supreme-gruenwald/
His wife was also stamping his signature in books with the ash ink.
https://teddyandtheyeti.blogspot.com/2019/05/mark-gruenwalds-ash-o-graph-in-squadron.html?m=1
Okay, that's quite a cool memento. I might not mind that.
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I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.
Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.
What makes one thing gross but the other okay?
Imagine a sentient tree looking around your home at the table, the chairs, the cabinets, the books...
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I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.
Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.
What makes one thing gross but the other okay?
Lampshades made of human skin. How about no.
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I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.
Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.
What makes one thing gross but the other okay?
wrote last edited by [email protected]My only concern for body parts and specimens is/would be: were they ethically sourced? There are laws arround that thankfully.
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I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.
Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.
What makes one thing gross but the other okay?
I've discussed with family members how it would be awesome to have jewelery made from each others bones. My sister said she'd like to have my dad's skeleton, prepped like for an anatomy class and he was up for it, but it seemed very complicated (and possibly just not allowed) and unsurprisingly expensive.
I don't think we're particularly morbid or gothy, just not grossed out by stuff like that. And I think having a smooth bone ring is a nicer way to remember someone you cared about than an ugly urn full of ashes.
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I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.
Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.
What makes one thing gross but the other okay?
If I ever were to lose a limb like a finger (and if it couldn't be reattached) I would like to keep it like preserved in an alcohol jar or just the bone part as a good terrible conversation piece
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I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.
Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.
What makes one thing gross but the other okay?
was once part of a living being
When you drink a glass of water, about a hundred molecules of that water come from the pee of Isaac Newton from the specific day the apple fell on his head. Generally, every single atom surrounding us has been part of some living being or other thousands of times. Only drink pristine water harvested from interstellar comets!
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I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.
Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.
What makes one thing gross but the other okay?
I dislike things where taxidermied animals parts are used for something because it looks weird. Like animal legs and feet for tables. Basically if it makes me think the animal suffered I dislike it.
Yes I eat meat and wear leather and other stuff from animals that often makes them suffer, but I also spent a large amount of time on grandpa's farm and the idea that ethical use of animals can exist overrides my knowledge that they are often abused in my day to day decision making.
I think learning about Nazis making human skin stuff out of their holocaust victims put me off for things made out of human parts. Like bone is bone, but my first knowledge of human parts being used was Nazi ahit. Didn't find out about the religious human remains stuff till later.
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I mean... how far down the rabbit hole are we going with 'once part of a living being?' Leather/wool/down?
Limestone
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I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.
Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.
What makes one thing gross but the other okay?
If it still looks like it did when it was alive: Shrimp with tails on, whole fish, that sort of thing is too far.
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I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.
Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.
What makes one thing gross but the other okay?
If itās generally socially acceptable, and Iāve gotten used to it, Iāll usually be ok with it. Otherwise, Iāll probably be grossed out by it. I know thatās dumb, but at least Iām being honest.
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Imagine a sentient tree looking around your home at the table, the chairs, the cabinets, the books...
āYou mean you build a desk out of my brothersā flesh. Then you pack that desk into a container made of more of my brothersā flesh. Then you sit at that desk and use an instrument made of my brothersā flesh to write on a sheet of my brothersā flesh. Is there anything you donāt use our flesh for?ā
āJust please donāt go into the bathroom.ā
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I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.
Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.
What makes one thing gross but the other okay?
Depends on how liquidy it is.
Skin and organs are no-no
Dried skeleton, maybe.
If its "artificial life forms" like a non-carbon based robot, I'd happily gouge its "eyes" (cameras) and put then in a necklace.
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I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.
Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.
What makes one thing gross but the other okay?
If it's human
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I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.
Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.
What makes one thing gross but the other okay?
I got a cool looking salt shaker that looks like a crow and is made of buffalo horn. I'm fine with it sitting on my shelf but don't see myself using it for its intended purpose on my dining table.
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I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.
Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.
What makes one thing gross but the other okay?
I've been pondering this myself. We had to have one of my cats (the one in my profile pic) put down last month, and we got a fur clipping, as well as her ashes. I'd like a piece of memorial jewelry or glass and I'm finding I'm OK with stuff that includes the fur, but not OK with cremation jewelry/cremation glass, and I don't really know how to articulate why. I think part of it is that fur and hair are shed throughout a lifetime anyway, but dividing up someone's bones or ashes almost feels like commodification to me.
(To be clear: I'm not judging other people who do this with their loved ones' remains, be they human or animal; this is just, like, my opinion, man.)
