Speaking about body modification types, it won't be an exaggeration to say that almost every human society has practiced various simple or extreme body modification types. As it has already been mentioned body modifications are made for different reasons, excluding medical ones. To cut a long story short and give the reader a broader imagination about body modification types I can't omit that body modification is also referred to as body art. It's a common knowledge that it is practiced in almost every country of the world for either aesthetic or artistic purposes. It's interesting to admit that the term "body art" is often extended nowadays to all socially outstanding markings displaying the bearer belongs to certain hereditary, religious, age or other social group. However, there are lots of people who just enjoy being different from other people and therefore - experience various body modification types with neither external nor underlying reasons. It's worthy mentioning there are four distinct groups of body modifications which are practiced nowadays: surgical body modification, genital, mainstream and extreme body modification and the one occurring as a result of long-term practices or activities. Speaking about the mainstream body modification it's worthy paying greater attention to body piercing - one of the most widely-spread body modification types. So, it's a common knowledge that body piecing often refers to the piercing with the purpose of wearing jewelry in the created opening. Only 14% of people practice body piercing for religious or cultural reasons. The majority of individuals choose piercing for ornamental, sexual or spiritual reasons (especially in Western European countries). As a matter of fact, ear piercing has continuously existed since the ancient times. However, it's worthy admitting that in many countries and cultures of the world piercing has become a relative rarity between 1920s and 1960s. During this period of time piercing regained popularity among women all over the world and was also adopted by men in gay and hippie communities and later - in a well-known punk-rock culture. It's interesting to mention that ear piercing has always been practiced by men in different countries of the world (including non-Western ones). For example, by the 1980s this kind of piercing had become quite common in the USA. However, in the end of the 20th century men preferred to pierce only one of their ears. Both single and multiple piercing of the ears is pretty popular among women and fairly common among men. It is obvious fact that less conventional body piercing forms also belong to body modification types. They have also existed for a long period of time, but generally - in non-Western cultures of the world (for example, Indian women have practiced nostril piercing for centuries). Of course, body piercing isn't the only body modification type. There are lots of other ones (including tattooing, scarification, branding, hair removal, penis enlargement, circumcision, plastic surgery, bodybuilding, dieting, etc.).