Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
A Kansas blogger branded “ugly” after spending
$12,000 on body modifications says the extreme alterations make them feel beautiful and confident.
Jessy Kirkpatrick, who identifies as non-binary, has forked out more than $12,000 for a stretched septum, stretched nostrils, multiple lip piercings, a stretched tongue, a stretch lip and silicone horn implants.
The 27-year-old also sports large face and neck tattoos.
“People say I will go to hell for how I look, and go on and on about how I’ve ruined my body — claiming that I look ugly, that I’m a freak,” Kirkpatrick told Caters in an interview on Tuesday.
However, the haters don’t deter the blogger, who explained why they’ve drastically changed their appearance.
“I get body mods because they give me confidence,” they declared. “They make me feel beautiful and powerful. After receiving abuse my whole life, I’ve found this that makes me happy — that it makes me feel beautiful again after spending my whole life of feeling used, disgusting, and ugly.”
Old photos of Kirkpatrick show the then-teen with nondescript brown hair and bright blue eyes.
However, the Wichita local was deeply unhappy with how they looked and started to modify their body at the age of 16.
“My mom was put off at first because she believed that the modifications would ruin my future and that I would be ridiculed my whole life,” Kirkpatrick explained, saying they started off with smaller piercings.
“I begged her for my first two lip piercings, and from there, I just got more and more extreme. Sometimes, she gets worried because of how I extreme I’m going, but she loves me and believes in me regardless,” they added.
Kirkpatrick’s other family members have also been similarly supportive.
“My brother finds what I do super cool, and my dad is kind of in the same boat as my mom,” they stated.
Meanwhile, the Kansan’s quirky look hasn’t been a hindrance to gainful employment, with bosses understanding of the desire for unique self-expression.
“I’ve never had problems with jobs because I just wear clear jewelry to hide my mods,” Kirkpatrick stated, although they conceded it might be hard to get a “big corporate job.”
Buoyed by the support of her family and the self-confidence they feel, Kirkpatrick plans many more modifications in the near future.
“I plan on getting eyeball tattoos, scarification, a full-body blackout suit, more dermals, my tongue split, tattoos under my tongue, a larger stretched labret, larger nostrils, larger septum, and five-inch earlobes,” they enthused.
As for the ugly criticism from internet trolls, Kirkpatrick is paying it no mind.
“This is my form of beauty, and I will never apologize for it or for being myself,” they vowed.
