Jim Ward (body piercer) 1215813 200085167 2008-03-22T15:25:45Z Escarbot 1554195 robot Adding: [[de:Jim Ward]] '''Jim Ward''' is an [[United States|American]] [[body piercing|body piercer]]. Ward was born in 1941 in [[Western Oklahoma]] and moved to [[Colorado]] when he was eleven.<ref>{{cite web | last =Ward | first =Jim | title =Who Is Jim Ward? | work =Running the Gauntlet | publisher =[[BME (website)|BME]] | date =2004-10-24 | url =http://www.bmezine.com/news/jimward/20030817.html | accessdate =2007-11-25 }}</ref> In [[1967]], [[New_York_City|New York]] jewelry maker he joined the New York Motorbike Club, a gay [[BSDM|S&M]] group, and experimented with nipple piercing. Ward then moved to Colorado, where he and other members of the gay Rocky Mountaineer Motorcycle Club experimented more broadly, with [[genitals|genital]] piercing in particular. In [[1973]], Ward moved to [[West_Hollywood|West Hollywood]] (a [[gay_village|gay village]] of [[Los_Angeles|Los Angeles]]) where he met [[Doug Malloy]] and [[Fakir Musafar]]. Together these men developed the basic techniques and equipment of modern body piercing. Malloy introduced the use of the [[autoclave]] and [[hypodermic needle]]; Ward developed the fixed bead ring and internally threaded barbells. With funding from Malloy (derived from his work with the [[Muzak]] corporation), Ward began using his home as a private piercing studio in [[1975]]. Dubbing his studio the [[Gauntlet (body piercing studio)|Gauntlet]], he drew an initial clientèle by running classified ads in local gay and fetish publications. After three years of continued refinement with techniques and equipment, Ward opened the Gauntlet as a commercial storefront operation in [[West_Hollywood|West Hollywood]] on [[November 17th]], [[1978]]. The establishment of this business — considered the first of its type in the United States<ref name="Advocate" /> — was the beginning of the body piercing industry. <ref>[http://bmezine.com/news/jimward-all.html|"Running the Gauntlet"], cited in "In the Flesh: Body Piercing as a Form of Commodity-Based Identity and Ritual Rite of Passage," honors thesis by Amelia Guimarin, under the direction of Prof. Teresa Caldiera, Anthropology, UC Irvine, 2005</ref> <ref name="Advocate">{{Citation | last =Voss | first =Brandon | title =Father Knows Best | newspaper =[[The Advocate]] | date =2007-10-09 | url = http://www.advocate.com/issue_story_ektid49068.asp | accessdate = 2007-11-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last =Ferguson | first =Henry | title =Body piercing | publisher =[[Student BMJ]] | date =January 2000 | url =http://student.bmj.com/issues/00/01/edanddebate/1627.php | accessdate =2007-11-25 }}</ref> In 1977, Ward started the piercing magazine ''Piercing Fans International Quarterly'' (''[[PFIQ]]'').<ref>{{cite web | last =Ward | first =Jim | title =The World’s First Piercing Magazine | work =Running the Gauntlet | publisher =[[BME (website)|BME]] | date =2004-10-24 | url =http://www.bmezine.com/news/jimward/20041024.html | accessdate =2007-11-25 }}</ref> In a 2004 documentary entitled ''The Social History of Piercing'', [[MTV]] called him "the granddaddy of the modern body piercing movement."{{Fact|date=November 2007}} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *[http://wiki.bmezine.com/index.php/Jim_Ward Jim Ward] at the [[BME (website)|BME]] Encyclopedia *[http://www.bmezine.com/news/jimward-all.html Running the Gauntlet] Jim Ward's column at [[BME (website)|BME]] {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Jim}} [[Category:1941 births]] [[Category:Body piercing]] [[Category:Living people]] {{culture-stub}} [[de:Jim Ward]]