Dear Undecided Piercer,

What Rights Does Your Boyfriend Have Over Your Body?

There are a couple of issues here. The first one concerns the rights your boyfriend has over your body; how much control a partner has over you. There is some give and take here. You should respect your partner's opinions, as your partner should respect your opinions and desires. If a partner has a fundamentally important desire that directly contradicts another's beliefs, with no compromise available, then that may lead to an end of a relationship.

Does your boyfriend have the right to tell you not to get pierced? Yes, he does. If it's fundamental to his beliefs about body temples and such, he can tell you how important it is to him that you not do it. But you have the right to tell him to get stuffed, and to accept the consequences that that might bring (such as ending the relationship).

You also offered a very reasonable alternative in the try-it-out suggestion. Another alternative might be to get a fake navel ring, or maybe pierce another section of your body. What you do depends on how important this act is to you. If it really is important to you, than you should do it, and your boyfriend should try to respect your feelings, if possible.

Now, the other issue that I'm going to mention, is the body piercing itself. I happen to mostly agree with your boyfriend. Maybe not for the same reasons, though. I just happen to find most body piercing disgusting and eye-tearingly appalling. I cannot imagine why anyone would want to poke holes in their body, just because it's the current fad. Yuck. But hey, it really IS your body. Just don't try to put any holes in me.