A Brief History of the Nipple Piercing: That I feel as if I’ve outright lied to half of the people I have ever bedded about the sensitivity of my own nipples — careful! they’re far too sensitive, I’ve told some lovers; actually babe, I feel nothing, I’ve fibbed to others — suggests that, for potentially my entire sex life, I’ve mostly been lying to myself. Even now, as I graze a finger along one areolar region or pinch the raisin at the end of the other, I’m left wanting: is this enjoyment or pain? It is advantageous, then, that the cosmos of feeling associated with the human nipple — for those unsatisfied with a simple flick or nibble, or by the effects of a more concentrated approach, as that of a twist, latch, or clamp — is just a piercing appointment away. Darting that extragenital chest flesh is an age-old tradition, performed by peoples across diverse cultures and genders, as a way to vanquish the ambivalence and insensitivity of an unlucky set of tits, and to secure them their right to be pleased. Appropriately, there is no first pierced nipple; evidence appears in the annals of many civilizations, such as the North American Karankawa tribe, whose nomadic male subjects once roamed the coast of Southwest Texas with their nipples (and lips) horizontally spiked with long reeds of sugar cane that were, according to a first-hand account of the peoples by the Spanish colonizer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca from 1528, “as thick as two fingers.” In the Atlas Mountains in the northeast of Algeria, women native to the Kabyle tribe still pierce their nipples to demonstrate both their strength and their beauty. For the full article, go to #gayletter.com and grab a copy of issue 16 for the full uncensored portfolio! Text by @swervekotecha Photography by @dnlcvngh