Tongue piercings have long been perceived as metallic blowjob enhancers, an idea cemented in sexual lore by Pulp Fiction, in the scene where a heavily pierced Rosanna Arquette matter-of-factly tells John Travolta that the stud in her tongue “helps fellatio.”
The sexualization of tongue piercings probably mostly has to do with the fact that many people fetishize almost anything involving mouths. Plus, data shows that women with body modifications are especially sexualized by the general public — something that was reinforced when I asked the piercing subreddit about the origins of this stigma, and one commenter boiled it down to a broad sexualization of body modifications (sic):
“I imagine the stigma of good oral sex comes from ignorant unmodified people sexualizing a body modification — just like how almost everyone will ask someone with a split tongue something sex related, when it ultimately comes down to skill, not body modifications.”
Societal assumptions aside, though, the evidence does suggest that tongue piercings have the capacity to improve oral sex. “Tongue rings and barbells, the two most common shapes, do provide additional stimulation during oral sex for all genders,” says clinical sexologist and certified sex coach Sunny Rodgers. “The true sexual sensations come from the dichotomy of textures — the softness of the tongue paired with the hardness of the piercing. It’s the contrast of these two sensations that can make oral sex particularly arousing.”
This concept has been co-opted by several sex-toy manufacturers, who have released vibrating tongue rings constructed specifically for sexual purposes. You don’t need to have a tongue piercing to use them, however — they simply slide over the tongue.
But even though a tongue piercing — and especially a vibrating one — could improve your oral abilities, Rodgers says her clients rarely have them for that reason. “Some people enjoy the feeling of having something in their mouths, and piercings satisfy this need,” she explains. “So it’s not oral sex that’s the number one reason for tongue piercings — the real number one reason most people get tongue piercings is purely to play with it themselves.”
Tattoo artist Sarah Wakefield, who sported not one but two tongue piercings in the 1990s, mostly agrees with this analysis. “I just wanted my tongue pierced because everyone had their tongue pierced,” she says. Along with the belly-button piercing, the tongue stud was the piercing du jour in the 1990s, rocked by the likes of Spice Girl Melanie Brown (AKA Scary Spice) and late Prodigy frontman Keith Flint.
While Wakefield didn’t get her tongue pierced for sexual reasons, she says the stigma still followed her around, telling me she often overheard people say things like, “I bet she gives good blowjobs.” As for whether or not her tongue piercing actually affected her blowjob ability, Wakefield says that depended on the receiver. “Personally speaking, people who I was dating or whatever, some of them said it wasn’t a big deal; some of them said they could really tell the difference,” she explains. “So it kinda depends on the person’s preference who you’re giving the blowjob to.”
To that end, the same redditor from above says, contrary to everything we know so far, that her partner prefers mouth parties without tongue piercings involved (sic):
“I’ve never had the experience of receiving oral sex from someone with a pierced tongue, but my partner actually tells me he doesn’t like tongue piercings when it comes to oral sex, because it feels like exactly what it is: Metal rubbing on a very sensitive location.”
In another thread discussing the same topic, commenters are all over the place as to whether tongue piercings help a beej. “I can honestly say that never once have I thought a BJ was better because of a tongue ring,” evilitems writes. On the flip side, fellow commenter raebear swears they make a difference, but only when the person giving head employs the right techniques (sic):
“I’m bi, and I’ve had girlfriends and boyfriends with tongue piercings. I would like to weigh in by saying yes, yes, OMG yes. To be fair, they were all particularly good with the tongue-flick action that feels divine against my clit. The barbell just added to the awesomeness. I had a tongue piercing for a while and was hoping that it’d be just as pleasing for my partners. Unfortunately, when I had the piercing, the partners I had all told me they couldn’t even tell it was there. I guess it just depends on the person.”
Wakefield has since removed both her tongue piercings, but not because of anything related to the sexual stigma. “I didn’t really care about that,” she emphasizes. “I was actually playing with it, and I hit my teeth — I thought my teeth were going to get broken, so I ended up taking it out for that reason.” Tongue piercings can indeed cause chipped teeth if the wearer has a habit of chewing on them or playing with them.
As far as Wakefield is concerned, speaking as someone who works deep within the body modification world, tongue piercings are becoming less popular, but again, not necessarily because of the innuendo surrounding them. “It’s not the norm to get a tongue piercing anymore, and I don’t really think for any set reason,” she says.
Twenty-six-year-old Bo-ve Dong, who wore a tongue piercing for about three years, believes that tongue piercings are simply less trendy nowadays. “Tongue piercings were more prevalent when we were growing up as 1990s babies,” she says. “No celebrity has one now, so they get less attention.”
Popular or not, though, Dong says that the sexualization of tongue piercings is still very real. “The stigma is still strong, but I don’t think it would stop someone from getting one,” she explains. “If you want one, you’ll get it. What held me back so much was how much it would hurt and the slim chance of infection, since that would absolutely suck. But I feel like people who get tongue piercings rarely care about a stigma.”
Similar to Wakefield, Dong says guys were often “intrigued” by her tongue piercing, but she eventually removed it for unrelated reasons. “I took it out because I was developing a lisp, and I was afraid it would get worse,” she says. Weirdly enough, several internet-goers actually claim that their lisps went away after wearing one.
To summarize, then, tongue piercings certainly have the potential to make all varieties of mouth fun feel better — a potential that increases dramatically when the wielder is well-versed in specialized tongue maneuvers — but it’s rarely the motivation behind such a piercing. None of which will stop dudes from assuming you love to suck dick the minute you flash that mouth jewelry.
Ian Lecklitner
Ian Lecklitner is a staff writer at MEL Magazine. He mostly writes about everyone's favorite things: Sex, drugs and food.
