People respond to scars with fear, revulsion--andfascination. Why
do we develop scars, and why are we so captivated by them?
Sharon Stone has a scar on her neck.
Most moviegoers probably haven't even noticed it, but a group of
hardcore fans find the faint pink blemish so fascinating they have
created a Web site dedicated to "the mystery and intrigue surrounding the
scar on Sharon Stone's neck." Visitors to the site (http://people. we.
mediaone.net/bava/sharon/index.html) are invited to share their theories
about the scar's origin; some call it the aftermath of "routine head
transplant surgery," while others blame a "tragic limbo accident."
Strikingly, however, the vast majority of their theories revolve around
sex.
Why are these people so captivated by a five-inch streak on an
actor's neck? And why are they so intent on bandaging an esoteric
explanation onto what is, in fact, merely the souvenir of a childhood
horseback riding accident? The answer is simple: on a very basic level,
we find ourselves riveted by scars and the terrifying or titillating
stories they tell. "Scars seem to be fascinating," says Nichola Rumsey,
Ph.D., co-editor of Visibly Different: Coping with Disfigurement
(Butterworth-Heinemann Medical, 1997). "People respond to them with a bit
of fear, a bit of revulsion and a bit of excitement."
Why Do We Have Scars?
Our visceral response to scars reaches back through millions of
years of human evolution. For reasons no one quite understands, humans
develop bigger, thicker scars than any other animals. "Human wound
healing appears to have been optimized for quick healing in dirty
conditions," says biologist Mark W. J. Ferguson, Ph.D., a scar researcher
at the University of Manchester.
The good news is that when we're cut or burned, our immune systems
immediately go into overdrive to close and heal the wound, which may be
why humans tend to live so much longer than other mammals. But the bad
news is that our swift, strong inflammation response sets us up for nasty
scars. Surgeon N. Scott Adzick, M.D., who studies scarring at the Center
for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment at the Children's Institute for
Surgical Science in Philadelphia, puts it this way: "If you're a caveman
or cave-woman running around, and you get bitten by a saber-toothed
tiger, it makes sense to patch that wound together as quickly as possible
in order to survive, as opposed to devoting the body's energy and
resources to healing perfectly"
However, other theorists have offered some different--and
intriguing--explanations of human's severe scarfing. One theory suggests
that human scarring evolved alongside human intelligence. As we started
relying on our brains instead of our instincts to get us out of risky
situations, scars developed to act as constant reminders of our previous
mistakes. If, for example, some caveman tried to snag a juicy mastodon
chop from the jaws of his cavedog, the scarred bite marks on his forearm
would warn him not to try it again.
Another hypothesis suggests that scars serve as sexual attractors;
when a cavewoman was courted by a heavily scarred caveman, she got the
message that he was brave, bold and had a high-functioning immune system.
(Of course, if the scar-as-memory-aid theory holds true, those scars also
meant he was a bit slow on the uptake.)
Scars and Sex
To most middle-class Americans, the idea of scars as sexual lures
seems bizarre. We think of scars as disfigurements, and try to hide them
from view or even remove them completely Yet our seemingly instinctive
recoil is a fairly new and geographically limited phenomenon. Even today,
many African tribal cultures still use "body art"--tattooing, branding,
piercing and intentional scarring--to proclaim their ancient lineage,
display their bravery and attract potential mates.
Women of the southeast Nuba, for example, traditionally received a
set of body scars that chronicled their sexual history. When a young girl
began to develop breasts, she got her first set of scars; those were
followed by a second set marking her first menstruation, then by an
elaborate final set incised after she weaned her first child. The Tiv, in
Nigeria, have a highly developed esthetic of facial and body scarring,
used extensively by both men and women to bring out each individual's
most attractive features.
Psychologist Devendra Singh, Ph.D., at the University of Texas,
sees a direct connection between the prevalence of scarring among African
tribal groups and the continent's high rates of infectious disease. In
general, he says, the more disease-ridden a community, the more likely
its members--especially its women--will use scarring to show off their
healthy immune systems and attract mates. "We found very systematic
relationships," he says. "If you live in a society where pathogens are
high, female-female competition is also very high." By decorating the
breast and belly, particularly the navel, he notes, "you're advertising
your femaleness."
