 Body piercing was also heavily popularized in the United States by a group of Californians including Malloy and Ward , who is regarded as " the founding father of modern body piercing " . In 1975 , Ward opened a home @-@ based piercing business in West Hollywood , which was followed in 1978 by the opening of Gauntlet Enterprises , " the first professional body piercing specialty studio in America . " From it , Ward distributed the pamphlet which Malloy had written and Ward illustrated , disseminating much misinformation but stimulating interest in more exotic piercings . As word of body piercing spread to the wider community , Ward , Malloy and Musafar collaborated on launching the first publication dedicated to the subject , <unk> . 
