the history of navel piercing has been particularly misrepresented as many of the myths promulgated by malloy in the pamphlet "body & genital piercing in brieef" continue to be reprinted. for instance, according to malloy's colleague jim ward, malloy claimed navel piercing was popular among ancient egyptian aristocrats and was depicted in egyptian statuary, a claim that is widely repeated. other sources say that there are no records to support a historical practice for navel piercing.