Haha I've heard the same things from people about piercings because I have them. It's not necessarily because I like pain though... I just think they're cute
There's one woman I used to work with who had a zillion tattoos. My mom worked there too and asked her why she liked getting them so much, and she was like "Well your daughter has all those piercings, she's obviously trying to use that pain to make up for something emotional". Couldn't be further from true.