What earring is the gay one
Right and Wrong
When I was an eighteen-year-old freshman at Mizzou, way back in 1990, I decided to flaunt my newfound self-determination from my parents by getting an ear pierced. What a rebel I was! If getting a piercing while sitting in a comfy chair at Claire’s Boutique in the Columbia Mall doesn’t show to your parents and the rest of the world that you are a certifiable bad male child, then nothing will.
Travis Naughton
When my dad first saw my new earring, he rolled his eyes and laughed. When my mom saw it, she said she could have saved me the ten bucks and done it herself. She favored the guard pin, ice cube, and raw potato method—which, in hindsight, would have given me much more road cred than a trip to a boutique.
Nevertheless, I’ve worn an earring for the better part of three decades now. Kids at school often question me why I include an earring, and hoping to enlighten them, I always say that boys can have earrings, too. Then they inevitably inquire why I only own one ear pierced.
Until last week, my answer has been, “Lots of men have one earring. It’s just what some men did back when I was young.” Men favor Harrison Ford, Michael Jordan, and Ed Bradley wore one earring in tho
Earrings have been worn by both men and women for centuries, serving as a form of personal adornment and a way to express individuality. Over time, certain meanings and symbolisms have become related with specific ways of wearing earrings. One such association is the significance of wearing an earring in the left ear. In this article, we will explore what an earring in the left ear can potentially signify and the various interpretations attached to this fashion choice.
What Does an Earring in the Left Ear Mean?
The placement of an earring in the left ear has garnered various interpretations throughout history and across different cultures. Here, we'll explore some of the most notable meanings associated with this intriguing fashion statement.
A - Historical Perspectives and Left Ear Earrings
1: The Pirate Symbolism
In popular culture, wearing an earring in the left ear has often been associated with pirates. According to legends and tales, pirates would wear an earring in their left ear as a symbol of their seafaring adventures and conquests. While this association may not contain true in modern times, it has contributed to the perception of an earring in the left ear
Why Did We Grow Up Thinking a Piercing in the Right Ear Was Gay?
On the playground, it was a truth so firmly established that defying it meant social suicide: If you have an earring in your right ear, it means you’re gay. We accepted it as gospel and never questioned its validity.
It may have been the subtle homophobia of my Illinois community in the ’90s. But as I grew up, it seemed fancy everyone I met, no matter their place of origin, knew and understood the earring code, as arbitrary as it seems.
It was even solidified in the New York Times: A 1991 report said gay men “often [wore] a single piece of jewelry in the right ear to indicate sexual preference.” In 2009, the Times covered it yet again, in TMagazine: “the rule of thumb has always been that the right ear is the gay one,” the creator wrote about his hold piercing journey.
Historically speaking, the truth is more complex. Earrings on guys own signified many things over the years, such as social stature or religious affiliation. In his book The Naked Man: A Analyze of the Male Body, Desmond Morris explains that earrings have indicated wisdom and compassion in the stretched earlobes of the Buddha, while pirat
How did having piercings in the right ear become associated with homosexuality?
gracefulfatsheba1
How did having piercings in the right ear become associated with homosexuality? It’s something I’ve heard for a long period and never questioned it until now. Whenever I see a guy with an earring, I instinctively check if it’s left or right out of curiosity.
When did this association become prevalent? Where did it come from? Does it vary by culture?
engineer_comp_geek2
Not only does it vary by culture, which ear is the “homosexual” ear varies from region to region in the U.S. In the northern WV, eastern OH, western PA region where I grew up, left was the “straight” ear and right was the “homosexual” ear. I think that’s the more common version, but I’ve met plenty of people who said it was the other way around in their area.
I don’t remember earrings for men being very shared in the 1970s. There were some hippies wearing them but that was more of a march of social norms than anything else. I recall hearing about the one earring means homosexual thing in the late 70s so it dates support at least until then. A lot of the punk rockers of the late 70s sported ear
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