I can top that story. I had a grandmother who issued a similar ban to my mother. She told my mother that “the only people who wear earrings are cannibals and Italians.” (Sorry, Italians!)
Earrings have even more cultural meaning when it comes to men. When I was a teenager back in the 1970's, very few straight men wore earrings. If they did, it mattered greatly which ear they pierced. One ear was perceived to be gay [the right one]; the other not [the left one]. I was hip and bohemian back then so I asked my artist-girlfriend to pierce my (non-gay) ear. She did it painfully with an ice-cube and needle. I had long hair so the earring wasn’t immediately obvious. I was living at home with my parents. One day at dinner, my mother looked at me, did a double-take, and then moaned loudly, “Oh, my God! What did you do this to me?!!”
Do you wear earrings? Are you a loose woman or cannibal?
I live in Italy!! lol I am a loose woman! Influenced by said Italians clearly. My grandmother said pierced earings were only for gypsies. As such no pierced ears allowed in our house for many a moon.I wear small earings. and change them infrequently to be honest.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! I LOVE that comment. An Italian! My daughter has been asking to get hers pierced. I love my pierced ears, but my one stipulation for her is that she needs to be able to maintain and take care of them herself. She is almost 8...I was thinking 10. Today, she wore magnetic studs to school. The right ear for men was the same in the 80s/90s when I was growing up. How odd, right?
ReplyDeleteof cause i´m a cannibal ;-)
ReplyDeletehave pierced ears since childhood, but i wear ear jewelry very scarce because i love big bold stuff which gets in my ways in every day life - so earrings only for the chic, festive moments....
xx
Ha, I am a loose woman! I have both ears pierced, with the first holes done about 1979, then the second holes around 1981, then the 3rd holes in 2014, along with a hole in the cartilage of my right upper ear in 2014.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved earrings!
Hey Sheila -- I think we got our ears pierced the same year!
DeleteHa ha! This totally cracked me up : ) Especially the Italians! Thanks...I needed a laugh today.
ReplyDeleteAlthough my ears are pierced I rarely wear earrings. One of my ears has partially grown back in and it is very painful every time to wear pierced earrings. I've bought some vintage clip-ons lately but also find I can only wear them for about an hour or so before they start to bother me. If I'm fuelled with martinis all night I can wear them : )
bisous
Suzanne
Because my right ear isn't pierced, I have to wear clip-ons -- and boy they hurt! The pinching to get them to stay on is painful. I haven't tried the martini medicine but that sounds effective. :-)
DeleteEarrings are essential. Pierce your other ear.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes. And yes.
ReplyDeleteLMAO! My dad pretty much did the same thing when my brother Mark came home with gauges in his ears in high school. He was pissy with my mom for piercing mine at age 6, even more so when they became infected. It didn't stop me from getting two more piercings on each side, but I think he finally gave up when I came home with an eyebrow pierced (it grew out, and it huuuuurrrt).
ReplyDeleteI pierced my own right ear and swiftly went and had it pierced properly the next day. I recall comments about having it done in the 'gay ear' so to resolve the name calling went and had the left ear pierced too. I wore silver studs in both ears for a couple of years but now I just put them in during the weekend to stop the holes closing over.
ReplyDeleteMy ear piercings are an important part in helping keep me in touch with my feminine side when not dressed and it is always good to wear nice earrings every now and then.
I love earrings!!!! They are fun and quirky and add s touch of sophistication to all. That said, I'm not keen on hoops or big fake gold being but lego earrings or fake lemon earrings, I love them! X
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how clip-on earrings were a thing for some brief decades in which lobe piercings got associated in some circles with unsavory characters, but they were common before, and after.
ReplyDeleteMy parents were sad when they noticed my cartilage piercing, haha. I've been taken aside and earnestly asked not to get tattoos or pierce my ears any more by multiple members of the previous generation. My brother don't care.
Wow, your grandma would have some choice words to say about me then! :D I have four holes in each ear (and would have gone higher still, but I worried back in my teen years that doing so might cross into looking like I was a punk/alt/emo kid and that might have hurt my chances with prospective employers, which I didn't want at the time, especially since I wasn't any of those things - I just loved the look of a few faux diamond or pearl studs in each lobe) to this day and likely always will, unless I had to let some grow in for some unforeseen medical reason.
ReplyDeleteI'm allergic to nickel, which does hamper my ability to wear some types of earrings, but between sterling silver and ones designed specifically to be nickel-free (plus some that fall into both camps that I've made myself), my earring wardrobe is of a pretty good size at this point in my life. The only think I really wish it had more of was vintage pairs, but again, that's the nickel there preventing as much. Thankfully pearls are very vintage/classic looking, so they can be sported with all my favourite old school looks.
♥ Jessica
*PS* Thank you very much for your terrific, and very nice, comment on Tony's guest post today. He's traveling for work (in Vancouver) this week (the sweet dear penned his post for me mere hours before he had to catch his flight) and I'm not sure if he'll get a chance to reply, so I wanted to make sure to do so for both of us. Your unwavering support of everything to do with my blog means such a great deal, Ally.
Hmmm....I'm a vegetarian so I guess that leaves loose woman!
ReplyDeleteLOL great story. I'd rather be loose than a cannibal.. hah hah those pink ones look great on you!!
ReplyDeleteI want to share with you two quotes from John Norman's Gor Series, which reminds me of this post...
ReplyDelete"Earrings," I said to her, "by Gorean girls, are regarded as the ultimate degradation of a female, appropriate only in sensual slave girls, brazen, shameless wenches, pleased that men have forced them to wear them, and be beautiful."
"Do free women on Gor not wear earrings?" asked Alyena.
"Never," I said.
"Only slave girls?"
"Only the most degraded of slave girls," I said.
Tribesmen of Gor Book 10 Page 138
Afterwards, it might be mentioned, they are usually pleased with the piercing of their ears, and grow quite proud of this erotic dimension added to their beauty; not displeased are they either with the lovely adornments which their master may now order them to fix upon their body; free women, it is no secret, in many respects, envy their enslaved sisters, their beauty, their joy, their attractiveness to men; this may explain why free women are often quite cruel to slave girls; most imbonded girls fear greatly that they might be purchased by one of the dreaded free women. I have wondered sometimes if free women on Gor might not be happier if their culture permitted them to be somewhat more like the slave girls they so heartily despise. It seems a small enough thing that a free woman might be culturally permitted to have her ears pierced and, thus, be permitted earrings. Would it make so muck difference? But the bonds of culture are strong. On Earth a free woman would not think of having herself branded, though it might improve her beauty; similarly, on Gor, a free woman would not consider having her ears pierced.
Slave Girl of Gor Book 11 Page 97
I should tell you the story of the first time I was ever pierced...hmm..actually I may write about it, but not tonight. Can be a new topic....
I love earrings. I never go out of the house without. I do not wear necklaces and rarely bracelets but I wear earrings every single day. Long ones, short ones, colored ones or golden ones. I just love earrings. Since I have short hair you are always able to see them and I just think they are the perfect accessoire :)
ReplyDeleteYour girlfriend pierced your ear with a needle and ice cube?!? That sounds soooo horrible (yet I vaguely remember trying to pierce my lip using a similar method when I was about 13….ahh, those were the days.)
ReplyDeleteI got my ears pierced when I was 3 or 4. My mom had it done at the local clinic and they said I was the best patient they ever had because I didn't squirm, squeal, or anything. Then, when I was about 9 or 10, my mom and I each got another piercing above the regular ones on one side. Unfortunately, mine was infected all the time and I eventually let it close up…I didn't realize there had been a negative stigma attached with earring-wearing at some point. I rarely leave the house without a pair on!
I love earrings - the bigger the better. I have both ears double pierced and my left has two piercings in the upper cartilage. But then, I live with my boyfriend, happily unmarried, so I'm probably considered loose by some. Oh, well, everyone has to be something!
ReplyDeletei like earrings. i go thru phases or wearing and not wearing...guess it depends on my mood, hairstyle, and level of laziness. i love necklaces/bracelets/rings even more, so i tend to keep my earrings on the smaller side...just enough to fill the void.
ReplyDeleteHere its a custom for girls to get the ears pierced the second or third day they are born. So its pretty normal.
ReplyDeleteBUT, i have another story of "loose women" for you. My grandmother tells me that when she was young women who painted their nails, coloured their hair or smoked were automatically referred to as prostitutes.
When I was growing up, it was expected to pierce your ears at a young age (like Lorena) so that you didn't remember the process. I have pierced ears, but nearly never wear earrings. I have very sensitive ears.
ReplyDeleteI have twenty tattoos, so I'm not needle shy, but I just never got on with putting metal through my body.
I must be the loosest, most flesh-hungry woman on earth. I stretch my lobes so I guess I could wear quite a few earrings in each ear I wanted! Scandalous!
ReplyDelete