Gay piercing
Piercings in Queer Culture
Piercings have been widespread in queer cultures for longer than I have been alive, and acquire been an essential part of my life for about as long as I have established I am gender non-conforming. As soon as I started interacting with other homosexual people in my life more and became a part of the group, I noticed that piercings were very common to glimpse in queer groups and loved them at first sight. The freedom to express oneself in whatever way makes you feel most comfortable in your own body is something that I heavily appreciate the existence of, and that is what I see piercings doing for people.
Gender affirmation is a big reason piercings intertwine with gay culture, which will generally be most noticeable in gender nonconforming communities, but can apply to cisgender individuals as good. For cis women, a pair of nipple piercings or a clitoral hood piercing might build her feel linked to her womanhood, and give her another way to express an appreciation for the body she has. For a transgender person, nipple piercings may give the pierced person a reason to find beauty in the breasts, or lack thereof, that they own, leading to less discomfort and dysphoria around tha
Why Did We Expand 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 beginning, knew and understood the earring code, as arbitrary as it seems.
It was even solidified in the New York Times: A 1991 report said same-sex attracted 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 author wrote about his own piercing journey.
Historically speaking, the truth is more complex. Earrings on guys have signified many things over the years, such as social stature or religious affiliation. In his book The Naked Man: A Study of the Male Body, Desmond Morris explains that earrings have indicated wisdom and caring in the stretched earlobes of the Buddha, while pirat
How did having piercings in the right ear become connected with homosexuality?
gracefulfatsheba1
How did having piercings in the right ear become associated with homosexuality? It’s something I’ve heard for a long time 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 common in the 1970s. There were some hippies wearing them but that was more of a protest of social norms than anything else. I remember hearing about the one earring means homosexual thing in the late 70s so it dates back at least until then. A lot of the punk rockers of the late 70s sported ear
One-stop Guide on Ear Piercing for Gay Men 2022: Meaning, History, and Peek Book
Can you base someone’s sexual orientation on which ear he pins his earring on? Gay men also used the placement of earrings and jewelry to drop hints about their sexuality and draw fellow queer men from the crowd. Read this post to understand the context and meaning behind gay ear piercing and how you may way your own this 2022.
Pieces of jewelry are not just a woman’s thing–men also wear them, as in the case of ear piercings. Earrings generally gained popularity throughout period, and eventually, men also got their ear piercings. From the continuing prevalence of earrings, you may have heard that ear piercings can also show a man’s sexual preference.
Sometime in the 1960s, it became common knowledge that gay men wore earrings in their right ear. The craze for so-called “gay earrings” persisted skillfully into the ’90s. However, the right ear remains the most common location for earrings.
More guys than ever are getting their ears pierced as the practice gains popularity among both sexes.
Read ahead to learn more about the background and history