Gay pierced
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 appreciate 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 storyteller wrote about his control piercing journey.
Historically speaking, the truth is more complex. Earrings on guys hold signified many things over the years, such as social stature or religious affiliation. In his book The Naked Man: A Examination of the Male Body, Desmond Morris explains that earrings have indicated wisdom and compassion in the stretched earlobes of the Buddha, while pirat
One-stop Guide on Ear Piercing for Gay Men 2022: Meaning, History, and Stare 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 demonstrate 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 adequately 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