• ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    54
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    4 months ago

    I guess I will explain it for people

    This is actually a thing…with piercings

    Getting the right ear pieced, also called the gay ear, is a way to signal to others that you are gay. I have no idea if it’s still a thing but growing up if you were getting a piercing the rule was left or both

    • Glitterbomb@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      29
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      I have two in my right, one in my left, and have been told many times that its the same thing. More in the right ear apparently makes me gay. Im definitely straight, but I kept my piercings like this for the last 15 years, and wouldnt you know it, the only people telling me thats gay are other straight people. This is certainly just personal experiences, but my personal experience is that its not a ‘gay rule’ as much as its a ‘homophobe rule.’ Like you said, pretty sure it was a style or signal in the gay community in the 80s or something, but any more it just feels like an urban legend perpetuated by bigots.

        • TheWordBotcher@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          4 months ago

          Progressive-leaning lesbian and vehemently anti-Trump, actually. She was very much a part of LGBTQ+ culture in the 90s, and the ear piercing thing was a part of it at the time. Though it really has fallen to the wayside nowadays.

    • Xanis@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      Is this still a thing? I could have sworn it fell away like ten years ago.

      Then again, I wasn’t sure certain types of pants would ever come back. RETURN TO US, JNCO!

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      I heard it was the left ear, or any piercing, or it was the right ear, or it was only certain kinds of piercings.

      None of it was true.

    • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      4 months ago

      This was never a very reliable thing ever and certainly isn’t anymore. The joke the OP makes is in reference to what it was used for, which was an attempt to attack / stigmatize anyone who did choose their right ear for a piercing perpetrated by small minds. Many of those small minds have now grown into the hateful old bigots that are the base of the GOP.