Is it gay to have one earring
What Does a Single Earring Mean on a Man?
The reaction to Harry Styles’s semi-sheer Gucci Met Gala outfit this year wasmixed, but onlookers agreed on one thing: His free pearl earring was the accessory of the night.
One-sided and off-balance, the unpartnered dangly earring is support. In the mid-’80s, it was sported by Steal Lowe in St. Elmo’s Fire, Bob Dylan at Live Aid, and George Michael pretty much everywhere. It even traveled into the ’90s in the form of Michael Jordan’s gold hoop. And now it’s reemerged. “Old Town Road” rapper Lil Nas X often performs in a hanging-cross earring. Over-the-top reggaeton singer Bad Bunny regularly wears an even longer one. Onscreen, Julio Torres sports a singly dangly and blue hair in Los Espookys. And in the trailer for American Horror Story: 1984, Cody Fern smolders in impossibly short shorts, a tight tank, and a lopsided piercing.
From left: Michael, Kam. Photo: Emily Soto
The watch isn’t confined to celebrities. Per one meme, the earring is in favor among “gays, musicians, artists, goths, skaters, and bisexuals,” or, as one earring-wearer phrased it, “creative souls in Bushwick and the East Village.” Like the skinny mustache, it’
Exposing the Truth: Which Ear is the Gay Ear?
Ever wondered about the importance of ear piercings and their connection to being gay? I've thought about it, especially when the idea of getting an ear pierced came to mind. From what I've gathered, there was a day when piercing your left ear was a discreet signal among men to indicate that they were gay. However, that's old news. These days, fashion and its meanings are fluid. The concept of which ear is the gay ear doesn't hold the identical implication anymore.
When it came to my own piercing, I recognized that the decision was more about what I prefer aesthetically. Choosing between the left or right ear has become a matter of personal taste, not a matter of sexual preference. So I concluded that whether it's the left or the right, it should just feel right to you.
Understanding Which Ear Is the Lgbtq+ Ear Idea
Since I was deeply immersed in my self-expression, I have had my ear pierced. It is a simple act that carries weight. There was a day when ear piercing, especially if it was the right ear, came with which ear is the gay ear idea. And lgbtq+ men would subtly identify each other by getting their right ear pierced. It was a
Right and Wrong
When I was an eighteen-year-old freshman at Mizzou, way back in 1990, I decided to flaunt my newfound self-rule 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 prove to your parents and the rest of the world that you are a certifiable bad boy, 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 hold saved me the ten bucks and done it herself. She favored the safety pin, ice cube, and raw potato method—which, in hindsight, would have given me much more street 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 ask me why I have an earring, and hoping to enlighten them, I always say that boys can have earrings, too. Then they inevitably ask why I only have 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 like Harrison Ford, Michael Jordan, and Ed Bradley wore one earring in tho
Why Did We Increase 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 enjoy 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 lgbtq+ 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