What ear is the gay ear

If you are wondering which side is the gay piercing left or right, then, to make a long story short, getting pierced in your right ear meant you were gay. There is a rich history of jewelry being used to show off wealth, nobility, or status.

These days, seldom does a trend stick around for longer than a few weeks before a neologism replaces the one before it, permeating the halls of TikTok or Instagram and causing all of us to second-guess what was once considered mainstream — only to then swap a coveted wardrobe staple for the latest passing fad. Still, certain exceptions prevail. Even today, one of the most unshakeable cultural signifiers has been the "mono" piercing — more precisely, and befuddling, on which ear it's placed and what it says about your sexuality. Pre-Y2K and beyond , it's been socially understood that wearing one earring on the right ear means someone is gay; the left, straight. Despite recent data and celebrities supporting otherwise, the demagogic proverb "Left is right and right is wrong" has been a whisper placed upon gay and straight men and their piercers for decades. No one really seems to know where the adage originated.

What ear is the gay ear

You know…. Despite changing times and modern progress, many people still associate body piercings particularly a single piercing in the earlobe as a symbol of someones sexuality. So, just in time for pride month, the team here at Amato decided to delve deeper into where this all started. This is a time where there were no legal or social protections for people who were apart of these communities. Many people lived in fear of losing their jobs, homes, families, and even their lives. It was common to be physically attacked if it were found out that you were anything but straight. This need for secrecy led to some creative ways to live a lifestyle that was typically frowned upon. People in these communities would gather together in secret bars, or meet up around trails in local parks after dark, they even used certain forms of code which varied from location to location to subtly tell people they were gay. This phrase spread across the U. It was only worn by rock stars and tattoo artists. The transition into being more mainstream, was around the time that people were daring to get second and third earlobe piercings. A particularly rebellious person might even pierce their cartilage! With this slow introduction of piercing into the public eye, it was quickly cemented into many minds that the singular piercing in the right lobe on a man was synonymous with being gay.

By the 90s, It had become so widely accepted as a secret code that there was an article about it in the New York Times.

We accepted it as gospel and never questioned its validity. But as I grew up, it seemed like everyone I met, no matter their place of origin, knew and understood the earring code, as arbitrary as it seems. 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 compassion in the stretched earlobes of the Buddha, while pirates wore them in the belief it would protect them from drowning. In the Elizabethan era, earrings were quite fashionable for men, he writes.

Pride is always something to shout about. Picnics, parades and festivals will take place throughout June and over the summer months, a colour explosion of progressive pride flags and fashion marking the occasion. In the s I wore a ring depicting a buckle, suggesting our love was fastened by choice, not law. In the s my lover and I have no need for rings: our half century together says it all. Pin badges showing the pink triangle or the purple lambda symbol officially recognised at the International Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh in as the symbol for Gay Liberation could be found on jacket lapels, bags and caps. The colour, position and pattern of the bandana acted as an unspoken declaration of sexual interest and role, particularly amongst gay men although a lesbian version existed too and those who undertook the practice of cruising. The original flag, designed by Gay Rights activist Gilbert Baker in for San Francisco Pride, had eight stripes of colour and was based on elements of the American flag and the rainbow, as well as bringing in a reference to the pop-art movement. This flag came to represent the community throughout the eighties, nineties and early noughties, appearing on bracelets, earrings, t-shirts, watches and caps, as well as a whole range of different ephemera. In , at the start of the Covid pandemic, a campaign started in Italy and spread throughout much of the world which saw the rainbow used as an image of thanks and appreciation to healthcare workers.

What ear is the gay ear

Over the course of its history, the LGBT community has adopted certain symbols for self-identification to demonstrate unity, pride , shared values, and allegiance to one another. These symbols communicate ideas, concepts, and identity both within their communities and to mainstream culture. The two symbols most recognized internationally are the pink triangle and the rainbow flag. The female and male gender symbols are derived from the astronomical symbols for the planets Venus and Mars respectively. Following Linnaeus , biologists use the planetary symbol for Venus to represent the female sex , and the planetary symbol for Mars to represent the male sex. The lambda became associated with Gay Liberation , [10] [11] and in December , it was officially declared the international symbol for gay and lesbian rights by the International Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 19th-century England , green indicated homosexual affiliations, as popularized by gay author Oscar Wilde , who often wore a green carnation on his lapel. Animals that lovers gave as gifts to their beloved also became symbols of pederastic love, such as hares , roosters , deer , felines and oxen , as a metaphor for sexual pursuits. Violets and their color became a special code used by lesbians and bisexual women. Daniel Thaxton and Bernie Toale created a lavender rhinoceros symbol for a public ad campaign to increase visibility for gay people in Boston helmed by Gay Media Action-Advertising; Toale said they chose a rhinoceros because "it is a much maligned and misunderstood animal" and that it was lavender because that is a mix of pink and blue, making it a symbolic merger of the feminine and masculine.

Marvel natasha romanoff

With this slow introduction of piercing into the public eye, it was quickly cemented into many minds that the singular piercing in the right lobe on a man was synonymous with being gay. Beauty Tips. Which side was the gay earring? With the positive surge in gay rights, the ability to marry one another and hold hands in public; no one needed to hide behind antiquated codes or symbols anymore, we could be out and proud! Customize Select the topics that interest you:. The problem was that nobody could remember which was supposed to be which. Still, certain exceptions prevail. In the s in Europe, it was common to see a wealthy man dripping with jewelry and it was fashionable for them to wear a single pearl earring hanging from one ear. What does Generation Z think of the whole gay code? Even today, one of the most unshakeable cultural signifiers has been the "mono" piercing — more precisely, and befuddling, on which ear it's placed and what it says about your sexuality. Well, if you were a heterosexual guy and you wanted to pierce an ear, it always had to be the left ear because the right ear was the gay ear. To communicate your sexuality you have to tell people.

Sorry, the content of this store can't be seen by a younger audience. Come back when you're older.

Nowadays, the original phrase is no longer as prevalent but it still might come up from time to time with boys getting a piercing in the right ear. It was only worn by rock stars and tattoo artists. There is good news. Gay men picked up on this fashion of communication. Maybe the ear code was once widely understood in the US, but around the rest of the world it seems to have been mainly a source of confusion. In the 20th century, it was used to show off sexual preference. Today at pm. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The internet has made finding our tribes a lot easier.