History and Hypocrisy: What the "Gay" Ear Piercg Means 2022

Contents:

• 5 FACTS BEHD THE "GAY" EAR
• QUEERG THE EARRG: PIERCGS ARE GAY
• HISTORY AND HYPOCRISY: WHAT THE "GAY" EAR PIERCG MEANS 2022
• WHICH EAR IS THE GAY EARRG? WHICH EAR IS THE STRAIGHT EAR?
• GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI
• NOT THE ONN: MOSW BANS GAY PRI FOR NEXT 100 YEARS
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• NFL ACH BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR U.S. MEN’S PRO SPORTS TO E OUT AS GAY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• QUEERG THE EARRG: PIERCGS ARE GAY

5 FACTS BEHD THE "GAY" EAR

Have you ever heard the term "gay ear"?

Now ’s nsired a fad that has bee passe, but at one time, people really ed as a tell-tale sign of whether a young man was gay or not.

Fact 1: The “Gay Ear” Referred To a Man Havg His Right Ear Pierced.

QUEERG THE EARRG: PIERCGS ARE GAY

When people talked about the gay ear, they referred to a specific ear beg pierced on a man.

This trend didn't clu women the gay ear fad bee, most Wtern cultur sce the 1950s, has generally been a cultural norm for femal to have their ears pierced.

HISTORY AND HYPOCRISY: WHAT THE "GAY" EAR PIERCG MEANS 2022

But wasn't until the late 1960s that people attributed a man who had his ear pierced to beg gay. Fact 3: Right Earlobe Meant Gay, Left Earlobe Meant Straight.

The practice of ear piercg history began to thread through hippie muni first and then through the gay muny. Some straight people also enjoyed the trend and tablished that the left earlobe signified that they were not gay, even though they were a man wh a sgle pierced ear.

WHICH EAR IS THE GAY EARRG? WHICH EAR IS THE STRAIGHT EAR?

Though some people preferred to have both ears pierced, the LGBT muny quickly cid that if a man had one ear pierced, namely the right one, on the earlobe, was a vert signal that he was gay.

Fact 4: The Gay Ear Was Used for Gay Signalg. Sce beg gay isn’t jt herently somethg visible om someone’s looks, the LGBTQ+ muny of centuri past spent a good amount of time lookg for specific styl or trends to allow people wh the muny to show other people that they were gay and proud of . In some societi where beg gay was eher owned upon or illegal and punishable, LGBTQ+ members would choose subtle methods of monstratg their sexualy.

Over the centuri, among different societi, any good historian n pot to a few different methods of gay signalg.

GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI

However, the subtle methods did ocsnally suffer when gay dividuals eher wanted a more prehensive monstratn of their gay pri or when straight people found out about the trend. Disverg the secret “gay ear ” led to creased scty of men's ears by discrimatory dividuals.

NOT THE ONN: MOSW BANS GAY PRI FOR NEXT 100 YEARS

By the 1990s, the fn of the gay ear had bee so nfg that most people jt shgged off the ia and cid that any man who had any part of his ears pierced mt be queer.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

However, as punk rock culture me more promently onto the scene, enough men began havg their ears pierced that people cid to move on om the ia of a “gay ear” entirely.

Most people have pletely fotten about the gay ear fad or are too young to even remember .

While the ia of a gay ear, or anythg really that’s a tell of someone's sexualy seems lghable today, was once an tegral part of LGBTQ+ culture. The ia of gay signalg hasn't stopped, pecially plac and cultur where people n't be as vol about their sexualy as they might want to be.

NFL ACH BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR U.S. MEN’S PRO SPORTS TO E OUT AS GAY

A 1991 article om the New York Tim claimed that gay men uld be intified by their earrgs, statg that they “often [wore] a sgle piece of jewelry the right ear to dite sexual preference.

Nobody is googlg “which ear is the gay ear” eher—well, nobody who healthily engag wh society. Right Ear Piercg mistersfc / Instagram You may have heard about the ‘gay’ ear piercg worn on the right si back the day. Pre-Y2K (and beyond), 's been socially unrstood that wearg one earrg on the right ear means someone is gay; the left, straight.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

Dpe recent data and celebri supportg otherwise, the magogic proverb "Left is right and right is wrong" has been a whisper placed upon gay and straight men (and their piercers) for s.

QUEERG THE EARRG: PIERCGS ARE GAY

But the whole "gay ear" thg has always been ironic, nsirg s ever-changg posn throughout history. It's te, though, that "droppg a hairp" - the precursor to signalg (a way to drop a subtle ht to someone that you, too, were gay) - was both harmful and helpful.

And the "Café Dis" episo of "The Office, " Kelly n be seen piercg Andy a cutaway as he asks: "Are you sure that's not the gay ear? Coleman and Theo Sandfort discs the fact that straight Rsian men would often mark their first sexual act wh women by piercg their right ear as a way to ward off unwanted advanc om gay men. "In llege, Phil Oakey (The Human League) had both of his ears pierced, which really threw people for a loop bee he was straight spe givg off the gayt vibe the world.