The ltle-known, real-life backstory behd the Barbie movie's very funny gay Ken joke - Queerty

Contents:

• 5 FACTS BEHD THE "GAY" EAR
• HISTORY AND HYPOCRISY: WHAT THE "GAY" EAR PIERCG MEANS 2022
• WHICH EAR IS THE GAY EAR? IT’S THE LEFT, HERE’S WHY!
• WHICH EAR IS THE GAY EARRG? WHICH EAR IS THE STRAIGHT EAR?
• THE 'GAY GENE' IS A MYTH BUT BEG GAY IS 'NATURAL,' SAY SCIENTISTS
• POT 89: THE GAY EAR
• WHAT AND WHY IS THE GAY EAR THE ?
• THE LTLE-KNOWN, REAL-LIFE BACKSTORY BEHD THE BARBIE MOVIE’S VERY FUNNY GAY KEN JOKE
• A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.
• WHICH EAR IS THE GAY EARRG? WHICH EAR IS THE STRAIGHT EAR?
• THE 'GAY GENE' IS A MYTH BUT BEG GAY IS 'NATURAL,' SAY SCIENTISTS

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.

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 EAR? IT’S THE LEFT, HERE’S WHY!

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.

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

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 .

THE 'GAY GENE' IS A MYTH BUT BEG GAY IS 'NATURAL,' SAY SCIENTISTS

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.

POT 89: THE GAY EAR

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. 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.

WHAT AND WHY IS THE GAY EAR THE ?

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.

THE LTLE-KNOWN, REAL-LIFE BACKSTORY BEHD THE BARBIE MOVIE’S VERY FUNNY GAY KEN JOKE

Pre-Y2K (and beyond), 's been socially unrstood that wearg one earrg on the right ear means someone is gay; the left, straight.

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. 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.

A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

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?

WHICH EAR IS THE GAY EARRG? WHICH EAR IS THE STRAIGHT 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. He rocks the "gay earrg" on the regular - and on purpose, a signature style cue he refers to as his "gag du jour" on Instagram - rarely optg for a subtle ht of gold but a more-is-more approach. Today's isms, like no-makp makp and tantourg, don't force to relive the bt of the worst; rather, they remd that the journey of fg a "personal" style is as fe as dog the dish: you're never really Salem, the "gay ear piercg" is a smaller yet ccial part of a bigger picture.

Nor was about a limp wrist or gaydar. Unrstandg which ear is the gay ear als wh celebratg homosexualism through a piercg!

THE 'GAY GENE' IS A MYTH BUT BEG GAY IS 'NATURAL,' SAY SCIENTISTS

This dat back to a kky time the 1980s, where wearg earrgs on the left ear dited that the person wearg them was homosexual, and wearg them on the right dited that they were heterosexual. So do left equal your gay bt?