Cultural meaning of baby/child ear piercing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious, too OP.
I had mine pierced at 13, and my three girls are all desperate to have theirs pierced earlier.
I’ll be the one to say: it’s trashy to pierce babies’ ears.

I never get this. You guys keep saying it, but no one ever has a good answer as to why its trashy. SO I think it's trashy to attach that thought to someone's baby.

Oooh, good one!

[Anonymous]

I'm African American and I think that for some people, it's important for a baby girl to "look" like a baby girl. Hence earrings, bows, etc. They wouldn't want her to be mistaken for a boy.

Of course, this is not always true. My mom (black immigrant) never got her ears pierced. She let me pierce mine at age 8.

[Anonymous]

Ear piercing in Hindus is an ancient practice irrespective of gender. As per Ayurveda, wearing precious metals in certain acupressure/acupuncture points is believed to balance nerves and increase immunity. Anything beneficial was tied to a religious/ritual practice, so people followed it diligently.

[Anonymous]

I thought it was cute, so we pierced her ears. She’s now 7 and loves picking out, changing, and shopping for new earrings, so I guess it all worked out in the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s very common in many cultures. African, middle eastern, south Asian, and some Asian.

It’s just not very common among whole people.

So when someone says it’s trashy, I just think they don’t like what brown people do.

What do you mean by "whole" people?

Is that some new culture reference?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s very common in many cultures. African, middle eastern, south Asian, and some Asian.

It’s just not very common among whole people.

So when someone says it’s trashy, I just think they don’t like what brown people do.

What do you mean by "whole" people?

Is that some new culture reference?

Obviously they meant white people. Typo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well maybe it’s not trashy. But it’s jarring and not cute.

It is a cultural difference. For me it is so sweet to see little girls wearing gold earring and signifies that the parents will look after her needs and not scrimp on providing expensive things like gold jewellery to her. To me it was jarring, not cute and very sad to see neglected girls with unpierced ears. See how this works?

Yikes.
And it's "jewelry".

[Anonymous]

It is a low class thing

[Anonymous]

It's a tradition in many parts of India. Even little boys used to have their ears pierced though they would not continue to wear earrings like the girls did. My brother and I got our ears pierced at 12 months of age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a low class thing

Like you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well maybe it’s not trashy. But it’s jarring and not cute.

It is a cultural difference. For me it is so sweet to see little girls wearing gold earring and signifies that the parents will look after her needs and not scrimp on providing expensive things like gold jewellery to her. To me it was jarring, not cute and very sad to see neglected girls with unpierced ears. See how this works?

Yikes.
And it's "jewelry".

Jewellery or jewelry consists of small decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. - Wikipedia

Some people don't speak American!

[Anonymous]

Genuinely curious question (not snarky!!!): when the baby is little, how much does it appear to hurt? Does she cry for long after? Or is it like a shot that is over in a nanosecond? I always wanted to do it with our daughters but my husband freaked out that it would traumatize the baby.

[Anonymous]

I thought it was to identify baby girls as girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious, too OP.
I had mine pierced at 13, and my three girls are all desperate to have theirs pierced earlier.
I’ll be the one to say: it’s trashy to pierce babies’ ears.

I never get this. You guys keep saying it, but no one ever has a good answer as to why its trashy. SO I think it's trashy to attach that thought to someone's baby.

They aren't your ears to pierce. Modifications to your daughter's body should be made at her discretion when she is old enough to make such a decision. I'm not sure how you can do something like this and then turn around and tell her that her body belongs to her. You've already shown very clearly that it belongs to you and to society.

[Anonymous]

[/b]

Anonymous wrote:It’s very common in many cultures. African, middle eastern, south Asian, and some Asian. [b]

It’s just not very common among whole people.

So when someone says it’s trashy, I just think they don’t like what brown people do.

Yeah I’d say the ‘trashy’ thinking white people are outnumbered on this one.