This board can be really difficult. I come to it for advice and discussion, then I am reminded of the elitism. Money does not buy class, academia does not automatically secure class "(both parents are doctors, so it surprised us a lot!)". When someone says "something that the lower classes do", how does one know what the lower classes do? Have you spent time with "low class" people? Read about them? Taught them? Observed them like at a zoo? And at what point do these classes transition from one to the next. I am really curious about this. Maybe I'm too young to know about this WASPy thing, (I did google it), but am I to understand that if WASP don't approve, it's low class, trashy and trailer trash? I just don't see what is trashy about baby ear piercing. How does one even form these thoughts about something as common and innocent as ear piercing? Do you really look at the beautiful baby and say to yourself "OMG, babies ear's are pierced, so low class!" Maybe someone really high class (with high class credentials) will respond. I am not being snarky. |
Not always true. Are you Brazilian? |
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Certainly I wouldn't judge parents for making this choice, but I think "it's cultural" is a low form of reasoning, akin to "everyone else is doing it," really.
We are Indian and I did not pierce our girls' ears. The probable reasons that this became a custom-- marking babies' gender from the earliest age possible, along with bangles and dresses and such-- are things that I see no good argument for and several arguments against. In fact, I have a lot of issues w/ how Indian girls and women have been treated and are treated and although ear-piercing is really the least of it and seems harmless relatively speaking, I am sending my girls the message from the beginning: your bodies belong to YOU. But: I have never, ever, ever met any woman who resented her parents for piercing her ears during infancy! |
Wrong |
In Northern Europe (where I come from) it is considered a sign of the lower classes, even today. Clearly this area is divided on the issue. I think it is low class, too, but that's how I was reared....shrug. |
Yes, although I would certainly never say that. |
Well, all black people are the same you know.
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Do people really call themselves "WASPs"? Seriously? Are you in a sweater set, pearls and sensible pumps? Is your husband named "Chaz"? Golly, I'm sure you'll get over this trauma. |
Yes it's true and yes I'm Brazilian. Btw my I'm chose not to do mine and I was the only one in school without them. My daughter also doesn't have her ears pierced and she's the only amongst my friends and their kids that doesn't. Vc pelo jeito nao é... |
There's only one or 2 posters who didn't get it. Move on. |
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10:02 WASP here - I'm pretty down-to-earth and don't think of myself as snobby. Not wealthy. I attended public school and my daughter will attend public school. I put WASP as my descriptor becaus it's what I am. white, protestant, not from a culture that pierces ears at a young age.
I just run in a circle that doesn't pierce ears until the kids are tweens or preteens. Pierced ears typically happen in my circle around the time we let girls start wearing makeup. I always noticed that the super-young, poorer white moms (you can tell by the clothes, the cars, etc.) seemed more likely to have babies with pierced ears. |
apparently lacking oxygen |
Oh dear God. |
+1. Well said. |
Everyone's entitled to their opinion. My cousin finds women wearing pants to be trashy. |