Anonymous wrote:Honest question - Is it not okay to find other cultural practices bad/trashy/wrong simply becuase it is something common to that culture?

I jsut think the answer "it's cultural!" is odd. Or is there just a level of acceptance that we have for activities we find non-damaging?

I mean surely no one would say "child marriage is fine, its cultural! because we can be clear there is an injured party there. But still it is cultural. . .

Everyone's entitled to their opinion. My cousin finds women wearing pants to be trashy.

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1. Well said.

Anonymous wrote: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.

Oh dear God.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a WASP and I tend to think of it as something that the lower classes do. Pretty sure others in my circle feel the same way, as I only know one family who pierced their baby's ears. (both parents are doctors, so it surprised us a lot!)

I actually didn't know that some cultures do it routinely until DCUM informed me. I would never say anything in public, but I admit, I do still think of it as a lower-class thing to do.

how is the air up there on your horse, your Majesty?

apparently lacking oxygen

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is racist classist trash. Too bad for her kids.

I'm the OP and I was being sarcastic. Since when GB is trashy?????

You don't see anything wrong with the language you used in your post OP? This is all hilarious to you?

I was using the language we see here often when this subject is discussed. It was supposed to be a satire. I think the majority got it, right?

Wrong

There's only one or 2 posters who didn't get it. Move on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I don't get why a parent would want to cause their child pain at such a tender age. It might not hurt for long but the baby certainly never asked for it.

If you have a son, did you also not circumcise the child to to causing pain? It's a culture thing, get over it. My mother pierced my ears at weeks of age as well. I never regretted having pierced ears.

Well to me a 'cultural thing' isn't reason enough to alter a child's body part. But that's just my opinion...

Her ears were also pierced and it's not a big deal. In brazil the earrings are given to the nursery nurses. The baby leaves the hospital with it.

Not always true. Are you Brazilian?

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...

Anonymous wrote:I'm a WASP and I tend to think of it as something that the lower classes do. Pretty sure others in my circle feel the same way, as I only know one family who pierced their baby's ears. (both parents are doctors, so it surprised us a lot!)

I actually didn't know that some cultures do it routinely until DCUM informed me. I would never say anything in public, but I admit, I do still think of it as a lower-class thing to do.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny reading this site.....black folks have been piercing our babies ears for decades. My great grandmother pierced mine at. 2 mos. I have two daughters, one got them at 3 ms, the other at 9 mos only because her ears were so tiny I had to wait.

I'm black and no baby girl's ear has been pierced in my family. My mother waited to have my ears pierced until I asked for it. I was 3. I'll do the same with my girls.

Well, all black people are the same you know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a WASP and I tend to think of it as something that the lower classes do. Pretty sure others in my circle feel the same way, as I only know one family who pierced their baby's ears. (both parents are doctors, so it surprised us a lot!)

I actually didn't know that some cultures do it routinely until DCUM informed me. I would never say anything in public, but I admit, I do still think of it as a lower-class thing to do.

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.

Yes, although I would certainly never say that.

Anonymous wrote:In Western Europe where I come from, most do not do this (and people like my mother think it is trashy). But in many other parts of the world, it is culturally important. So since it is not on par with female genital mutilation, and only causes momentary pain rather like a blood draw (which my children had to have very young), I have no objection to it.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is racist classist trash. Too bad for her kids.

I'm the OP and I was being sarcastic. Since when GB is trashy?????

You don't see anything wrong with the language you used in your post OP? This is all hilarious to you?

I was using the language we see here often when this subject is discussed. It was supposed to be a satire. I think the majority got it, right?

Wrong

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!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I don't get why a parent would want to cause their child pain at such a tender age. It might not hurt for long but the baby certainly never asked for it.

If you have a son, did you also not circumcise the child to to causing pain? It's a culture thing, get over it. My mother pierced my ears at weeks of age as well. I never regretted having pierced ears.

Well to me a 'cultural thing' isn't reason enough to alter a child's body part. But that's just my opinion...

Her ears were also pierced and it's not a big deal. In brazil the earrings are given to the nursery nurses. The baby leaves the hospital with it.

Not always true. Are you Brazilian?

Anonymous wrote:I'm a WASP and I tend to think of it as something that the lower classes do. Pretty sure others in my circle feel the same way, as I only know one family who pierced their baby's ears. (both parents are doctors, so it surprised us a lot!)

I actually didn't know that some cultures do it routinely until DCUM informed me. I would never say anything in public, but I admit, I do still think of it as a lower-class thing to do.

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.