It is according to my husband. I recently got one and he just noticed tonight and he didn’t like it. He said it was “tacky, subculture?, and unattractive.” I had no idea he would react so negatively. I mean, I have a tatoo and a total of 5 piercings in my ear lobes. Does the fact that this one is in cartlage make it taboo in some way?
No, in a word.
I’ve got one and I’m about the least subculture person there is.
Had to look up helix; thanks for teaching me a new word.
Not “subculture” and not “tacky,” IMHO. But I live in So Cal so maybe I can’t tell tacky any more.
A helix? Hardly. Anti-helix (sometimes called “forward helix”), perhaps, but barely. 14 year olds are getting helixes in malls nowadays. Stupid 14 year olds in stupid malls sure (always go to a professional piercer, not a Claire’s Boutique minimum wage drone!) – but it’s hardly cutting edge. Now a double helix orbital, now we’re talking crazy! 
A reference page for those wondering what the hell we’re talking about.
There’s a stupider way then Claire’s to do it. A friend of mine piereced mine with one of those $10.00 pierecers from Walgreens. The one’s that look like a little stapler. Then two days later I went and jammed a 14g captive bead ring through it. I’m lucky my ear didn’t fall off. But 10 years later and I’ve still got it. (The ear, and the ring)
Oh, and as for the OP, hardly subculture.
If it’s subculture, I should really have a talk with my kid’s 50ish elementary school teacher. She’s warping my child! Whatever shall I do?!
From “tacky and subculture” I was imagining a tragus, but now that I see what this is, wuh? Where is your husband from, that that’s outlandish?
Joey P-- I think I did mine, age 17, with the technology of a needle, a gold stud, a carrot, and some vodka.
I wouldn’t say it’s AT ALL counterculture. I have one, and I’m as boring and normal as a person can be.
No, seriously. I’m on the freaking PTA at my kid’s school.
I always called it a cartilage piercing. I had one in my early 20s but it wouldn’t heal and I had to let it close up. 
Was the carrot to keep you from biting your tongue?
As far as “subculture” is concerned, maybe 20-25 years ago, but certainly not in 2007. And I’m curious to know to which subculture he was referring. And even if it were subculture, what’s wrong with that?
You will be pleased to know the linked paged is blocked by The Proper Authorities. Good solid Tory Government.
No, it’s not taboo. However, there do exist some people who think there’s a limit to such things. Lobes don’t bother him, cartilage does. If you think you’re going to take us saying that it’s not that weird and convince him to change his mind, you’re not.
Paul: The Helix piercing is on the outside cartilage of the upper ear. Not the top, but about 3/4 of the way up between the lobe and top of the ear.
I can see why he wouldn’t like it. Calling it “subculture” or whatever he said might be over the top, but that kind of piercing is a different look than than ear lobes. I don’t think he’s being a jerk for saying he doesn’t like it. (And I wonder why you got it without first mentioning it to him, but that’s your business.)
It’s a little more of an unusual look than the ear lobes, even multiples there, so an individual is either going to like it or not. I don’t think this is on the same level as if you came home with a big metal ring hanging from your nose, but at the same time it’s not the same as if you put one more peircing in your lobes either. Even with the lobes, I suspect there would be a point where he says that’s enough and any more would look subculture.
It sounds like this type of piercing crosses the line for him, even if your aesthetic sense is different.
It isn’t subculture at all. I have a helix and a rook, and the rook does get a few looks sometimes (I’m a librarian) and people ask if it hurt, but the helix isn’t even commented on.
My boyfriend doesn’t like it either, though - just his personal taste.
What the hell is everybody scrutinizing everybody’s ears for?
-Kris
Naah, it’s nothing strange. Maybe he doesn’t like it, but it hasn’t been “subculture” for years. I’ve got one on the right and am seriously considering getting the left done to balance things out.
A few years back, there was a belief among weight-loss hobbyists that piercings and clips in that spot would act as an appetite-suppressant. They believed it was an accupuncture spot that would cause the wearer to turn down extra food. :dubious:
Eh, I eventually had to take one out because with two, it’s hard to not sleep on at least one of them and mine started to really migrate on the right. YMMV.
I’m disappointed. I thought this was about helical earrings, like springs, threaded through multiple piercings of the ear. That hasn’t been done yet, has it?