# Black men and earrings. Can we let it go already? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 14, 2010, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402 "2010-05-14T06:31:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/101 "2010-05-20T02:46:05Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > Very few white guys wear earrings. > For that matter, most black men don’t either. I’m white. I have worn an earring nonstop since around 1988. I currently wear a silver hoop in my left ear. How very few? Cite please? Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/102 "2010-05-20T04:39:32Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > I’m white. I have worn an earring nonstop since around 1988. I currently wear a silver hoop in my left ear. > > How very few? Cite please? The posters in this thread saying “I’m a white male who wears and earring and has done since long before it was cool!” are A) A prime example of how the SDMB bears little relation to the actual world and B) Not a representative sample. As for a cite to how few white guys wear earrings: Go outside and see for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/103 "2010-05-20T05:44:53Z")
> [@Martini Enfield](#): > > As for a cite to how few white guys wear earrings: Go outside and see for yourself. Fortunately for the Straight Dope cause of ignorance-fighting, some of us here have a less pathetically limpdick approach to cite-hunting. 😉 For a start, try [this](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/the-complications-of-body-piercing/): > [@](#): > > The 2002 report [on ear/body piercing among American college students], published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, found that 51 percent of the college students surveyed had some sort of piercing, not counting pierced earlobes among the women. > > In that study, 38 percent of male students had pierced ears, either in the lobe or elsewhere […] I don’t think that an ear-piercing prevalence of over one-third among male college students really counts as “very few”. Sure, college students are doubtless more likely to be pierced than older men, and piercing rates drop as age increases, but that sounds like much more than a tiny percentage of guys out there with holes in their ears. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/104 "2010-05-20T05:45:57Z")
Piercings and earrings are not the same thing, though. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/105 "2010-05-20T05:50:25Z")
> [@Martini Enfield](#): > > Piercings and earrings are not the same thing, though. Pierced **ears** and earrings are, though, and that 38% figure is for the percentage of men with pierced **ears**. If what you mean is that you’re still trying to maintain that there’s a meaningful distinction between “men wearing some kind of jewelry in a pierced ear” and “men wearing earrings”, sure, knock yourself out, but I don’t think anybody else here sees it that way. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/106 "2010-05-20T05:57:14Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > If what you mean is that you’re still trying to maintain that there’s a meaningful distinction between “men wearing some kind of jewelry in a pierced ear” and “men wearing earrings”, sure, knock yourself out, but I don’t think anybody else here sees it that way. That’s my argument, yes. Also, university students don’t comprise that large a group of society- most people don’t go to university, after all. So if 38% of male uni students have a piercing of some sort, that means 62% don’t. And 38% of a group not representing the majority of the population is close enough to “very few” or “almost nobody” for me. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/107 "2010-05-20T06:37:22Z")
> [@Martini Enfield](#): > > Also, university students don’t comprise that large a group of society- most people don’t go to university, after all. So if 38% of male uni students have a piercing of some sort, that means 62% don’t. And 38% of a group not representing the majority of the population is close enough to “very few” or “almost nobody” for me. Try this: [Nineteen percent of males in a 2004 survey of Americans between 18 and 50 years of age reported having pierced ears.](http://academic.csuohio.edu/holcombj/TATTOOS.pdf) Now admittedly, men older than 50 are probably much less likely to have ear piercings, so that’s not equivalent to 19% of the entire US male population. But it still sounds like a lot more than “very few” or “almost nobody” to me. If you mean that “very few” or “almost no” white males wear the particular type of paired, matching, large-ish, more stereotypically “feminine”-looking earrings that seem to be the only thing you’re willing to call “earrings”, that would be plausible. But if you’re trying to argue for the position that only “very few” of them have pierced ears at all, I think you’re kidding yourself, at least when it comes to the US male population. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/108 "2010-05-20T06:48:59Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > That’s my argument, yes. > > Also, university students don’t comprise that large a group of society- most people don’t go to university, after all. So if 38% of male uni students have a piercing of some sort, that means 62% don’t. And 38% of a group not representing the majority of the population is close enough to “very few” or “almost nobody” for me. In the US, [between 62 and 69 percent of high school graduates enroll in college.](http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=51)[About 68% of Americans graduate high school.](http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/index.php?measure=23) Now, I don’t have a stat for this, maybe I’m displaying my own prejudice here, but I kind of suspect that percentage of men with pierced ears is somewhat higher among high school dropouts than it is among college students. So I’d say that, in the US, there’s a pretty substantial proportion of men who have pierced ears. Not a majority, by any means, but very, very far from “almost nobody.” Of course, there’s going to be a lot of regional variations. I live just across the bridge from San Francisco. I’m pretty sure around here, the proportion of men with ear rings is through the roof, and I’m not just talking about the men who accessorize their earrings with formal ball gowns. I have no doubt that’s a much rarer sight in whatever area of Australia you live in. Neither of us has any standing to claim that our regional experiences are representative of the norm. Just because you don’t see many men with earrings in your corner of the world, doesn’t mean that it’s rare everywhere. It could be that you happen to live in a statistical outlier - I already know that I live in one. There’s a guy I see pretty regularly when I go out to lunch who has between thirty and forty piercings _in one ear_. That’s the sort of thing you have to do to seem unusual where I live, so I’m not going to use my personal, non-scientific experience to draw conclusions about society at large. Not at a state level, not at a national level, and certainly not at a global level. Point being, just because its not common where you live, doesn’t mean its not common. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/109 "2010-05-20T13:22:15Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > If you mean that “very few” or “almost no” white males wear the particular type of paired, matching, large-ish, more stereotypically “feminine”-looking earrings that seem to be the only thing you’re willing to call “earrings”, that would be plausible. But if you’re trying to argue for the position that only “very few” of them have pierced ears at all, I think you’re kidding yourself, at least when it comes to the US male population. At no point have I ever argued that lots of white people don’t have pierced ears. I see heaps of them all the time, as I’ve said previously. The point I’m making is that almost no white male (besides drag queens and cross-dressers) wears feminine-type “earrings”. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/110 "2010-05-20T14:13:05Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > At no point have I ever argued that lots of white people don’t have pierced ears. I see heaps of them all the time, as I’ve said previously. The point I’m making is that almost no white male (besides drag queens and cross-dressers) wears feminine-type “earrings”. Your goalposts have wheels on 'em. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/111 "2010-05-20T14:13:52Z")
Now I have no idea at all what he means by “feminine-type earrings.” Unless he means some sort of big dangly extravaganza, which I never see any men of any hue wearring unless accessorized by a ball gown, as **Miller** said. The distinction between “earring” and “ear pierce” doesn’t seem worth making to just about anybody else, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/112 "2010-05-20T14:42:53Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > My granddaughter had an ear tunnel a couple of years ago. I rarely see her, but don’t those things grow back? AFAIK, if you leave 'em alone, they’ll go back to their regular size eventually, assuming they’re not particularly large. > [@amanset](#): > > However, Sweden’s Finance Minister, Anders Borg, is white, has an earing AND a ponytail. He probably has the most punchable face in modern politics. > > [http://media.ne.se/neimage/1088597.jpg](http://media.ne.se/neimage/1088597.jpg) Wow, he does look kind of like a douche. I had to actually grab my right fist with my left hand to keep it from knocking my laptop over. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/113 "2010-05-20T21:26:24Z")
> [@Martini Enfield](#): > > At no point have I ever argued that lots of white people don’t have pierced ears. Yes you have, by arguing against the statistics and anecdotes posted here indicating that lots of white males **do** have pierced ears: > [@Cartooniverse](#): > > I’m white. I have worn an earring nonstop since around 1988. I currently wear a silver hoop in my left ear. > > How very few? Cite please? > [@Martini Enfield](#): > > The posters in this thread saying “I’m a white male who wears and earring and has done since long before it was cool!” are A) A prime example of how the SDMB bears little relation to the actual world and B) Not a representative sample. If you don’t disagree that there are indeed lots of white males who have at least one pierced ear and wear some kind of jewelry in it, then why on earth were you carping that **Cartooniverse** ’s description of himself as a white male with a pierced ear and an earring was “not a representative sample”? > [@Kimstu](#): > > I don’t think that an ear-piercing prevalence of over one-third among male college students really counts as “very few”. > [@Martini Enfield](#): > > So if 38% of male uni students have a piercing of some sort, that means 62% don’t. And 38% of a group not representing the majority of the population is close enough to “very few” or “almost nobody” for me. If you don’t disagree that it is indeed pretty common for white males to have an ear-piercing, then why on earth were you trying to twist that statistic into an alleged indication that only “very few” or “almost none” of them have an ear-piercing? If all you’re really trying to claim is that very few white men wear matching pairs of feminine-looking earrings, then quit your illogical quibbling over other people’s perfectly reasonable statements that **more** than “very few” white men wear **other** kinds of earrings: statements which don’t even affect the truth of your claim in any way. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/114 "2010-05-21T08:56:09Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > If all you’re really trying to claim is that very few white men wear matching pairs of feminine-looking earrings, then quit your illogical quibbling over other people’s perfectly reasonable statements that **more** than “very few” white men wear **other** kinds of earrings: statements which don’t even affect the truth of your claim in any way. Sheesh. It’s not just a “matched pair of feminine-looking earrings”. It’s _any_ kind of earring (single or pair) that wasn’t either a small metal ring(s) being worn near the top of the ear or something that looks like a socket-spanner part being worn in the lobe. The number of white men I’ve seen with “blingy” or “fashion” _earrings_ (as in, costume jewellery like women wear and not “Look how alternative I am” metal piercings) is near enough to zero as to make no real difference. At no point have I said that white guys don’t have piercings, because that’s untrue. Lots of them do. But I maintain that white males do not generally wear “fashion”-type _earrings_ (as opposed to piercings) and that’s the point I’ve been making. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/115 "2010-05-21T13:03:46Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > It’s not just a “matched pair of feminine-looking earrings”. It’s _any_ kind of earring (single or pair) that wasn’t either a small metal ring(s) being worn near the top of the ear or something that looks like a socket-spanner part being worn in the lobe. That’s not remotely the most common type of male ear piercing in my experience. The most common that I’ve seen (and granted, I live in a backwater) is exactly like the most common female ear piercing. One hole, in the lobe, filled with either a hoop or a stud–purchased at the same stores where women purchase their earrings and indistinguishable from the hoops or studs that women wear. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/116 "2010-05-21T15:12:43Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > At no point have I said that white guys don’t have piercings, because that’s untrue. Lots of them do. But I maintain that white males do not generally wear “fashion”-type _earrings_ (as opposed to piercings) and that’s the point I’ve been making. You’re making up your own, personal definition of what “earring” means. Look, I can do it, too: Almost no men wear clothes.\* \*By “clothes” I mean “frilly pink dresses.” ---
**Author:** ![Cowboy\_Brett\_in\_Windsor\_Can](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cowboy\_Brett\_in\_Windsor\_Can](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowboy_Brett_in_Windsor_Can)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/117 "2011-09-14T14:22:44Z")
Well,this boyishly handsome,58-year-old black Canadian lad WOULD NEVER PONDER WEARING AN EAR-RING!!!(Guess why,dudes?) In fact,I wear NEARLY NO boy bling-or “dude-cessories,” as I term such adornments. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/118 "2011-09-14T14:29:46Z")
I’m nearly impressed by your restraint. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/119 "2011-09-14T14:31:55Z")
Apparently we _can’t_ let it go. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402/120 "2011-09-14T14:32:38Z")
> [@Cowboy\_Brett\_in\_Windsor\_Can](#): > > Well,this boyishly handsome,58-year-old black Canadian lad WOULD NEVER PONDER WEARING AN EAR-RING!!!(Guess why,dudes?) Idunno. You’re boyfriend doesn’t approve of body modifications? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-men-and-earrings-can-we-let-it-go-already/539402.md?page=7)