This may be a hijack, but I wonder when and where the custom of piercing girls’ ears originated, and how it became so prevalent. Especially since other forms of body piercing, and even ear piercing on men, are still seen as at least mildly rebellious.
If I had a daughter, I wouldn’t get her ears pierced in infancy for a very practical reason: it can serve as a bribe/reward/incentive later on, when she’s old enough to want it and ask for it. 
- purplehorseshoe who got her ears pierced around age 8 when she was a very, very good girl
I live in Tucson where we have a very high Hispanic population. I’d guess over 2/3 of the girls in my daughter’s Kindergarten class have pierced ears. I’ve told me daughter she has to wait until middle school, and she pouts about this.
But I don’t think it is a very big deal to get it done in infancy.
Yup. I was eight too. I remember how excited and nervous I was, and what it was like going home with my first pair. I like the idea of keeping it for a rite of passage, sort the marking of a little girl’s transition into young ladyhood.
As far as rituals go, I agree ear piercing is not a big deal. But personally I don’t like the idea of pidgeonholing my kid into a gender identity from the moment of her birth. I know it will be hard for me since I am so naturally into girly colors/clothes/jewelry to resist decorating my child for my own amusement, but seriously. I want her to be the one to decide what gender expectations to embrace and what gender expectations to reject. It may seem like a little thing - and it really is - but it sends a message about girls and the social expectation of prettiness that I’m not really on board with.
My aunts bought some earrings for my niece for her first birthday. My SIL and my mom (sister of the aunts) were all “What? Why?”
The aunts were all “What? Why not?”
We figured out that the aunts live and work in the inner city and ear piercing is much more common there than out here in the outer suburbs. I don’t think Cleveland has much of a Latino population, tho. Just people who live in the city.
My five-year old hasn’t brought it up yet, but I think her cousins (whom she is close to) were at least in middle school, so maybe she’s not interested yet. I don’t have a problem with ear piercing in babies, I guess, as a cultural thing, since it’s pretty harmless. We decided against circumcision for the boy though.
I don’t think ear piercing is a custom in Quebec, at least not to the level that it seems to be among Hispanic Americans if this thread is to be believed. I know plenty of women with unpierced ears, and even those who’ve had it done seem to have had it done as older children or teenagers.
My first piercing was around age 7 or 8. I think I got an infection and one of the holes closed, so I got it redone again later in high school. I might have gone for a second set in there somewhere, because I seem to remember having double piercings at one point. Or maybe just one was done twice. I can’t remember now. I was pretty hit or miss about wearing them through college and by my early 20s, I couldn’t be bothered to remember to change 'em out, or buy new ones or whatever. So I’d either go around with the same damn pair of gold studs for months on end, or not wear earrings at all. Eventually, the holes just closed again.
Then I was asked to be a bridesmaid in my mid-20s. The bride let it slip that she had earrings chosen for each of us as part of our bridesmaids gifts. So I ran out and got my ears pierced (again!) so I could be in consistent uniform with the rest of the wedding party. The day after the wedding, I took those earrings out, never wore any since then and of course, the holes have closed up again.
Every now and then, I spot a pair of really pretty earrings and think, hm, maybe I should get 'em pierced again so I can wear nifty jewelry like that. But reading this post before posting reminded me that I am not all that responsible, and apparently, earrings aren’t really that important to me, so I should probably just save my time and money and not bother.
Hilariously, I have received earrings as gifts no fewer than 3 or 4 times in the last five years. All from people who have known me for years and have not noticed that I haven’t worn earrings in about 15 years. They’re really pretty and each time, I considered getting them done again. Instead, I re-gift the earrings, although I’ve kept a couple pairs in case I ever lose my mind and suddenly become responsible about things like earring maintenance.
“We have to do it when she’s an infant, so they’re easier to take care of” has to be the dumbest argument I’ve ever heard. How about you wait until she’s old enough to express her desire for a permanent body modification (the scar tissue doesn’t just disappear, even if the holes close) and she demonstrates the responsibility level to take care of them.
It’s certainly one of the more benign decorative mutilations people perform on their kids, but I still think it’s not a good thing to do.
Yes they do. It is common in Latin culture, but like anything it is not done by everyone. My parents for instance did not pierce mine. I also don’t believe many of my family members pierced their babes. I have a daughter who is 11 and she did not get hers pierced until she was 9. She then wore earrings so seldom I was afraid that the holes would close up.
Another good reason to wait.
I have an infant girl now, and have been surprised at how many other baby girls her age have pierced ears already. I guess this is one of those things I didn’t notice much either way before I had my own baby. But it’s not just a few babies, it’s A LOT, and it doesn’t seem related to any specific ethnic group. (I’m in NYC, fyi)
My husband is very against this and is always shocked (shocked, I tell you!) every time he sees a baby with pierced ears. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal either way. He feels she should wait to make the decision when she’s “older,” I should ask him what he means by this but I get the impression he’s talking about 10 years old or so. I’m wondering what will happen when she asks to get her ears pierced because all the other girls in her nursery class have pierced ears, which seems likely to me.
I for one cannot remember if my nieces (now 7 and 11) got their’s pierced as a baby or not.
I know I didn’t though, and I wish my mom had done so. I felt like a dweeb wearing clip-ons till I was 10 when everyone else had pierced ears. 
I had my daughter’s ears pierced when she was a couple months old, in 2000. I would do it again if I had another girl, unless she had sensitive skin. I did it because I think it’s cute. That was reason enough, since I saw no reason not to.
I was never worried about her not wanting pierced ears. Parents make all kinds of decisions for their children that they could come to disagree with, and this is not an important one, nor one she’s likely to ever have a problem with.
Whenever it comes up, my students are aghast my parents didn’t pierce my ears when I was a baby. Why would they wait until I was old enough to be afraid and remember the pain?
My grandma and mom pierced mine, at home, when I was six. I wanted it done and it didn’t hurt that much at all. What I remember most was the closeness I felt as something special was done for me.
Yeah, by ‘scar tissue’ you mean ‘imperceptible pinhole to her earlobe’.
I will ‘modify’ my kid’s body in anyway I see fit*, as her parent. Lucky for her, I am wise enough to realise that a simple ear piercing is about as far as I should go.
*within my legal rights
Do you think this privilege should apply to all parents? And if so, should a parent be allowed to tattoo their child? Why or why not?
Is it legal to tattoo a child, Gestalt? No? Why do you think that is illegal and ear piercing isn’t?
I assume that ear piercing is legal because it is deeply steeped in tradition and habit, and not out of any logical difference between piercing and tattooing.
So your standard for permanent body modification is basically based on what a legal body thinks should be allowed?
If tattooing were legal, do you think parents should be able to tattoo their kids with a huge bald eagle on the belly and an American flag on the back?
Let me help you out here. There is a reason why, in this society, tattooing a child is illegal and piercing ears is something commonly done in the doctor’s office to newborns. The reason is that a tiny pin prick to the ear is no big freaking deal.
Do you now see the connection I was trying to make? Eagle on the belly : HUGE FREAKING DEAL. Itty-bitty pinholes? No biggie.
ETA: just noticed your edit. I do notice that some mods that I find crazy is accepted and legal, like circumcision. But I don’t want to muddle the arguments with rather or not certain cultures come into play. In black American and Latino and Indian culture, it is common to pierce baby ears. But the bigger picture is that in overall American culture, pierced ears aren’t a big deal.