# How did having piercings in the right ear become associated with homosexuality?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 22, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309 "2014-11-22T02:28:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/41 "2017-08-22T16:00:13Z")

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> [@Shakester](#):
>
> I’d like to see a cite that it was _ever_ a real “code” among adults.
> 
> It strikes me as very much the sort of thing that’s invented (and widely believed) by schoolboys.
> 
> I have both ears pierced and I’m not bi. Got the left one done when I was 16 (in 1981) and the right when I was 19.
> 
> The left ear is the more common one to pierce for a right hander, because it’s a little easier to access. Right-handers being much more common than lefties, the left ear was perceived as the “normal” ear to pierce. Which led the creative minds of schoolboys to invent nonsense about it being a sexual code.
> 
> The fact that boys, and clearly some adults, _believe_ it to be true doesn’t mean anything.

I think you are correct. There is no such code.

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**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/42 "2017-08-22T20:32:46Z")

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> [@gotpasswords](#):
>
> Now, the color chart has exploded into utter nonsense requiring people to try and tell if a bandana in someone’s pocket is robin’s egg blue or sky blue, dark gray or charcoal gray, etc.

Just ask if that’s a bandana in their pocket or they’re just happy to see you.

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