I was talking to this woman the other night, and she strongly expressed the view that I didn’t have my ear piercings done correctly. I have what I’ve always thought to be the “appropriate” manly style - just my left ear pierced. I’m a little out of the norm in that I have two holes in my left ear (both at the bottom part, whatever that’s called). This person firmly believes that I should have the right ear pierced as well - she said that she didn’t mind the double-pierced left ear, as long as the right was also pierced, at least once.
Fellow Dopers, what do you think? What do you think is the more commonly accepted style for a heterosexual male? What is your personal preference?
Also, I live in the US, but I’d be interested to hear about the norms in other countries, too.
Got my left ear pierced back in '77 before it got to be real popular and have worn it every since. It always turns into a one-ups-manship kinda thing I think. One ear and one hole. One ear two holes, both ears ten hole each.
Forget what she says, these people change their definitions of self and cool on a weekly (weakly?) basis. Wear it how you like. If it bothers her, maybe that’s a good sign.
I was going to say “Prince Albert” style. But then I decided that this should probably never be done.
I’ve been meaning to get an ear or two pierced for some time now but just have never gotten around to it. I’d say do as many ears as you want, as many times as you want, in as many locations as you want. Me? I think left lobe would be conservative and tasteful. Maybe left cartiledge up top–invisible unless jewlery is worn, and relatively unusual. Ultimately I’d get 3 peircings. Left lobe stretched so I could put all manner of things through it: pencils, chicken bones, padlocks, etc. And then maybe the tops of both so I could run an elastic bad over the top of my head to get that pointy Vulcan look.
How should men wear earrings? However they wish. My personal preference is one ear pierced in the lobe but I don’t care which ear. One of my exes had both his ears pierced once and he wore these big pirate-style hoops. It was goofy but cute. I don’t recommend it though. Top cartilage piercings on guys appeal to me too. Rowr.
This is actually one of the reasons I got the second piercing - it’s nearly impossible to buy a single, solitary earing.
The whole subject came up on a first date, actually, and I was pretty shocked. It was after lots of drinking, and she appologized the next day, but … we’ll see. It just never occured to me that somebody would be put off by my earings - even my grandmother doesn’t say anything any more.
When I was in high school, ‘everyone knew’ that male earrings were used as signals- an earring in one ear- preferably the left- indicated that the man was straight, while earrings in both ears indicated a gay man.
No idea if this high-school belief was accurate. It probably wasn’t. But it was so much assumed that the idea of a lady friend wanting you to have both ears pierced made me giggle.
I’m not a big fan of earrings on men. But, if they are tasteful and discreet and (most importantly) he likes them- what do I care if he’s got one hole in each ear or two holes in one? Simple earrings are better, small ones are better, small hoops are ok, big hoops not so much.
My rules for what kinds of earrings are desirable on women allow for more flexibility.
In my experience, straight guys traditionally have the left ear pierced. If they want multiple piercings, they then pierce evenly. That way, they always have one more in the left than in the right, which is “equivalent” to having just the one on the left.
Not that it makes a bit of difference, but if I ever wanted more piercings than the one I’ve got, this is how I’d play it.
There’s always the answer that the proper way to wear earrings is the way your girlfriend wants you to wear them. If you don’t mind it, and your boss doesn’t mind it, then the person you’re dating and is expressing an opinion one way or the other should get the final say.
As far as “commonly accepted,” I get the impression the answer is whatever you feel like doing. I don’t know if there was some point when earrings on guys were a sign that you were gay or bi or whatever else, but if there ever really was, that’s pretty much gone now. The only thing it signifies nowadays is that you’re either going through a mid-life crisis, you’re a teenager, or you still have a hole left over from the late 80’s.
(My case is one in the left ear, a combination of reasons (1) and (3) above.)
Really? That bugs me. But, I like piercings, so I wouldn’t be put off by multiple piercings in one ear. I just thought it was funny that she so strongly objected to a fairly commonplace arrangement.
Men shouldn’t wear earrings unless they are a pirate. And then no more than one per ear.
( Truthfully, I don’t like them. One in one ear isn’t bad. Two is gross. Most of the time an ear ring makes a guy look infeminite. This is IMHO afterall and that’s mine. )
I remember sitting in Biology class, looking at the back of Steve’s (? he had blonde hair, I do recall that) head and trying to remember what the correct ear was for straight guys to have pierced. That’s it. Since that’s all I remember, I’m guessing it wasn’t too important to anybody or the subject would have come up more often.
More recently, my male students were piercing each ear once. The guys from one clique wore big, cheap looking ‘diamond’ studs. The other clique wore big, cheap looking gold hoops. They said the double piercings had nothing to do with sexual orientation, and everybody had a different opinion about which ear meant what if you had a single piercing. The more times it was pierced the bigger the freak, which was good if that’s what you were.
Me personally? I don’t care. If I like him, I’ll probably like whatever he’s got pierced. Though some of them in the tender bits region look so ouchy. They say they don’t hurt, but how can it not, I can’t wrap my brain around. Earrings on some random guy? Depends on the wearer and what’s worn.
Yes! It was Steve. Steve Vogel.