# If God had wanted boys to wear earrings, he'd have made them girls! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 24, 2001, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950 "2001-08-24T17:24:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mdirish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@mdirish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mdirish)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/21 "2001-08-24T19:53:47Z")
Inertia wrote “It seems to me MD that you’re almost as intolerant/nearsighted as the venerable Gov. Wearing body jewelry/art anywhere is silly. Yes, even women wearing earrings and or necklaces serves no practical purpose whatsoever…” We’re talking about an 8 year old boy here. OK? I didn’t say anything about adults and what they wear or don’t wear. Point is, he’s to young to be wearing earrings or bodyart. I’m generally very tolerant/liberal. I just have a thing about little kids “expressing” themselves that way. Parents need to know when to say “When your older.” ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/22 "2001-08-24T20:00:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ogre \* > \*\*A wistful question pops to mind, not for the first time: > > “When, oh when, will the politicians in this state stop willfully trying to make this place look bad?” \*\* The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind . . . the answer is blowin’ in the wind. Or, depending on how you look at it, the answer, my friend, is just a bag of wind. “ **monolithic jockstrap** ” Band name! ---
**Author:** ![Gravity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gravity/32/14322_2.png) [@Gravity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gravity)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/23 "2001-08-24T20:01:45Z")
A [follow-up story](http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/99855816017565307.xml). ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/24 "2001-08-24T20:04:39Z")
I am a native of Alabama. I love this state. I love its history, culture, and (with obvious exceptions) its traditions. It is a wonderful place. It has beautiful natural places, beautiful cities, and a rich history. Stand in any given spot in Alabama, and you can think back to DeSoto exploring its then-pristine forests, Indian culture, wars, struggles for civil rights, etc. Montgomery was the first city in the world with an electric trolley system. City planners from San Francisco came here to model their system after it. Huntsville was one of the birthplaces of the U.S. Space Program. Mardi Gras was born in Mobile. The blues first became popularized through W.C. Handy, a Muscle Shoals musician. Rock n’ Roll as we know it was also born here, in the form of a certain producer named Sam Phillips. The fight for African American Civil Rights took place all over the South, but so many important battles were fought here in Alabama. Selma. Montgomery. Birmingham. The Stand in the Schoolhouse Door. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ah, to hell with it. What I’m saying is that there’s so much _good_ here, and still, because of morons like Roy Moore and Don Siegelman and Jeff Sessions perpetuating the ages-old stereotype, everyone in the country looks at us as if we’re rustic, primitive idiots that would love nothing more than to live in a tarpaper shack, eat chitlins, and string us up a black person or two. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2001, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/25 "2001-08-24T20:44:43Z")
So, **Ogre** , yo still dating your sister? Ow! Hey, stop throwing things. I’m just joking, fercriminysake. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/26 "2001-08-24T20:54:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mdirish \* > \*\*We’re talking about an 8 year old boy here. OK? I didn’t say anything about adults and what they wear or don’t wear. Point is, he’s to young to be wearing earrings or bodyart. I’m generally very tolerant/liberal. I just have a thing about little kids “expressing” themselves that way. Parents need to know when to say “When your older.” \*\* Maybe it was the parents’ idea. I’ve seen infant girls with their ears pierced. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/27 "2001-08-24T21:00:19Z")
Yow. Remind me not to go to 'bama. I just wouldn’t be happy. No sex toys allowed, no sexy boys with tongue studs and earrings… what misery for a whackjob like me. 😃 jarbaby ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/28 "2001-08-24T21:00:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > Dire, I’ll thank you for not treating “politician” as if it were an insult, if you don’t mind. But I certainly agree with your sentiments. Damn if this guy doesn’t make me want to go out and get another coupla piercings to go with the three earrings I already have. (Two in the right, too, just to piss **everybody** off.) That’s not to piss everybody off, you just want to look like Harley in Boy Meets Boy. [sub]link provided not for Matt’s sake, of course, just for the rest of y’all[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/29 "2001-08-24T21:23:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jack Batty \* > \*\*So, **Ogre** , yo still dating your sister? > > Ow! Hey, stop throwing things. I’m just joking, fercriminysake. \*\* Jack. Jack Jack Jack. Don’t get me started on you pansy liberal fruits out in California. 🙂 Besides, the bitch left me for Cousin Jimmy Earl. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/30 "2001-08-24T21:29:16Z")
I realize that this is MPSIMS, and therefore GD-style comments are inappropriate, but what the hey… Just for the record, since when has being the governor of a state empowered anyone to be an arbiter of what is appropriate to a citizen of that state. Granted that the kid is 8, and therefore subject to parental control and guidance, without explicit court mandate the governor or the school administration cannot become _in loco parentis_ and determine what is appropriate or not appropriate for that child. That is his decision, and that of his parents in this case (he being a minor). Granted there may be some grounds for the school to determine – **after** the fact – that a certain garment or ornament is disruptive to the primary function of the school – the provision of an education – and should therefore be omitted at school. However, this seems to be a case of mandated conformity, not a question of disruption. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/31 "2001-08-24T22:43:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pldennison \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by mdirish \* > > \*\*We’re talking about an 8 year old boy here. OK? I didn’t say anything about adults and what they wear or don’t wear. Point is, he’s to young to be wearing earrings or bodyart. I’m generally very tolerant/liberal. I just have a thing about little kids “expressing” themselves that way. Parents need to know when to say “When your older.” \*\* > > Maybe it was the parents’ idea. I’ve seen infant girls with their ears pierced. \*\* Ugh. I once saw a one year old girl getting her ears pierced at the mall. She was SCREAMING her head off. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/32 "2001-08-24T22:55:00Z")
Well, **Polycarp** , the governor does have the right to have whatever opinion he wants about boys having earrings, or girls having earrings, or whomever. I doubt that the school’s ban on earrings comes from the state, anyway…it’s probably a local school policy decision. If I had to guess how the governor’s comment came about, I’d guess that some reporter asked him, “Governor, what do you think about the 8 year old boy suspended for wearing an earring”, and the governor thought, “Huh? What boy? What earring? Don’t girls wear earrings? Gotta say something…don’t want to contradict the school board. That’ll make it a big deal.” leading to the quote in question. ---
**Author:** ![Yogi\_Yorgenson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cdc98d/32.png) [@Yogi\_Yorgenson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yogi_Yorgenson)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/33 "2001-08-25T00:50:56Z")
The governor is RIGHT ON! Earrings on a man look effeminate. Not only that, but piercings make a person look like a damn freak. Next time I see some low life chick with a ring through her nose I’m going to ask her if I can loop a chain through her nosering and lead her around like a bull! ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/34 "2001-08-25T00:51:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > Ugh. I once saw a one year old girl getting her ears pierced at the mall. She was SCREAMING her head off. I knew a family back in grade school who had their daughter’s ears pierced when she was an infant. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/35 "2001-08-25T00:54:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Yogi Yorgenson \* > Earrings on a man look effeminate. Assuming for the moment that this is not meant in a positive light: What the heck’s the problem with a man looking effeminate? **matt\_mcl** is a man and is effeminate. Something wrong with that? Please, do enlighten us. ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_Juliet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cc9497/32.png) [@Lady\_Juliet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_Juliet)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/36 "2001-08-25T01:07:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ogre \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Jack Batty \* > > \*\*So, **Ogre** , yo still dating your sister? > > > > Ow! Hey, stop throwing things. I’m just joking, fercriminysake. \*\* > > Jack. Jack Jack Jack. Don’t get me started on you pansy liberal fruits out in California. 🙂 > > Besides, the bitch left me for Cousin Jimmy Earl. \*\* Hah…Hahahahahaha…oh god…my side…ow! [sub]I’m going to be needing a new keyboard soon. I don’t believe the various drinks getting spit on it all the time from reading the sdmb are doing it much good.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/37 "2001-08-25T01:49:49Z")
:climbs resignedly out of trench: Okay, here we go again… As I understand it the Biblical motivation for not wearing earrings is that under Mosaic law, when the year of Jubilee came round (all slaves go free and all debts are cancelled), if a slave didn’t particularly want to leave a good master, the master would nail his earlobe to a doorpost, marking him as a slave for life. So earrings are bad because they mean slavery. What I’ve never understood about this (aside from why women are allowed them and men are not) is that, okay, maybe earrings on non-Christians can be a mark of slavery to something other than Christ: but can’t Christians mark themselves as Christ’s slaves? I mean, it’s about willing submission to a good master, right? I may well be missing something; it’d hardly be the first time. As for the tattoo I believe it was associated with pagan rites and therefore prohibited, along with cutting oneself. :jumps straight back into trench in anticipation of knee-jerk machine-gun volley: :raises head in worried surprise at silence: Hey, are you guys still there? Everything okay? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/38 "2001-08-25T03:44:02Z")
> [@](#): > > We’re talking about an 8 year old boy here. OK? I didn’t say anything about adults and what they wear or don’t wear. Point is, he’s to young to be wearing earrings or bodyart. I’m generally very tolerant/liberal. I just have a thing about little kids “expressing” themselves that way. Parents need to know when to say “When your older.” I would agree with you if you were talking about tattoos, but ear piercing is different. It’s not permanent, and if you don’t want to wear earrings, you don’t have to. I had my ears pierced for the first time when I was four. My mom is a total earring person, and I loved looking at all her pretty jewelery. I begged and begged, and finally my mom agreed. She pinched my ears hard and said, “This is what it feels like. Are you sure you can handle it?” I said yes, and my mom took me to have it done. It wasn’t “expression” - I was four! I just wanted to have shiny stuff in my ears! Ear piercing is not very painful and unlikely to be very traumatic for young kids. If a child wants it done, why not? Not too long after I had my ears pierced, my good friend Daniel, who was a year younger than me, got his left ear pierced. I once heard Daniel and his younger brother arguing about which of them as gay, and Daniel said, “Yeah? Well, I have my left ear pierced, so I’M GAY!” Their mom was a lesbian. I didn’t see the humor in this until much later. 🙂 (FTR, my mom did draw the line at two holes in each ear, when I was fifteen. I had to wait til I was eighteen to get my third holes. Ironically, I am now entirely uninterested in earrings - I go for years at a time without changing my tiny studs, and I never ever ever wear dangly earrings.) ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/39 "2001-08-25T15:52:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jarbabyj \* > **Yow. Remind me not to go to 'bama. I just wouldn’t be happy. No sex toys allowed…** That law was [struck down](http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/HealthyWoman/healthywoman_53.html) last year. Outsiders may be interested to know that the current governor, a democrat, was elected in part because people got fed up with the republican governor’s focus on school prayer to the exclusion of other issues. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 23skidoo \* > \*\*If God had wanted girls to wear earrings, he would have made them pirates. \*\* This wasn’t mentioned in the article, but the high school team in that school district is the Buccaneers. Naturally, the mascot wears an earring. What rich irony. ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950/40 "2001-08-25T16:25:35Z")
Bite my tongue. I guess I should pay more attention to local news. The lower court ruling on sex toys was [overturned](http://www.geocities.com/privacylaws/USA/Alabama/alnews04.htm) by the appeals court, which remanded it to the lower court for a clarified ruling. That’s apparently where things stand today. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-had-wanted-boys-to-wear-earrings-hed-have-made-them-girls/77950.md?page=3)