One trend I have noticed is that there is usually one more earring or piercing on the left ear than on the right right ear.
If there’s only one, it’s on the left. If both ears are pierced, the left will have two piercings.
My speculation is that because a pierced right ear is said to indicate homosexuality, more is worn on the left to indicate that the pierced person, indeed, is not gay.
For that matter, I have yet to see anyone with a piercing only on the right ear. Is the “right-ear-only-pierced means you’re gay” belief an urban legend?
(Unrelated anecdote: I was working as a fortune-teller for a Halloween festival in high school. I was to dress as a gypsy, and thought I would wear an earring. My mother made a point to remind me not to wear it on my right ear. It fell off en route, so I put it on, on my right ear. When I told my mom, she had a fit. “Right ear means you’re gay!” I am impressed my mom would know something like that.)
Here we see a good number of left only or right only, but BOTH hetero and gays have begun wearing ear rings on both ears. I have definitely noticed the 30 and under crowd being comfortable with both ears pierced regardless of sexual orientation.
I’ve got two in my left and one in my right. I had them pierced in roughly 1988 and I can confirm that even then the common belief in right only = gay was making the rounds as even the female that pierced my ears at the local Piercing Pagoda in the mall alerted me to the symbolism.
When asked though I just say I needed the extra weight for counterbalance as my head is misshapen.
Well, most men are right-handed. It’s easier to reach across your body and do fine-motor stuff (shaving a leg for example) with your dominate hand than it is to reach for something either with the other hand, or more awkwardly with your dominate hand. Back when I had pieced ears (both, though, given I’m female) it was always easier to get the right one in and out; I assume if I’d been a rightie the oposite would have been true. YMMV
I got my ear pierced with another guy and two girls. The woman who pierced our ears assured us that left and right didn’t mean anything “anymore”.
The other bloke and I choose to get our left ears pierced anyway (cartilege), but we didn’t think too much about it.
Come to think of it though, pierced gay guys I’ve known have had both their ears pierced. Like the OP, I don’t think I’ve seen a guy with just his right ear pierced.
–
Incidentally, I’m thinking about getting a nipple pierced (hopefully it won’t show through my business shirts). Is there any hidden meaning attached to pierced left tit versus pierced right tit?
But besides the practical reasons (like being right-handed so it’s easier to reach across to make any adjustments), the OP’s also asking how did the ‘right ear pierced = gay’ thing take off in the first place? Why is it so?
I’ve seen quite a few guys with only a right ear-piercing here in Hong Kong, but most of them have their left ones pierced only.
My guess would be that MAYBE it used to mean something, but too many people have earrings for it to work now. And that’s only if it ever meant anything. Even if it’s an urban legend, enough straight guys have probably heard it and thought “better get it on the left so nobody thinks I’m gay!”, so it would’ve sorta taken on a life of its own.
Yep, it was the same at my school, which is why my left is pierced (although I haven’t worn anything in it for more than a decade, but the hole is still there).
The left=hetero thing is pretty much archaic nowadays. When I pierced my nostril 10-12 years ago, I deliberately got my right nostril pierced instead of my left just to flout the stereotype. As far as nipples, having your nipples pierced at all once meant you were gay back 20-25 years ago back when piercing was pretty much the sole province of the SF gay community; nowadays any persuasion can get pierced anywhere.