Piercings...?

[Monika]

  Often I'll wear a black triangle in my right ear if I feel the urge to help others along with their "gaydar".
 

Is a black triangle (had never heard of it before) soley used by lesbians or also by gay men?

[Kelda]

I have the normal lobe piercings - got that done when i was like 11.. and as other say a right of passage!

At about 15 I got a small ring at the top of the left ear in the cartilage

and then m,y frst year at unit - just before I turned 17 - i got my belly button pierced.

It was 2004/2005 before I got a tat.

[CellarDweller]

Is a black triangle (had never heard of it before) soley used by lesbians or also by gay men?

Hiya Monika,

Gay men use the pink triangle as a gay pride symbol.



Hitler used the pink triangle to mark prisoners in his death camps who were arrested for being homosexual.  I have a pink triangle tattooed on my left arm.



The black triangle is a little more vague.  Accoding to Wikipedia (not the most reliable source) the symbol originates from Nazi concentration camps, where every prisoner had to wear one of the Nazi concentration camp badges on their jacket, the color of which categorized them according to "their kind." Individuals deemed "anti-social" had to wear the Black Triangle. Many of Black Triangle prisoners were either mentally retarded or mentally ill. The homeless were also included, as were alcoholics, the habitually "work-shy," prostitutes, and others (including draft dodgers, pacifists and even aristocrats).

Lesbians have over time claimed the black triangle as a symbol of defiance against repression and discrimination, and it is considered a counterpart to the gay pink triangle. Today, it is as a lesbian symbol that the black triangle is most widely recognized.

In the Nazis' meticulous records, there is no word of the black triangle having been imposed on lesbians, or of lesbians as a group being confined to concentration camps. However, some have theorized that since the Nazis believed strongly in a traditional social role for women, lesbians and other sexually unconventional women might logically have been considered "asocial" from the Nazis' point of view, and would therefor have a black triangle on their uniform.

[oilgun]

My earlobes are both pierced.  I first had the right lobe pierced because it was supposed to be a gay signifier.  I was a real militant, lol!  Then I got the other one pierced when it became fashionable.  I also had the holes stretched gradually until I could insert 00 gauge tunnels or plugs (about 1/4"). I've since left them shrink but they'll never close up that's for sure.

I also had a nipple pierced.  The plan was to get both done but the first was so damn painful that I stopped there.  I had a small barbell in it which I removed recently after an unfortunate and excrutiatingly painful incident involving a shower puff. Yes, there was blood...

[Lynne]

My earlobes are both pierced.  I first had the right lobe pierced because it was supposed to be a gay signifier.  I was a real militant, lol!  Then I got the other one pierced when it became fashionable.  I also had the holes stretched gradually until I could insert 00 gauge tunnels or plugs (about 1/4"). I've since left them shrink but they'll never close up that's for sure.

I also had a nipple pierced.  The plan was to get both done but the first was so damn painful that I stopped there  I had a small barbell in it which I removed recently after an unfortunate and excrutiatingly painful incident involving a shower puff. Yes, there was blood...

Ouch...I'm hurting for you...seriously.  Evil shower poof!   

[Lynne]

anytime.

and regarding Prince Alberts.   Really?  I mean, some guys have a hard enough time hitting the toilet, why add a piercing that will only make it require more skill?

No arguments here - I have a brother and a male cousin-in-residence.  And I've cleaned toilets.  Enough said.

[Brown Eyes]

What I remember learning about the black triangle as suggested in part of what's posted here..is that it was used on independent women and women who the Nazis would have seen as anti-social in not conforming to the expected position of wife and mother.  It seems that within Nazi thinking lesbianism was so completely invisible... or even thought of as impossible, that it didn't have its own category.  But, that lesbians were usually caught up in the broader black triangle group.   Amazingly, I remember learning this on a tour of Dachau that I took when i was visiting the Munich region the summer after my first year in grad school.

But, yeah, in contemporary society I really think of the black triangle as specifically lesbian.  Most of my lesbian jewelry involves the black triangle, including the earring that I mentioned in my earlier post.  That earring actually once belonged to my most significant ex-girlfriend (she gave it to me when she moved away) so it's very sentimental to me personally.

Though, these days, there are plenty of lesbians who also use the pink triangle too.

Hiya Monika,

Gay men use the pink triangle as a gay pride symbol.



Hitler used the pink triangle to mark prisoners in his death camps who were arrested for being homosexual.  I have a pink triangle tattooed on my left arm.



The black triangle is a little more vague.  Accoding to Wikipedia (not the most reliable source) the symbol originates from Nazi concentration camps, where every prisoner had to wear one of the Nazi concentration camp badges on their jacket, the color of which categorized them according to "their kind." Individuals deemed "anti-social" had to wear the Black Triangle. Many of Black Triangle prisoners were either mentally retarded or mentally ill. The homeless were also included, as were alcoholics, the habitually "work-shy," prostitutes, and others (including draft dodgers, pacifists and even aristocrats).

Lesbians have over time claimed the black triangle as a symbol of defiance against repression and discrimination, and it is considered a counterpart to the gay pink triangle. Today, it is as a lesbian symbol that the black triangle is most widely recognized.

In the Nazis' meticulous records, there is no word of the black triangle having been imposed on lesbians, or of lesbians as a group being confined to concentration camps. However, some have theorized that since the Nazis believed strongly in a traditional social role for women, lesbians and other sexually unconventional women might logically have been considered "asocial" from the Nazis' point of view, and would therefor have a black triangle on their uniform.

[Kelda]

owwwwwwwwwwww oilgun!

[Lynne]

What I remember learning about the black triangle as suggested in part of what's posted here..is that it was used on independent women and women who the Nazis would have seen as anti-social in not conforming to the expected position of wife and mother.  It seems that within Nazi thinking lesbianism was so completely invisible... or even thought of as impossible, that it didn't have its own category.  But, that lesbians were usually caught up in the broader black triangle group.   Amazingly, I remember learning this on a tour of Dachau that I took when i was visiting the Munich region the summer after my first year in grad school.

But, yeah, in contemporary society I really think of the black triangle as specifically lesbian.  Most of my lesbian jewelry involves the black triangle, including the earring that I mentioned in my earlier post.  That earring actually once belonged to my most significant ex-girlfriend (she gave it to me when she moved away) so it's very sentimental to me personally.

Though, these days, there are plenty of lesbians who also use the pink triangle too.

Hey there, A - you've been to Dachau?  It's on the list of places I will try to see.  If you get a chance, swing by my countdown thread and tell me about the best places you went when you were in Germany...please?
 

[louisev]

piercings destroy the nerve endings at the acupuncture meridians and inhibit the body's natural healing capacity at very vulnerable spots, i.e. the earlobes.