I agree about the clip-on earrings being much more painful than pierced earrings. I've very occasionally worn clip-ons when I've wanted to wear really large/heavy earrings (mainly in high school). My grandmother was entirely opposed to pierced ears (or anything)... but I think she kind of tortured herself by wearing heavy, clip-on earrings every day. *Shudders*
I got my ears pierced for the first time when I was 9. I remember my Mom picked me up from orchestra practice and out of the blue asked me if I wanted to get my ears pierced. I remember being so surprised... and of course I said yes. She said later that she kind of sprung it on me so that I wouldn't have time to get nervous about it. I remember I was a bit scared of the procedure, but my excitement about it outweighed that.
Then, in grad school I got them pierced a second time. So, I have two in each ear. There was a time I really wanted more. I wanted to get a little ring for the top of my ear. I still love the way that looks. But, ultimately, I was too afraid of getting a piercing through cartilage.
The kinds of piercing that I really don't like are lip piercings, eyebrow rings and those really extended large piercings people sometimes get in their ears. But, in general, I kind of like piercings better than tattoos. And, it's so much easier to get rid of a piercing if you don't want it anymore.
I've had friends with all manner of crazy piercings. My best friend in high school had her tongue pierced our senior year. And, in college and grad school I knew tons of people with tongue piercings, other random facial piercings and body piercings (lots of belly button rings... and I knew one woman who had a genital piercing... she said it was a mistake. Interestingly, I don't think I've ever known anyone with nipple piercings... at least not to my knowledge). I even have a male friend from grad school who has his belly button pierced. He had it done when he was in high school and then let it close up in college. Then in grad school he wanted to have it again, so I remember going with him when he got it re-done on South Street in Philly (where there are tons of famous tattoo shops and piercing parlors).
There is something strangely fascinating about talking about things like piercings and tattoos.
...I have five piercings in my earlobes, exactly the same way Lynne has; three in my left earlobe, two in my right...
I only have one piercing, my left ear.
I got it there because the word around school was that if you got it in your right ear, it meant you were gay. ::) :laugh:
I'm not a fan of face piercings, specifically around the mouth.
I won't pierce anywhere else on me, just looks sooooo painful! I've seen guys with Prince Alberts, and all I can think of is that when they piss they must make a complete mess in the bathroom.
And thanks so much, Chuckie, for sharing about the Prince Alberts...I love the visuals I can get from no one else but you. ;D ;) :-*
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?
;D
Is a black triangle (had never heard of it before) soley used by lesbians or also by gay men?
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...(http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w197/oilgun/Miscellany/puff.jpg)
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?
Hiya Monika,
Gay men use the pink triangle as a gay pride symbol.
(http://involved.unl.edu/lgbtqa/safe_spaces/images/symbols/pinkTriangle.jpg)
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.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_znetMyxM0Pk/TCXunm1AwwI/AAAAAAAAFb0/tjmrRPkb78w/s400/270px-Black_triangle.png)
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.
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.
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.
Have my earlobes pierced - twice in one earlobe and once in the other.
Nowhere else. A college friend and I one-time considered belly button piercing, but after doing a quick call of local doctor's offices, I could find no doctor who recommended it. Most said it would be longer healing than I could imagine and it would be difficult to keep clean while it healed.
Which of course then makes me gross out at all the piercings in people's private parts. Even a nose piercing, while traditional in many cultures makes me wonder...does it leak when they blow their noses? And of course, the ability to keep it clean completely depends on the person's diligence, so who knows how many people have stopped worrying about how clean they keep their clitoral piercing or Prince Albert?
:-X :-X :-X
Yes, I think cleanliness is certainly key...even in the earlobes. If you leave earrings in too long, gunk, for lack of a better word, will accumulate. It's probably dead skin cells mixed with natural body oils.
I didn't have any problems whatsoever with my navel piercing.
People are different. Every woman I knew in college had tremendous difficulties with theirs. The culmination was pus spurting when some guy asked if he could see this girl's piercing.. :-X
Wow, those do sound unusual... and both sound like they must have been pretty painful!
Ewwww!
I clean my earlobe out, use rubbing alcohol on it, and occasionally put Neosporin on it when I wear an earing, to keep infections at bay.
Speaking of Ewww! I over-stretched an ear piercing once and it became more and more painful. Then a huge throbbing blood blister formed behind my earlobe. When it finally burst, I was buying a dvd at HMV. Blood was dripping on to my shoulder like a faucet. The clerk almost fainted or hurled, it was hard to tell. It was most embarrassing but at least the pain was gone.