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History of men wearing earrings
DESCRIPTION: The only men who wore earrings were bond servants; then an earring was worn by men to denote rank; and by pirates, sailors, music performers, athletes. Trend today are men demonstrating increasing fashion sophistication.
Earrings are worn around the world in most cultures, both currently and historically. Today, it is generally accepted that earrings are worn by both genders. Men are as interested in earrings as women. Men often prefer studs or small hoops; they may wear one earring, two or more depending on the individual's preferences.
History reveals that, originally, the only men who wore earrings were bond servants. The ceremony involved a freed slave taken to the front entrance of the house, and his right ear was pressed against the doorpost. A nail was driven through his ear and a golden earring was placed in it. The earring served as a symbol that the man was a servant by choice and could neither be bought nor sold.
In Babylonia and later in Assyria, the earring was worn by men to denote rank. Early pirates working in Asian waters, the Caribbean and the New World in the early to mid-18th century sported earrings. This had continued among sailors, where a pierced earlobe often meant that the wearer had sailed around the world or had crossed the equator. There was also a long-held belief that puncturing the earlobe was beneficial to increasing the acuity of eyesight or of hearing.
Ear piercing among the male population became mainstream in the late 1960s through the hippie and gay communities. In the 1970s, the punk rock community popularized the so-called amateur piercings often with safety pins and multiple piercings. It became a fashion trend by the 1980s when male popular music performers sported them and later adopted by many professional athletes. The trend became popular with mainstream American males in the 1990s, where in the so-called ‘hanky-code', men would pierce a particular side to symbolize their preferred role in a relationship - the concept though has since lost its significance.
The trend is generally held as men demonstrating increasing fashion sophistication among themselves.
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