Earrings

[Taka]

pirates wear ear rings!
just choose the smaller size...

people who do acupuncture or pressure point treatment will usually advice against getting your ears pierced, ther eare just too many different acupuncture points in the ear, a whole body map written in that tiny area. but one i trust to know what she's talking about, also said that if you got your piercings when you were young, or have had them for a long time, removing them could possibly confuse your body just the same.

i went against that advice though, and got two more piercings in one ear. they still feel weird even a few years later, very different from the old holes i got when i was a kid, which feel kind of naked without anything in them. but the new holes have some meaning to them that it was worth getting them for.

[janetcgtv]

If you are going to wear earrings, wear only studs(masculine type).

To me: Hooped earrings are on the feminine side and you wish to display your masculinity.

[jakken]

Rings are pretty masculine in my opinion.
http://www.engawed.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/mens-hoop-earrings-6.jpg
Something like that.

[Alexthecat]

I'm glad I've never got my ears pierced. If kids come they won't be getting theirs done either.

[devention]

I'd go with small studs if you're not going to gauge them. Personally, I think nothing of it when I see dudes with earrings, but I also grew up in a town with a shocking number of alternatively dressed dudes so.
I find it disgusting when people force their kids to get their ears pierced, especially infants and when the kid vehemently protests. Ran into that at work the other day. One of the jewelry girls had to pierce this little girl's ears and she was screaming "no mommy no" the whole time. If I want at my place of employment I would've chewed that woman up one side and down the other. Truly disgusting behavior.

[aleon515]

I think what you are read at kind of depends on how masculine you look otherwise. I think when I was just transitioning and was starting to get read as male I liked it so well, I would do pretty much anything to get read as male. Now it seems it is easier. I think the only thing I have worn that doesn't look so male on me now is I have a rainbow tank top that I wore for Pride. Or maybe it was Pride.
Anyway, I think earrings in both ears is read less masculinely. I agree about employers who have many prejudices. Sometimes piercing of girl's ears is cultural. I know Latino girls often have pierced ears.


--Jay

[devention]

There are lots of cultural traditions that are harmful. This is modifying someone's body against their will and I find it repugnant. My opinion, I suppose, but if your tradition is reliant upon causing physical harm to a child, you need to rethink your tradition.
To keep it on topic, I don't know if they make them in your size (18g probably?), but maybe you could get a flesh colored spacer if you're still worried about people noticing. At that size, someone probably wouldn't notice unless they were right up in your business.

[Dante]

I had my lobes pierced when I was about 8, which would have been right in the panicky-try-to-be-really-girly phase. They were done with a gun and not by an experienced piercer so not only was I allergic to the metal they used, but I also got a bad infection and had to take them out. Tried a second time a couple years later, with the same result. I opted to leave the earrings out and let the holes close. They did, to some extent, in that after a short while I couldn't put anything through them anymore but about 9 years later the hole marks are still there. All this to say, friends I've known for several years reacted with surprise when I mentioned the old hole marks on my lobes; they hadn't even noticed.

About three months ago I got a double helix in my right ear, which is something I'd wanted to do for awhile. Since it's a non-standard piercing, it doesn't have as concrete of a gender to most people, but honestly I don't think piercings are really gendered at all, even the basic lobes. Most people determine gender by the jewelry put in the piercings and not by the piercings themselves. Wearing simple studs or rings in lobe piercings would be perfectly normal for a guy. If you decide you want to keep them then that'd be a good choice if you wanted to go for a strictly masculine appearance. Obviously if you don't care as much and it doesn't affect passing for you you can go crazy and do whatever you want!  Otherwise, you can let the holes close and most people will probably never even register it.

[xsmithersx]

"Pirates wear earrings!" I love it
I have holes still too--I had gauges for a while years ago but they've closed up to the point that they look like I had just regular piercings. I really don't notice or get hung up on them any longer. I've decided that I prefer NOT wearing earrings and just letting the small holes be...

[Lucaas]

I'm sorry that I can't link to anything like this right now, but I've seen people of all gender presentations wearing large, round studs in a plain color like blue, black or gray. I don't think that they're anything like fake gauges (which are a thing you could look into, actually!) but looked more like studs that were just.. larger in size and filled up more of the earlobe space than a tiny stud.

[LatrellHK]

There are lots of cultural traditions that are harmful. This is modifying someone's body against their will and I find it repugnant. My opinion, I suppose, but if your tradition is reliant upon causing physical harm to a child, you need to rethink your tradition.
To keep it on topic, I don't know if they make them in your size (18g probably?), but maybe you could get a flesh colored spacer if you're still worried about people noticing. At that size, someone probably wouldn't notice unless they were right up in your business.

Well I get it when you say the child doesn't want it, but in a lot of families, particularly African American families I've noticed, kids get their ears pierced as babies. Either one for the boys and both for the girls. Now if the kids screaming "no" that's not tradition, that's effed up. Otherwise, whatever. I feel getting them pierced as babies, however, removes the fear of getting them done later and remembering the pain. But if I had kids I'd wait until they wanted their ears pierced and take them.

Now to answer the earrings question, avoid large hoops and you should be good. I've seen guys with small hoops and won't lie, it actually looks pretty cool. Studs work too. Not the cute little flowery ones, but small studs. You could gauge your ears too but many businesses frown upon that.

[Blue Senpai]

Well I get it when you say the child doesn't want it, but in a lot of families, particularly African American families I've noticed, kids get their ears pierced as babies. Either one for the boys and both for the girls. Now if the kids screaming "no" that's not tradition, that's effed up. Otherwise, whatever. I feel getting them pierced as babies, however, removes the fear of getting them done later and remembering the pain. But if I had kids I'd wait until they wanted their ears pierced and take them.

Now to answer the earrings question, avoid large hoops and you should be good. I've seen guys with small hoops and won't lie, it actually looks pretty cool. Studs work too. Not the cute little flowery ones, but small studs. You could gauge your ears too but many businesses frown upon that.

Yeah I'm not gauging my ears for sure. I'm not a teenager anymore.