Not always men enjoyed piercing and carrying earrings on their ears. In some centuries it was forbiden, in some it was mandatory and in some it was a matter of choice.

 

The practice of wearing earrings was a tradition for Ainu men and women, but the Government of Meiji Japan forbade Ainu men to wear earrings in the late-19th century.

Earrings were also commonplace among nomadic Turkic tribes. Lavish ear ornaments have remained popular in India from ancient times to the present day.

 

In Western Europe, earrings became fashionable among English courtiers and gentlemen in the 1590s during the English Renaissance. A document published in 1577 by clergyman William Harrison, Description of England, states "Some lusty courtiers and gentlemen of courage do wear either rings of gold, stones or pearls in their ears. Among sailors, a pierced earlobe was a symbol that the wearer had sailed around the world or had crossed the equator.

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Since in the early 1960s teenage girls started embracing the piercing trend and started piercing ears by themselves, by the mid-1960s, some physicians offered ear piercing as a service. Simultaneously, Manhattan jewelry stores were some of the earliest commercial, non-medical locations for getting an ear piercing.

 

In the late 1960s, ear piercing began to make inroads among men through the hippie and gay communities, although they had been popular among sailors for decades (or longer). Traditionally, a right-side piercing identified a man as gay as part of LGBT "culture and code" to secretly identify oneself to the community. The left-side is widely accepted as heterosexual or straight while dual piercings do not indicate sexual preference, though some believe it indicates bisexual preferences. There has begun to be some challenging of these norms in recent years, though the standard view remains.

 

By the 1980s, the trend for male popular music performers to have pierced ears helped establish a fashion trend for men. This was later adopted by many professional athletes. British men started piercing both ears in the 1980s; George Michael of Wham! was a prominent example. During wham! He frequently wore small gold hoop earrings. When he then went on the become a solo artist with his iconic debut album "Faith" he wore a cross earring on his left ear.

 

As of now, it is widely acceptable for teenage and pre teen boys to have both ears pierced as well simply as a fashion statement. Multiple piercings in one or both ears first emerged in mainstream America in the 1970s. Initially, the trend was for women to wear a second set of earrings in the earlobes, or for men to double-pierce a single earlobe. Asymmetric styles with more and more piercings became popular, eventually leading to the cartilage piercing trend.

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