For those who pierce their baby's ears...

[Username7654321]

Would you see it as okay to pierce their nose? Eyebrow? Tongue? Why is it okay to stab a needle through the ear lobe, when presumably most people would be horrified by any other piercing on a baby?!

This is part of a huge and worldwide issue that I have always thought is extremely curious.
Why do we, humankind, tamper with our children's bodies, particularly their genitals, and alter them permanently for decorative and/or cultural reasons?

It happens throughout the world in many different cultures. Ear-piercing is at the lesser end of practices that include neck-stretching and cranial flattening up to FGM and circumcision (and some forms of cicumcision are very extreme and mutilating, amounting to virtual flaying of the penis) .
There is almost always no necessity for any of it yet it happens to millions of children and adolescents and I have always found it to be very strange Indeed.
So I presume it is because we as humans generally do feel we have these rights over our children and particularly their bodies.

because something is not your norm/culture doesn't give you the right to put it in a box of the undesirables in society.

And because something is a cultural norm it doesn't give it immunity from discussion.

However you dress it up, putting a needle through the ear of a child is cruel before you even get to the issues surrounding body autonomy.

It comes down to whether you're able to waive the latter in order to many cultural norms. I couldn't.

I don't think it's ever ok to inflict pain and permanent body modification on a baby just because you think it looks pretty. Vaccinations hurt, but they're potentially life-saving. Putting holes in a baby's ear lobes for decorative purposes is bizarre, cruel and unnecessary. No, it isn't as bad as FGM, but just because something isn't the worst doesn't mean we should just go 'ok then, it's fine'.

It's a horrible practice, and one that I expect will eventually die out in the UK as it's generally considered a marker of being working class which usually spells the end for things like this.

N.B. nothing wrong with being working class by the way, it's just that working class trends do tend to die out eventually as they stigmatise individuals in some areas of life.

There is so much more to worry about in the world than this

It's up to the parents and that's that, whether you agree or not. It's also cultural and has been done since the dawn of time. Again, there is much more important things going on in this world that needs to be focused and campaigned against, this is not one of them.

Interesting sugared.

What else about someone's body do you think is entirely "up to the parents"?

I wouldn't pierce a baby's ears myself but I don't get worked about it if someone else does. Their baby, their choice. If the kid doesn't agree then later in life they can discuss it with their parents. Like many other choices that are made for children.

In my country it's the norm! My ears got pierced when i was a baby, my mom's and grandma's too and i shall pierce my baby's ears too if i ever have one. It's actually a nice tradition and very common to gift really small gold earings to a newborn baby (only one pair). Absolutely every woman i know got their ears pierced in a very young age and do the same when they have daughters.

Interesting thread. I'm from a white British traditional working class background and piercing babies/young children's ears was a normal part of my culture. I didn't have mine done (my Mum didn't like it) and I was definitely in the minority at school. Yet over my lifetime of 57 years it has become increasingly unacceptable. I wonder why.
I agree with the poster upthread that said this practice will eventually become legally age restricted in the UK, perhaps starting at 5, then becoming older.
I always notice from these threads that people say things like 'it's better to get it done while they are young' almost as if there's an automatic need for all women to wear earrings. There isn't , there's no need for anyone of any age to wear earrings and therefore no need for anyone to have pierced ears. It's just a preference, and one that might decline as fewer babies are pierced.
Anyway just my observations, I don't judge anyone as 'chavvy' for choosing to have their babies pierced, even though I didn't. My exinlaws did, and they were the loveliest kindest people possible.

The only reason I have to say it is not OK is because if I didn't the rabid judgey lot would have viewed me as some terrible chav. Whilst in some cultures it is understandably the case that facilitation to wear earrings is done at a tender age here you are only socially acceptable if you don't facilitate this.

I worked in a well known shop that does ear-piercing and for that reason I have chosen not to get my DDs ears pierced.

When I was standing there with the piercing gun whilst the mother was holding down a screaming and struggling child/baby, it definitely gave me a different viewpoint. I was kicked in the stomach by children who didn't want to get it done and were only getting it done because "mummy thought it would look pretty".

The more people sign petitions asking to make it illegal, the quicker it will be banned and it will stop.

Nothing will prevent you to have it done when you are old enough to consent.

When the best argument is still "it's cultural" there's no chance of staying legal for much longer.
And saying that it makes baby pretty... If you think you need to add bling to make your own baby "pretty", what kind of mother are you?

It's awful and claiming that no one is allowed to point that out because it's 'cultural' is ridiculous.

MIL was telling a story about slapping DH on the backside, when he was 2yo and having a tantrum. DH can't remember this, nor was he traumatised by it in anyway. Does that mean it's ok then?

On what planet is holding down a baby/toddler and stabbing holes in their ears, for their parents vanity, ok?

Who cares if 'everyone else does it' use your common sense.

you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ban-ear-piercing-for-babies-toddlers

I agree that this is an interesting discussion. I hadn't really thought about it before (I've got boys).

I'm coming down on the side of waiting till they're old enough to consent though after reading this. It's not the biggest problem in the world no, but it does seem a bit bizarre that we do this to our babies when we know it hurts and there's no good reason for it.

I think it's a horrible thing to do to a baby. There was a gorgeous baby in Claire's a few months ago, no older than 6 months. She was smiling and giggling......until the first ear was pierced. I had to leave the shop as I found her cries so distressing 😥 How does her mum know she even wants them pierced?

Totally worth it because look how pretty she is now, and it's cultural, and people have been doing it ages...... Poor baby :(

I just don't get how anyone could do it to a baby either. I was a complete wuss when DD had her jabs - I cried more than she did!

Ughhhhh that clip made me feel physically sick. When DD got her jabs I was traumatised. The fact that their own parent can inflict that pain is just awful!!

But babies don't remember the pain so we can do what we want to them....

I know it's horrible, to inflict pain on babies for jewelry in the 21st century is madness.

Especially when it's something they can easily choose to go off and do themselves when they are older. It's not like it's time limited.

and has been done since the dawn of time

Ah that well known time period.

Plenty of things that have been done "since the dawn of time" are now considered barbaric

That video is awful, how is this okay in 2017? It's totally barbaric and unnecessary.

Cultural does not mean ok though does it?

Female circumcision is cultural in many parts of the world, yet we talk about banning that? Why is it ok to consider one practice barbaric while defending the other in the name of culture?