You Got Holes in Your Ears or What?

by Cathy

I was up watching television in bed the other night - my usual wind-down routine before bedtime. As I usually do, I had it tuned into Friends reruns on cable. Yes, I enjoy watching this show because for me, these television Friends were almost like my real-life friends - I laughed, loved and cried (and sometimes cried from laughter) - through all of their trials and tribulations. We grew up together in some kind of parallel universe. So for the purposes of this post, I'm going to assume that you grew up in this universe and are familiar with the cast of the show. If not, well then, carry on.

In this particular episode, Rachel's sister (Christina Applegate) takes Rachel's daughter Emma (a toddler) to get her ears pierced as a surprise, goodwill gesture. Apparently, this is what the "fun, cool aunts do," she had to explain herself. You see, Rachel didn't see this "gesture" as fun, or even cool. In fact, she lost her cool and reprimanded her sister for this obvious act of barbarianism. When Ross, the baby's father, gets wind of the little studs on his daughter's little ears, he blamed Rachel for leaving their child with someone SO irresponsible. I mean, really, you would think she brought the baby back looking like this:

Hey there, you punky princess. What's YOUR name?

My husband, who surprisingly wasn't alseep yet, and even more surprisingly, was watching Friends, turned to me and said, "What is it with people freaking out about getting a little girl's ears pierced?"

"I know, riiiiiight?! I don't understand why it's such a big deal!" I agreed, shocked that he would even care to comment on this.

"I mean, don't all girls get their ears pierced?" he pushed.

"Of course they do, otherwise they can kiss half of their fashion sense goodbye," I replied. "Who the heck wears clip-ons now? Hell, who the heck sells clip-ons?"

I pondered this some more, now intrigued at why some were so opposed to getting a toddler's ears pierced than others.
"It must be an ethnic thing," I concluded.
Joe looked at me half quizzically and half incredulously.
"Think about it," I attempted. "You're half Mexican. Mexicans pierce their baby girls' ears practically at birth. My sister and I both got ours pierced when we were very young; I don't even remember it. And I had both our girls' ears pierced before they turned a year old," I continued. "Granted, it was mainly because I heard that getting them pierced when they're really young is better since they don't remember the pain and aren't as cognizant of the studs in their ears so they don't keep touching and infecting them..."

"Maybe you're right," he shrugged as he yawned, clearly wishing he was now asleep.

"I'm serious! Think about it," I nudged.

Earrings AND a bracelet!! GASP!

Various cultures are all for having their baby girls' ears studded moreso than Americans it seems. Honestly, I can see why this may freak them out; there is something unnatural about a slobbering, burping bundle rockin' accessories. It's not really necessary, is it? I mean, it's not like they're going to don a matching choker and a pair of heels and hit the town. It makes sense to wait until they are old enough to have it look, well...natural. I get it.

I guess we culturally-diverse folks think differently. We bling out our baby girls, polish their toenails and pull a frilly 'lil bikini over their diapers (most of the time, without the bikini top) while chilling at the beach sporting over-sized sunnies. Why? Because that's just how our cultures have always rolled and how we, in turn, now roll. Holes in our baby ears or not, eventually all of us girls - black, white, brown, yellow, blue and orange - we all get there in our own time.