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For years women punctured holes in their body because they thought it looked good. Piercings aren’t just for women anymore and they aren’t just for ears either. It’s a form of beautification.
It’s also painful, according to 18-year-old education major Priscilla Garza.
“I yelled when I got it done,” said Garza, speaking specifically about a piercing through the inside cartilage of her ear.
She just wanted it because of appearance.
“I think they’re cute,” she said.
The specific cartilage piercing was done because she liked the look more than regular piercings.
Kristie Shaver, 19-year-old special education major, got her first piercing at the age of ten. She thinks it was in part because she wanted to feel grown-up.
Shaver asked her grandma to take her to get pierced and she agreed. She said she felt more grown-up afterwards.
She believes earrings are pretty much for decoration, however, and has never put anything more into it. Though she does like the way it looks.
For guys, she thinks it can work just like it can for women.
“Some guys, it looks really good on them.”
She draws the line at gauges, though.
A gauge is an earring with a hole in the center that is placed inside the earlobe. They’re assigned numbers for the size, the smaller the number the bigger the size, all the way down to zero.
“That scares me,” she said.
Scott Wissler has a two gauge in his left ear and he’s working his way up to a zero.
He also has two eyebrow piercings over his left eye and both his nipples pierced as well.
Wissler had the piercing done, “To be different from the crowd - to be unique.”
For Wissler piercings is his way to be an individual with his style. He compares it to the way some people style their hair or clothing uniquely, except he doesn’t care for those adornments.
“Because hair is so common,” he said but that “Piercing is so exotic.”
For Wissler, you can’t over pierce. “I don’t think you can do too much,” he said. “Your body is a canvas.”
Carlos Chaivez II, an instructor of homeschool math, has several piercings along his left ear, which he got done 13 years ago when he was 23.
“I just thought it looked cool,” he said.
For his students he doesn’t mind if they have piercings and even likes it depending on how it’s done.
“I think if it’s done in good taste it’s cool,” he said, though he thinks a face full of metal can become distracting.
Chaivez has an issue with some thinking it’s an expression of individual style. “How’s it individual if everyone’s doing it?” He considers it more ornamental than anything else.
Long ago, he said, people like the beatniks may have had a deeper meaning for it - such as rebellion. He doesn’t think that’s the same for today.
18-year-old Jon Banks, undecided, said he got his ear pierced because he once tried on a pair of fake clip-on earrings and liked the way it looked.
Banks admits that he’s even thought about getting his genitals pierced in a style termed a Prince Albert but is holding off on a decision.
“I’m kind of scared of losing feeling down there,” Banks said.
Garza doesn’t like the idea of genital piercing for a man at all.
“The no-no area is a no-no,” Garza said. Though she thinks that piercing on a man are generally attractive.
Still, Garza is one of many women who don’t mind if a guy has an earring. Banks’ girlfriend Darline Smith likes them just fine.
“I like guys with earrings,” Smith said.
Smith herself has a tongue piercing. She used to have her nose, lower lip, and eyebrow pierced but had the lip piercing taken out when her high school principal had her remove it.
Her eyebrow and nose piercings interfered with Karate sparring.
She said she got the tongue piercing simply because, “I’ve always wanted it.”
Banks appreciates it, too. “It has its benefits.”
Wissler has one suggestion for those thinking of getting a piercing, especially for the people with extravagant plans in mind.
“Just know what you’re doing before you do it.”
Final installment in a 3-part series about popular culture.
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