A gender vignette
At Gillian's school the other day, I overheard a conversation between two parents discussing ear piercing. The father of a little girl was saying that she didn't cry when she got hers done at Claire's over the weekend. The other parent asked if he would do the same thing for his son. The father replied, "No way. He'll have to do his with a potato in high school like everyone else. He's not going into Claire's."
Now, leaving aside the fact that most boys wouldn't be caught dead in Claire's, the idea that a parent would want his child to pierce his own ears rather than have it done professionally just amazes me. The father wasn't saying no to the piercing, just to having it done in a place that (he seemed to think) might threaten his son's sexuality. Perhaps he should take his boy to a piercing and tattoo parlor. What a rite of passage that would be. "We got the kids' ears pierced yesterday. Diane took little Chelsea to Claire's, and I took Cade to Wolfgang's Inkhaus. They threw in a free tattoo of Barney."
Now, leaving aside the fact that most boys wouldn't be caught dead in Claire's, the idea that a parent would want his child to pierce his own ears rather than have it done professionally just amazes me. The father wasn't saying no to the piercing, just to having it done in a place that (he seemed to think) might threaten his son's sexuality. Perhaps he should take his boy to a piercing and tattoo parlor. What a rite of passage that would be. "We got the kids' ears pierced yesterday. Diane took little Chelsea to Claire's, and I took Cade to Wolfgang's Inkhaus. They threw in a free tattoo of Barney."